Chain Snatching

The Club is buzzing with stories of chain snatching gangs on the prowl. At the Yamuna Nagar roundabout yesterday, a young woman walking alone and talking absent-mindedly into her mobile was struck from behind by two goons on a motorcycle. The mobile flew off her hand. Before she could retrieve it or shout, the men were gone. In an instant she realised the gold chain around her neck was also gone. But by then, it was too late.
Wait, the story does not end here...
Within minutes of a crowd gathering at the spot, two cops in civvies arrive on a motorbike, apparently in hot pursuit. The man behind, in khaki trousers and wielding a lathi, asks a few questions and the bike zooms away. The crowd melts, leaving the girl alone, but hopeful that the cops would catch up with the first bike. Later, when she checks with the Oshiwara Police Station, she discovers that there were no cops chasing the robbers. The duo on the second bike were covering the tracks of the first!
This is the latest in a series of incidents that have shaken our female members badly. Barely a few days back, an elderly Bengali lady was stopped by three men on the bridge overlooking the Garden. They introduced themselves as police, waved some I-card and advised her to remove her gold ornaments, lest she got mugged in broad daylight. In the presence of some 30 by-standers, she obediently removed her diamond-studded earrings, gold chain, bangles and finger-ring one by one and handed them to the strangers. They thanked her profusely and took off. “They had hypnotized me,” the old woman says now, as she hobbles around the Garden.
Mumtaz Jahan is convinced that the crooks have “informers” in the Garden who help with identifying their quarry. “How else would they know whom to attack, when and where?” rationalizes the lady, herself a victim of recent chain snatching.
The matronly Gujju-ben (above) who joined us lately, had the last word. She says she has already faced chain robbers thrice. Every time she was asked to remove her jewellery, she shooed the chhokrey-log away, saying: “Jaah-jaah, tu apna kaam kar, main apna kaam karti hoon!”
Maybe, there’s a lesson somewhere here: DO NOT PANIC when cornered.