Autobiography of a chindi chor(small time thief)

"At the age of 17, I did my 1st robbery. The word robbery sounds very macho. We commonly see this word in news papers, mainly used for some kind of a bank robbery or a train robbery, etc. However, in my case, it simply meant robbing an 80 year old woman... in an empty garden... at 1 in the afternoon... while she was asleep.
Trust me, snatching an apple from her when she was awake would have been a task. Anyway, so after that small step towards success, I started visiting Manni Bhai & gang to sharpen my robbing skills. Manni Bhai was a well known thief in our Katkar basti. He had mastered the art of robbery by spending many years on the streets of Mumbai & a few in the nearby police stations. Some across the rail tracks too...across the rail tracks. Let me tell you why I emphasize on robbing across the rail tracks. The area across the tracks was barred for thieves & robbers...why? Well, Sub Inspector Aathavle stayed there in a chawl & he had a record of catching thieves by their neck & throwing them in to the prison...that's what Manni Bhai told us during induction.

Manni Bhai had the courage of robbing from his area, not once but twice. In fact, the 2nd time, Manni Bhai had a hand-to-hand combat with Aathavle where Manni Bhai punched him on his right eye & left him unconscious on the streets. I always wondered how Manni Bhai had a black eye since then... But hey, we don't ask fighters how they got their victory scars now, do we?(winks).

So after going through a rigorous training & late night work shops at Manni Bhai's for about 3 weeks, I was able to gain a whole lot of confidence. I started with the simplest & easiest robbery. I started robbing women coming out of the malls. They don't care if one of their bags go missing. As it is, they carry 9 or 10 of them when they come out. I think they purposely buy extra stuff  just so that they can lose it. God bless these kind hearted women. But then I started disliking this easy money. To do the same thing over & over was killing me. I can't believe how people do desk jobs. I mean how someone can sit at one place for 8-9 hours & go home. No excitement..nothing new...same desk...same chair. My friend Chandu from the neighborhood (also a Grade II robber) told me that these people try to work at the same office for many years to increase their tenure and experience... That's ridiculous! Look at my line of work...there is so much excitement, tension, adventure. Today I work here, tomorrow I work there. Anyways, so after mastering the art of robbing wealthy & kind hearted women, I started working full fledge. Mobile phones, clothes, home appliances, you name it, I steal it.

Once I was at a railway station, busy planning on snatching chains & watches in the crowd. Suddenly, this old man, probably in his late 60s walked up to me & told me that he knows I'm a "robber" & how I should try to do something else for living. While I kept listening to him, the guy I was about to rob got away. Angry me, decided to follow this old man & give him a taste of his own medicine...I decided to rob him instead & started following him, incognito...

To be continued...

Disclaimer : All characters/places/names etc. used in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead,  any real names is purely coincidental.