My father’s house is a magnet. A magnet for certain types of individuals. Oh, I’m not talking about my father’s ancestral house in the village. That’s a magnet for another group of individuals, not very pleasant.
But, I’m talking about the house my father has built in our adopted hometown city, in India.
It is a magnet for thieves.
Thieves? You may ask.
Yes, that’s right. Burglars, robbers, thieves or whatever you might call them.
So, this is what happened last Friday. We had just come back home from a vacation to Dubai, when we received a phone call from a relative in India, saying my father’s house was broken into and the current tenant’s (also a relative) scooter, TV and other things were stolen.
Okay, so a robbery. It isn’t anything new. Right?
No. This wasn’t the first the house was robbed. It wasn’t the second time either.
It was the third time in the past two years.
And the funny part is that although the house looks spacious and big, it is practically empty, because all our stuff is with us and the only occupant is an old, unmarried relative of my dad’s.
Well, there was an old, antique camera of ours’, which was stolen by the first thief, and then a collection of old and expensive bottles of French wine, which the second thief emptied. (And promptly left the empty glass bottles for us.)
But, each time, those poor burglars break open three main doors (of which one is a large iron gate) and then the bedroom doors and hoping for something more worthwhile.
And each time, it is the same drama. The police come and investigate and end up with absolutely no clues.
Okay, it give it some kind of soft spot, the house is about 5 km from the main city and it isn’t so very crowded.
But, the question remains, will it ever be safe there?
And also now that we are about to go back to India in three days, I’m worried if I could ever live peacefully in that house. Probably not. That’s why I’ll probably end up staying at mother’s house in the middle of the bustling city.
Have you had any experiences with burglars? If so, do share your stories in the comments box below.
Sun, Sand, Stars and Dreams 
May 17, 2014 at 9:50 pm
I was few years ago, we lived in a single room house located at the terrace of an fast food center. It was on the second floor where anyone can jump to anyone one’s house terrace so easily. My house being located above the kitchen of that fast food, we used to open the main door during night in summer. I used to sleep alone inside the room, while my parents and my brother sleeps at the hall. It was a night during mid summer, i woke up in the middle of the night, i saw a figure, stood in front of me, searching something in pant pockets hanging on the hanger. He wore a full sleeve shirt tucked in his lungi, folded the sleeve to half its length, with short hair. I know it wasn’t my brother nor my father, my heart started beating fastly, my eyes opened broad and i didn’t made any movement. I realised some theif entered my house, afraid that he could have hurt me if i tried to catch him. I made a low pitched sound “ey”, he saw me at took to his heels, i stood up and tried to chase him, while i crossed the hall everyone woke up, then i came out of my house, there was no one. My father stepped out the door and asked what happened? I said someone got in. We then searched for any movement on all the terrace, but there is no sign of any movement. My mom then told me ” no one can escape that fast, maybe you have been deluded” then we get inside our house and closed our main door. My family havent believed me but with bit afraid we then fixed AC in few days and remained closing the door thereafter. Then nothing suspiciously happened after that to us. Then few weeks later, our neighbourhood guy who sometimes used to sleep at the terrace said that the money he had in his shirt pocket was found missing from when he woke up. Then everyone believed that i was not dreaming that day.
May 20, 2014 at 7:45 am
Aw! That was sad. I’m glad everyone believed in your experience finally.
Also, thanks a lot for taking the time to share your experience. š
May 17, 2014 at 9:55 pm
And i’m just an novice writer, if there is any grammatical errors found, please excuse me. And helping me out by spotting errors will be highly encouraged. Thank you.
May 20, 2014 at 7:47 am
I’m not exactly a professional writer. Haha! And everyone makes mistakes.
But, one thing I’ve noticed is that you get better as you keep writing.
Good luck! š
May 20, 2014 at 9:08 am
Thank you