Read the last line of my entry on prevalent crime on the
streets of Addis here. Am I a regular Melisandre gazing into the flames or what?
(Full disclosure – the reason I am writing after a month despite several
blog-worthy incidents is because I was too busy working my way through five
parts of Game of Thrones. I’ve never been into Fantasy fiction but this....I
could wax lyrical for a couple of pages on the sheer imaginative genius and
body and soul addictive power of the series but I have just one thing to say – Write like the wind - GRRM !)
But I digress. So, its been almost four months since I
started wandering the streets of Addis and predictably my level of comfort was
increasing and caution was plunging by the day. We have access to a car with a
driver which I usually use for running errands but he has a weekly off day on
Saturday. On this fateful Saturday, we were caught without any yoghurt on the
fridge and no car. Now the seriousness of the situation can be grasped only by
a fellow Tam-Bram. A day without curd rice! Gasp! Shudder!
At around six p.m. my mom and I set off by foot to obtain
the weekend groceries, leaving Vihaan and Vishal at home. As if that wasn’t ill
advised enough, we proceeded to load ourselves
with more groceries than we could
carry. Seven p.m. found us staggering home with a heavy bag in each hand in the
gathering darkness. Suddenly, I was accosted by a street urchin peddling the
ubiquitous chewing gum and telephone card. I politely brushed past him only to
realize that now there were three of them and before I knew it a crowd of ten
urchins of various sizes had surrounded me and cut me off from my mother. Some
started yanking at my hand and some at my clothes while all of them were
yelling at the top of their voices- Indian! Hindu! Telephone card! I was
terrified and trying not to show it and trying to politely get out of their
clutches all at the same time, I mean I couldn’t hit a child could I? Then as
suddenly as they converged,the crowd melted away. I gathered my wits and looked
around to see my mother watching the spectacle,stunned and then it struck me. I
opened my purse and my beloved iPhone was nowhere to be seen.
And that is how I got
mugged for the first time in my life. Note recipe for disaster – Two
inattentive ladies + heavy shopping bags +
darkness = Irresistible target. To our credit, this incident didn’t
happen on a dark side lane but on main Bole road, a few yards away from Day to
Day and Fantu supermarkets. I didn’t write about the incident immediately
because that would have been an angry, bitter entry damning every thieving
street urchin to the hottest corner of hell. I fully understand the economic
disparity and the lure of easy pickings driving the pick-pocket industry but
dammit, I loved my phone! Anyway, after resolving to live with a Nokia 1100
which lasted for about 5 days, I got my Dad to send me a Samsung Galaxy S II
because I really can’t afford an iPhone 4 S. ( Bite sized review – Beautiful
screen, crappy camera with a long lag time and some of my medical apps don’t
function as well on an Android system )
I carry the Samsung only to the hospital and use a
cheap phone when I go walking or shopping. But there is no denying the fact
that I feel like a walking bulls-eye now and I clutch my bag for dear life and
scuttle around on the streets darting suspicious looks at all and
sundry.And I know every street vendor on
Bole has a hearty laugh when he views my
pitiful-avoid-a-repeat-mugging-maneuvers.
