When I was growing up, the world had not seen the advent of either smart phones or mobiles, neither there were computers nor anything remotely entertaining. We had television when we were in third grade and that too black and white screen. The only sole channel which used to play on it had sporadic entertainment. So the only entertainment we got was from outdoors. And so unlike todays generation we never used to sit at home watching computers or smartphones or tablets. We used to roam around in our locality, exploring new lanes and bylanes. We used to engage in all kinds of silly activities. I remember we used to chase cats and dogs and try to befriend them so that we could take them home with us. The idea was to give the stray animals some kind of temporary shelter. Our neighbourhood was like one big family where everyone knew each other. We never hesitated to use our neighbour's porch or veranda to play hide n seek.
In a nutshell, on that fateful day I was in my natural element of being carefree and feeling like nothing can go wrong in this alley where we grew up, where we used to hang out. And then suddenly, out of nowhere it happened. I couldn't believe it for some time maybe because of the initial shock. Earlier I had only heard about such incidents in newspapers and News channel. When I think back in time I think there had been a sign, or it was my intuition, I dont know. But somehow that day I couldn't go with my intuition as it was just a fleeting sense of dread, I didn't think it to be anything serious.
So the story goes like this- I usually ran all the errands using my moped. However on that particular day I felt like walking as the shop was just a couple of blocks away. I had gone to fetch some clothes from the laundry. While returning back home, I saw two guys on a bike who passed me. I had just entered the bylane connecting to the street on which my house was located. I was walking and these guys passed me again on that lane. But they kept moving. For a second I thought that as there was not a single soul at that time on that lane I should turn in the opposite direction and take another route to my home. But that was just a fleeting thought. I still was walking. And then I thought nothings gonna happen. It was 6.30 PM. Not dark. Routine road. Friendly neighbourhood. All these things were playing in my mind and I was just about to turn and connect to the street to my house when out of nowhere these guys came and before I knew anything, they threw red paprika powder into my eyes. I couldn't see anything and became less resistant. They wasted no time in grabbing my gold chain and fled away as quickly as they had appeared.
This whole time there was a teenager who saw the incident from the window of his house and came out shouting at the guys, just trying to help me. He was not able to note the moped's registered number. Nevertheless he helped me by giving me water to wash off the irritation caused by the red chillies.
My parents were glad that I wasn't hurt. I thought my folks would be distraught that I lost the gold chain. But I was wrong. Sometimes we all can be very shallow in our thinking. This incident taught me to always follow my first instinct before it's too late. It didn't scar me for life but it definitely is a thing which I cannot forget in this lifetime.
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