MY NOTE LEFT ME WITHOUT A NOTE

We climbed the steps from the subway connecting the platforms in Vashi railway station and were just getting out of the main entrance of the station. As we were entering into the lower, tiled region in front of the station entrance, I told my wife to carefully look down as the slabs covering the drainage are dislocated at many places and many are in damaged condition and one can fall and get hurt. While telling this, I kept my hand on my shirt’s pocket to see that my Samsung Galaxy Note Phone does not spill from my pocket. I could touch my small diary containing my railway pass and identity card and the pocket looked empty. I told my wife, “Phone? Oh God, I lost my phone!”

Alice said, “No, it is impossible, you might not have taken it from home. See, today, I did not ask you to confirm that you have taken the phone. It is most probably you didn’t take the phone.”

“No, I received a phone call from Nikhil Mande, just after Sanpada station. I kept the phone back into my pocket. It was protruding from my shirt’s pocket in a crowded second class compartment with an open invitation to all the pickpockets in the world. I remember I carried it that way in crowded places for the last 40 months, to be precisely till that day when the challenger succeeded to lift it from my pocket without my knowledge. 

A strange sense of cool breeze moved through my body from my lower guts to the head. I felt that I am sweating slightly more than the usual response to the summer evening. I lost my pride. Someone outsmarted me and picked my pocket. I used to proudly say during the 32 years of my stay in Mumbai and 54 years of life, no one dared to put his hand in my pocket. The pride ended the epitome of confidence in me and my ability fell and shattered like glass on concrete floor. The age had given way to the 6 feet tall confidence of no small man can pick my pocket.

I purchased the phone from “Big Boss” Mobile showroom barely 20 meters away from where I stood in front of Vashi Station. It was the costliest Samsung Smart Phone when I brought it nearly three and half years back. It had a MRP of Rs. 35,000/-, the shop fellow gave it to me at Rs.33,000/-. It was destined to be pick pocketed hardly 100 meters away from the same shop at Vashi.

When I regained ground and realized that I need to understand that it is lost. I told Alice that we can go back home, forgetting the beautiful evening we planned at Vashi. Then she said, “We need to report the theft to the nearest police station”. Out of my great respect to the Police and legal system in the country, I told her that there is no point in wasting time and we can forget it. She is stronger under such conditions and told me that we need to get back the SIM card as the number is registered with all my bank accounts and all money transaction points.

This fact made me think about the data available in the phone. I had everything in the Phone. It contained all the official and personal data. I had portable document files of the Policies and Procedures, latest Purchase Orders, Raw Materials Price List, Outstanding dues of all suppliers and all office related records. Data regarding my bank accounts, fixed deposits, NSC Certificates, scanned copies of passports, PAN Cards, Adhar Cards, sale deeds of our properties and anything and everything you can imagine were all stored in the phone. I also have these data on my computer and tab, hence I was not worried about the loss of information. These information are important to me, but of no use to anyone who goes through it.  Hence I am not worried about it being used or misused.

Next thing was to find the nearest police station. I asked the “May I help you” desk. They directed me to the Vashi Railway Police Station in the first Platform. The police was very courteous. They expected people like me with lost mobile phones. One Mr Amol Gade told me that nothing is to worry and 90% I will get back my phone. But he told me I need the IMEI number of the phone to register a compliant and track the phone. I know I had written down it somewhere, but most precisely as expected I don’t know where it is written down. It must be in my diary. He asked me to call home and get the number. I told him no one is at home. He made me write my name and details on a register and asked me to come next day with IMEI number, bill of the phone to register a complaint. He told me he will give a receipt of the compliant and that is enough to show in the BSNL office to get a new SIM with same number.

We went for a small scroll in the CIDCO exhibition hall and returned immediately. Once at home we searched for the bill of the phone. I very well remembered that the box of the phone was discarded when we shifted house from Rasayani to Panvel in June 2013. There is a briefcase in which I kept all the bills of items which carried guarantee. I could locate the bill of my Samsung Galaxy Note in that briefcase. The IMEI number was given on the bill. Once the bill was located, I called the BSNL call centre number and informed them to lock my phone number. However they told me I need to go to the nearest BSNL office with an FIR registered in the police station to block my number.

I could barely sleep on that night. The phone was outdated. It was giving me trouble for quite some time. The charge in the battery exhausted quickly if I used internet, hence I had stopped using internet on phone. After my Nexus Tab came, the phone was used only for making and receiving calls and SMS. The phone had virtually reduced to a “dubba (box)”. Two weeks back I asked my office boy Sachin Godkar, who is an expert in mobile phones, “How much I can get for this phone?” He told me that Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is available in the market for Rs 5000/-. Hence if I have the original bill, I can get anywhere between Rs. 4000/- to 5000/- in secondary market, that too if I exchange for another phone. He advised me to present it to someone I desire. I know that you cannot present an outdated dubba phone to someone you desire. All these thoughts went through my sleepless brain. I felt that my phone must have desired to leave me before I left it, as it could have happened with anyone whom I loved once and left.

My phone was my constant companion for the last 40 months. It was with me even when my wife was not with me. It travelled with me everywhere I went, in office, on business locations. If it had a heart it was eyewitness to all my happiness and sorrows. I loved it and kept it. I had made my mind to go for a new phone and two days back registered for a flash sale at Flipkart. It is a strange coincidence that I lost my Samsung Galaxy Note one day before my bid for the new pone.

Next morning I reached Vashi Railway Police Station at 8.30 A.M. They gave me an application which I filled and after that they put their signature and seal on it and gave a copy of the intimation letter to me. I reached back home at 9.45 and went to BSNL office at Panvel and at a cost of Rs 20/-, BSNL office first blocked and then gave me a new SIM with the same number. Thus within less than 24 hours, my phone number became active again.

Now I don’t keep my purse containing money on my pant pocket. I keep my phone inside the bag while travelling especially before reaching any crowded place. I tell people not to keep their phone in pocket as I did.  I learned my lesson, no more self confidence that no one can pick pocket me. Probably there are more smart and specialized people out in the world who can pick anything from anywhere. However I wonder where and in which shape my Samsung Galaxy Note will be right now.