THE THIEF AND THE GENTLEMAN

THE THIEF
AND THE GENTLEMAN

He was quite weary as he slowly walked back home from his office that summer evening. His house was in Mohaddipur railway colony Gorakhpur, a ten minutes walk from his office. His family was away, in the cool mountain town of Almora where his in-laws lived. It was the summer vacation in the schools.He was, for sometime, HomeAlone .

As he drew nearer home he thought he would have a cool shower bath, and then, read morning newspaper leisurely over a cup of home made darjeeling tea, sitting in front of the desert cooler. He shuffled into the verandah

and turned the key in the big brass padlock. 

And then, as he threw the door open, he stepped into utter chaos. The house had been ramsacked. Almirahs and trunks were open and empty, their contents thrown on the floor. Even the wall clock was not spared - the thief had opened its innards to see if any valuables were hidden there ! All the cash kept in the almirah had been stolen. The rear door was wide open! The thief had even carried away some clothes.

He reported the theft at the police station. And as he knew someone highup in the department. the police swung into action. Next evening as he languidly returned home, a policeman came with what he claimed to be the thief of his house. The tell tale signs of police 'questioning' were on the thief's face and body. He wondered if the man was the real thief ! His face was vaguely familiar. Where had he seen this man before ? 

"Sir we have thoroughly questioned him and he has confessed to the theft in your house." The policeman told him.

He wanted to be sure that the actual thief had been caught. His mental makeup did not allow an innocent man to suffer false charges.

 " If you don't mind I would like to talk to this man alone." he said to the policeman, "just to clear certain things. You can wait here in the verandah"

The man-in-uniform settled in an easy chair in the verandah under the ceiling fan. And he stepped out to squat in the lawn with the thief for a quiet talk.

He had serious doubts about this man being the thief. How could they catch the real thief so quickly. And, in any case,the chap did not look like a professional thief. Not that he knew how a professional thief should look ! 

"Look here,You have to tell me the truth. If you are not the thief," he said to the bloke when they were alone, "I will see that you are set free." 

Just because he knew someone highup in the police departnent did not mean that you catch the first helpless man you see, and produce him as a thief ! 

For whatever reason it may be, the thief held his ground. He said he had indeed broken into the house. And he looked sleepless. Perhaps the bloke wanted to avoid further workout on him at the police station. But let him try again. he must be sure that this was the real thief.

 "OK. Can you tell me why you threw a wrist watch on the floor while walking away from the house." He deliberately said 'wrist watch' to find out if the man had really been inside the house. 

The thief looked confused. 

"what wristwatch, sir ? I did not find any wrist watch. It was a wall clock that I left on the floor after opening it." he said, "People hide valuables in the wall clock" 

And then, when questioned, he described in detail the layout of the house and where everything was originally placed before the mess that he had created after breaking into the house from the rear door. 

There was no doubt left now that this man had indeed committed the theft in his house the previous day. 

There was a tiny tea stall across the road from his house. He got the chhotu (the boy servant of the stall) to bring three cups of tea. 

The policeman did not grudge the waiting now and picked up a magazine to keep himself busy over the cup of tea. The thief slurped his tea as they sat in the cool grass and described the entire 'project theft' in meticulous details - in a very matter-of-fact way.

"Saheb, You won't believe me but it is a very hard job, this business of theft.," he said. "You may not remember it but you had, at times, looked at me as I kept watching you daily for one full week. When I came to know that your family is not here and you were alone these days, I began watching your movements closely. I used to sit there on that parapet and note your entire time- schedule. I had to be sure that you would not surprise me while I am inside." 

He smiled wryly as he pointed to a nearby culvert which was his watchpost. 

"Sir, all jobs need lot of hard work, even a thief's, if you honestly want to succeed." No doubt the face was familiar. Now he remembered that this man was sitting at the culvert for the last few days ! He had no further use of the man and he told the policeman so. 

As the twosome walked away, the words of the thief kept ringing in his mind - "all jobs need hard work if you want to succeed" . The last time he heard this words was ironically at a management development programme!! By a strange logic a thief was also a well-honed manager !!

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