First time for everything...

Sigh. It's my second last day in Delhi and things just have to go wrong. Actually, everything seemed to be going on fine. The day was proceeding smoothly, work was done quickly and I was looking forward to a couple of hours off tomorrow before flying home. Well, things had to get a little interesting... My travel wallet got stolen.

The group decided to go to the restaurant for dinner. So we met at the lobby, deliberated a little and decided on the buffet at the coffee house. The waiter brought us to the table, and my friend sat at the end of the table furthest from the aisle. I was thinking what a nice restaurant it was and how the food looked pretty good. So, before I went off to get my food, I put my travel wallet in front on the table in front of my friend (it was almost a metre from the aisle) and asked my friend to look after it while I went to get my food. The other four of us then went to collect our food. When I returned (less than 3 minutes later), my travel wallet was gone. Apparently, she had heard someone knocking on the glass divider behind her. She turned around to see who it was and when she turned back, the travel wallet was gone. It all happened in just a few moments. Later, when we asked the other hotel guests around, they remarked that they had seen someone knocking on the glass while another person seemed to have been at the far end of the table. My friend was quite distraught. I think she was traumatised that such a thing had happened. My initial response was of course 'blame'... as in, why didn't my friend pay closer attention. But after a few moments, I knew that it was just human nature to want to blame someone when bad things happened. The truth is, she really couldn't have expected these thieves to have moved so fast, and frankly, it was I who had first my wallet to her.

So anyway, to spoil my time in India, I am now missing my passport, two credit cards, a 512Mb Imation mini-thumbdrive and a 512 Mb Memory Stick Pro Duo. I'll now have to make my way to the Singapore Embassy tomorrow to get my replacement passport so that I can leave for Singapore tomorrow night.

It's so funny that in my years of travelling, I have never lost my travel documents. Furthermore, I've always stayed at cheap hotels with lesser security and even hostels where security was a bare minimum. And now, I am staying at what is supposed to be a 6-star hotel in Delhi, and such a thing can happen in the restuarant. I guess, no one would bother stealing things from people who stay in cheap hotels and hostels.

Well, that's that. Here;s a pic of my police report. Just for memory's sake.