This happend in kRpura, about 15 years ago. Before the advent of software and tech parks in that area, KRpura, was considered to be way out of Bangalore and the population was sparse. Two of my uncles, kittu(short for krishna) mama and jayyu(short for jayaram) mama stayed there, one about a mile away from the other.
My maternal grandma stayed with us, and every month, she would religiously pay a visit to each of her sons house.It was one hot summer afternoon and my gradma, aged about 71 then, set out from jayyu mama's house to kittu mama's house by walk, accompanied by my cousin, about 12 years of age. Mid way between the two houses,a dark burly man of about 45 stopped my gradma He seemed to have come running for he was panting and he looked tensed.
He said "amma, amma,I've got something important to tell you.please ask the kid to stay here and come with me"
Despite protests from my cousin, she left him there and after they walked a couple of blocks,he said "maa, your son is in danger"
My granny, panicked and proferred "Is it Jayaram, what happend to him? Is he alright?"
"yes, yes, it is Jayaram.. he is alright, but he is in need of money right now, else the police may take him away"
"oh my God!! Take me to him, lets go"
I would rathar call her innocent than gullible.. blinded as she was, by her love for her son.
"No maa, its too far, and you wont be able to walk that far in this hot sun..besides, he needs money right away, otherwise he may be in deep trouble. Can you please remove all your jewelry and give it to me? I'll pass it on it him that should solve all the problems"
My granny readily removed her gold chain and her finger-ring and gave it to him. When she started removing her earrings, he stopped her saying that he could adjust with what she had given. Removing of earrings takes time and he did not want to take any chances.
It wasnt until later that we all realised what had happend and we promptly gave a police complaint.
A few months later, the thief was nabbed. Apparently, he had about 10 similar cases to his credit. But the story did not end here. We supposedly had to take the case through court and we engaged services of a small-time lawyer for a few thousand rupees.
My granny had to appear in court a minimum of 10 times. Sometimes, the lawyer would be absent, sometimes the theif and sometimes the sessions would just run out of time.I remember escorting my granny to the court about 4-5 times.We would travel by bus in the sun, and the court atmosphere-the lawyers, robbers, police etc was most harrowing.Even at that age, it made me realise how inefficient our judicial system was, considering the number of times my granny, aged as she was, had to be subjected to this torture, hoping that the case will be solved and that she would get her jewelry back.
One fine day,all the right things happend at the right time and the case was over! we were okayedthe jewelry we were entitled for. Oh! what a relief it was..
When we went to the police station to collect our jewelry back, there was another surprise waiting for us. The police told us that the thief had sold some of the jewelry and used it up and hence complete recovery was not possible.The loot was being melted and only bout 60% of the stolen jewelry returned. Added to this, the gold that was given was not genuine gold.
The thief stealing was one thing, but the police resorting to such antics was unimaginable.There were even talks that there was a police-theif nexus and that they both share the booty.
Anyways, end of it all, we were just happy it was all over.
Labels: personal grandma robber
the worst thing you can do in "kalyug" is trust people easily !!
that too when it comes to money!!