"...𝘺𝘢𝘢𝘳 𝘬𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘩𝘪 𝘯𝘢𝘩𝘪 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘣 𝘬𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘢..."

"...𝘺𝘢𝘢𝘳 𝘬𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘩𝘪 𝘯𝘢𝘩𝘪 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘣 𝘬𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘢..."

...I told a friend, after calling him from a public telephone ["I just did not understand how it happened buddy"].

18th Nov 2009. The day I laid hands on my first car. An amazing Fiat Punto. I had used up a huge chunk of my savings (after already having used a lot of it to pay off my education loan) along with some liberal funding from mom to make the purchase. It was a petrol variant. That, coupled with the fact that the car wasn't known for mileage & my sub-optimal driving, meant I had to be prepared for large fuel bills. So for most of the time, I'd not use the air conditioning. Had to save fuel. I'd drive mostly with the front two windows rolled down to aid cross ventilation.

One evening, I was stuck on the ever clogged LBS road. I was in deep thought & suddenly I felt a thud in front of the car. As I tried to comprehend what had happened, I saw a guy right outside my window yelling at me "𝘉𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦!" I was flabbergasted! I was stationary for the last 2 min. There was no way I could have hit him even if I wanted to! I tried to talk sense into him, but before I could complete it, he just ran away. "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘫𝘦𝘳𝘬..." I told my self, still confused at what had just happened. I had a habit of keeping my laptop bag & mobile phones (a personal & a Blackberry given by the employer) in the passenger seat next to me. At the next signal, I reached out to pick up my phone. To my surprise, I couldn't locate either of them. "𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥," I figured, so I turned on the lights & tried looking around. They were nowhere to be found. At that moment I realized I had been cleverly robbed! While that guy was distracting me, his accomplice picked up my phones from the other window.

I panicked. So I parked the car & found a public phone & just called a friend. It was the first (& only [touch wood, glass, steel & whatever] ) time that I had my phones stolen/lost. Later on, this modus operandi was all over the news. The gang was called "The thak thak gang" [thak thak being the sound of knocking used to distract the victims].

Everytime I recall the incident, I think about the saying - "𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗪𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵". The money that I lost on the value of the two smartphones was way more than the money I would have spent on the fuel had I kept the windows rolled up & the AC on for all the years that I drove the car. 

Since that day, several times every year I have come across situations where I have (or was about to) made short sighted decisions & thought about this incident. It goes without saying, be it summer or winter, since then I kept all my windows rolled up.

While it is difficult to think too much about every decision we make, it always helps to be 𝗣𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 (if not wise too).