Driven by the curiousity generated by what happened to me last night, I decided that I will put down a detailed and sincere account of the bizarre scenario I found myself in when all I wanted to do was just go meet a friend to chat and have a beer.
On 4th September 2011 Sunday evening, I finished my dinner, watched tv with mom, and decided to leave for Matthew's place at around 10:30 pm. I walked towards my parking, which is right opposite the spot where the Ganpati idol was placed in the building. Most of the members of the society were down playing housie. Their kids played hide and seek in the building, just like they did every other Sunday. But something was Amis. Literally. Amongst the entire hustle bustle of the festivities, amongst two gates guarded by 4 watchmen, in the compound of my building where I have now lived for 20 years, my Pajero had vanished.
My world had stopped. I had been hearing stories of Pajeros being stolen all the time, reading about them in the papers often. But it took a moment for me to digest the fact that the mini truck sized car had managed to disappear from my building which I considered a safe haven. I ran to one of the two exit gates, and the watchmen exclaimed they saw no car. I ran to the other and the response was the same. So obviously the car had managed to find its wings one day and decided to fly free. Or one of them was lying. But that could wait. Reading of all those cases in the papers had pushed us to install a GPS tracking device which was designed especially for the Pajero. (Obviously the folks at Mitsubishi still haven't figured out a better locking system for the same.) I called the number instantly and found out my car was now near Jogeshwari heading to the western express highway. I yelled into the phone that the car was stolen and it had to be stopped, and it suddenly felt like a movie scene. They brought me back to reality by saying the car cannot be stalled while it is still on but its every move can be tracked. Also the engine will be seized once the ignition is turned off. I was advice by them to run to the nearest police station and report the matter and that they would alert the authorities close by as well.
So with no real plan, I ran out on the road, caught the first rickshaw and told him to rush to Oshiwara police station who got us there in 3 mins. Meanwhile the car tracking guy was on the phone with me, (and a little excited too to be part of the real chase). He kept giving me a live update of where the car was turning every minute. For a moment he sounded like an excited football commentator talking in Hindi. Not only did I know every move of the car but he stressed on the fact that it was speeding at 70kmph and moving in a direction away from us rapidly. I reached oshiwara police station and ran straight in. Little did I know that my adventure was yet to begin.
It felt like a movie scene as I stopped in front of 10 officers, some in uniform, others in civil clothes, panting for breath and a phone on my ear. "My car is stolen, I am tracking it live, it has reached the highway from Jogeshwari, help." And their world shifted. Detective Santosh Salavde (name changed) was present there in civil clothes with the rest of his team. He immediately sprung on his bike and asked me to jump in the backseat. His phone that would not stop ringing was handed over to me and here onwards I was responsible to attend his calls. Most of the calls were coming to co-ordinate with him for the location of the car. So now I was on the backseat of a bike ridden by a no nonsene cop while I got directions to my car as live commentary in one ear and cops speaking to me in Marathi in the other ear trying to co ordinate on and crackdown on the location. It would be safe to say that the ordeal was seeming a little overwhelming to me by the time we reached Andheri subway. Detective Salavde noticed this and then asked a tough question. " Tujhe bike chalani aati hai?" I knew what he was thinking. As I responded in the affirmative, I was now riding the bike and Detective was on the Pillion organizing the crackdown.
We were now in Powai moving towards Bhandup. At this point I actually started to wonder what I was getting into. But there was little time to think this over. "Side pe lagao." I parked the bike near powai lake where Santosh switched seats again. The car had stopped off LBS marg in a lane next to Metro mall. We were 10 minutes away. The tracking company had now seized the engine and the car was not moving anywhere. Meanwhile another team had been coordinated to intercept from Vashi. Strategic points and highway patrol was alerted. We reached a dingy lane that moved uphill and looked like the entrance of a shanty town. It was the feeling they try to recreate in movies when you enter the den of the bad guys and expect an ambush at any point. "Hero mat ban na,(Don't be a hero)" were the words of wisdom given to me by Santosh as we came closer to the car. It was parked strategically to exit the lane swiftly just off the 4 lane LBS marg bang opposite a colony Ganpati mandal. The mandal had a watchman who obviously did not know when the car had come or who got it. A bunch of college kids who sat all night at the ganpati mandal listening to music and bullshitting mainly, wondered who we were.
Meanwhile Detective Naik had reached the spot in his police jeep along with 3 more cops. I got in his car and finally got a chance to narrate what had happened. Earlier in the evening the car was parked outside my office in SVP nagar Versova, and a couple of suspicious guys stood next to it. The office watchman was alert and confronted them. They mentioned that they had lost a similar car and were checking. He asked them to leave as this car was not theirs and called me instantly. I reached the office and they were gone. I told him to be alert and was happy to know he noted the number of the car they had come in. But then I forgot about it and took the car home. I was followed by the same 2 people and they decided to finish the job in the building right in front of the Ganpati mandal.
So now as we came from one ganpati mandal in lokhandwala to a ganpati mandal in Bhandup, what we needed was a plan. Detective Naik, after patiently listening to my story, decided that he would park the car outside the lane. His point was that if they make a run for it, he could bang into them. I assured them that they could disintegrate the car if necessary to nab the assholes who did this. He chuckled. Myself and Detective Santosh were to sit at the Ganpati mandal along with Detective Shinde, and wait for someone to come back for the car.
Within an hour and half of knowing that my car was gone, I had now found it. But now it was not just about finding the car, it was about grabbing the bastards who took it in the first place. It would be a lie to say that I wasn't a little scared. But being there with those 5 brave detectives (who you would never assume to be detectives if you saw them) I felt empowered. What followed was a waiting game. We sat there for 4 hours waiting, hoping, wishing for some idiot to come back for it. It didn't happen. At 4:15 am we decided to open the car and take it back. It was missing a lock in the backdoor, the point the broke in from. I was escorted back safely to my building by these unsung heroes.
Policemen face a ton of criticism, especially in times when the country is getting united against corruption and face of corruption in India today is a traffic cop taking bribe behind the tree. But what I observed yesterday was different. These men spend their lives trying to do the right thing, finding killers, nabbing robbers, cleaning the scum of our city. They come face to face with people who we consider unfit for the society on a daily basis. Like all of us they raise families, but they manage to see their kids once in a week. That is if they are awake at the same time, cause they are often spending 27 hours at shifts. These people are the not regular people, they are superheroes. And more often than not, we fail to see this side of them.
Spending a night with them, I managed to get a hint of what their life would be like. And they do not have it easy. The car is safe in my garage, for now. The investigation in now under process. The senior cops tell me today that I am lucky I had a GPS in the car. I try to explain to everyone that I could have tracked the car to Nepal thanks to the bloody GPS. But if it wasn't for the quick thinking of Detective Santosh and many like him, it would have not been with me today. There is little I can offer these proud men, who wouldn't even let me buy tea for them. They are just happy I found my car. Their selfless act has reinforced my faith in the city. There might be many who come to the city of dreams everyday to make it large, some the right way, some the wrong way. But they all need to realize, we are guarded by superheroes.
RESPECT TO EVERYONE IN THE MUMBAI POLICE FORCE. YOU MAKE ME FEEL SAFE IN THIS CRAZY CITY.
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