The Day I was Conned

I must confess I have never felt so stupid in my life. I have traveled in almost all parts of the country and in almost all modes of transport and when I boarded my train on15th Dec from Bangalore to Jodhpur, it was no big deal.

But yes, this was the first time I was traveling 45 hours straight (because I had to take my bike back to my hometown in the same train). I changed my ticket from 3^rd AC to 2^nd for the first time and I got an upper birth which I changed to lower birth (I have always preferred upper birth though; but my cabin had just two guys, so took it).For the first time I accepted food from a stranger (as I mentioned that person was to be my sole companion for next 48 hours), and ya ok, we chatted for quite some hours. For the first time I had just 100 bucks left with me during a journey and I really did not minded him paying my expenses (him being a businessman going on a business trip to Jodhpur to seal a deal with Bikaji Namkeens).

So let us talk about this businessman. He knew everyone and I mean everyone in the pantry car; from waiters to managers to the TT of the train. He had relatives at almost every other stop we had. He was on calls for almost the entire time. He was the owner of ticket booth of PVR cinemas, Forum Mall, Bangalore, he was the contractor of food in Rajdhani express and he had local businesses in railways and many other diverse fields. Every damn tea boy and attendant was treating him as he was the Prince and yes, he was carrying 95k cash with him which he showed to me. He was a fat small guy who looked stupid, and more importantly looked genuine. All this description explains why did I trusted the guy and why did I had his food and why did I chatted with him.

Now it was 3.30 am in night that I got up and found two of my mobiles (Sony Ericsson P990i and Nokia 3220) missing and my wallet secure (thankfully it just had 100 bucks ,so the thief must have shown some pity). I told the ‘businessmen’ about it and he said his wallet was missing too which had some 5k cash. Rest 90k he had it in his pocket. So he made me write a complaint letter which he said he’ll deliver to RPF Ahemdabad so that they can track the thief down and he also assured since he is a railway employee, they’ll be more vigilant for this case. In the morning he told that 1 Lakh rupee has been taken out from his ICICI credit card which was there in his wallet. Now he told me that he has to get down at Marwar Junction(a town near Jodhpur) for some work and he’ll be in Jodhpur the next day where we can meet up with my Dad for verification at Jodhpur station. I had his number and he gave me landline nos. of his home at Bangalore and Marwar. HE asked if he can borrow my Ipod for 1 day because he’ll be bored otherwise and he’ll give it back tomorrow when we meet. And I gave him, because after all we had become friends.

Next day I called him and he said he has some business deal in Bikaner and he’ll meet up tomorrow. And we spoke for him on 4-5 occasions on the same day and the next. Finally on 19^th, he said he’ll be coming railway station in 15mins and that was the last time I spoke with him. His phone was unreachable after that and I realized finally what a fool I had been. It took me two days to connect all the things and how he played his role to perfection to con me.Obviously all land line nos. were fake.

Probably first time in my life, I have been deceived in such a manner and I am just helpless and can do nothing about it. I can just imagine his face filled with satisfaction, he even pulled the last act of taking my Ipod to perfection, and what a fool I had been the whole time. I know I won’t be able to recover my phones or ipod or my 600 contacts or 1200 messages or pics or anything else. But I just wish I meet that person once more in this life and can get even. Just hoping to get my hands on him one day in future….

In short, this trip is something I’ll like to erase from my memory. Nothing good came out of it except few important lessons that you all can infer yourself.

PS: I may seem really stupid after the whole narration and probably I am. But I can just say one thing about that guy, he was good, fucking good.