2. SEEKING A TUTOR
Read Previous Chapter here.
Previously on The Bike Babaji - Mike had moved into his new home and a report of new bike theft that had occurred recently in the city, was being telecasted in the television.
Vinod was a petty thief. He had been arrested over many occasions for stealing trivial things such as pillows, bedsheets, clothes, window screens and so on. Adding to his record of 17 arrests, he had been caught in action by denizens, innumerable times, beaten up but every single time he had managed to abscond. He had escaped from an orphanage and came to the city. He tried being a mendicant but since the income was not much scalable, he decided to try his luck. He stole clothes which had been put to dry in the residential homes, and then would go to a different avenue to sell it for cheap prices. Over the years he tried breaking into homes, committing burglaries, trying to become a pioneer in this field but he just lacked the art of thievery.
Once, he broke into a home which he presumed was empty. It was half past two at midnight. Dead silence. It was a compact home with one bedroom, a living room and a kitchen, in the first floor of an independent building. The owner of the home and his wife were sleeping in the bedroom. It was winter season and so, the fan wasn’t switched on. Any acoustics from any other room would be heard audibly around the home. The neighboring house had only the ground floor and it was an open terrace at the top. Vinod was on the terrace of the neighboring house and he jumped over to the first floor of the individual building. He was standing now right in front of the entry door. Without any deliberation he first tried to turn the knob and hope he can walk-in easily. It wasn’t the case. Then he tried his key collections which he brought with him. He was so indulged in the process of unlocking the door with his dummy keys that he failed to realize how much noise he was making. The wife woke up to the keys rumbling sound coming in from the living room. And it took just few seconds for her to figure out what is happening. She suddenly gave a tumultuous scream that shook her husband awake. She started yelling in loud voice that someone is breaking into their home. The husband wasn’t the only one who jerked up to his wife’s sudden uproar, Vinod too. He got so scared by the sudden roar of a female voice and it made him tremble. Immediately he jumped onto the neighboring terrace frenetically and hurt his right knee in doing so. Still horrified by the loud female scream, he limped hurriedly and escaped.
The terrorizing experience of this burgle attempt at night haunted him so much that he decided to fall back to robbing clothes during daytime. At times when he saw an open door, he would just run inside the home, grab any fabrics at first sight, and plunge out like a road runner. This technique hadn’t yielded much fruition for every week his face would be in a disoriented shape. He realized that he lacked the necessary acute skills, gumption and a savvy touch. He needed a mentor, and he wanted one. One who can teach him by experience. One who can teach him the deftness of the stealthy business. He needed a Babaji. And that’s when he saw the photo of the thief who had been stealing bikes over the past few months in a television at electronics store outside, when he was carrying about his part-time begging business.
He decided. He took an oath, to find this person, make him his mentor, work under him and with him. He decided. That this person will be his Babaji.
[To be continued]
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