Have you ever been a victim of crime? God forbid no one should ever be. I have been and it is devastating. Although very small, it broke me down.

On a very hot June afternoon on a very busy road in Delhi, I was a passenger in a taxi back seat holding two bags. One was a small shoulder bag with all my valuables and second a laptop bag. I was coming back from a bank, a gang of goons started following my taxi. Two of them started waving at me signaling something was wrong with the car. I asked the driver to stop and check. It turned out the left side tyre was flat. So, I got out of the car and the driver started changing the tyre. Like an idiot, I left the laptop bag in the car and came out to watch the changing of tyre with my shoulder bag leaving the laptop in the car. Two young boys approached me and started asking direction and for a minute I lost the attention of the car.

When the tyre got fixed we started the journey. As I got into the car, I immediately noticed the laptop was missing. OMG, all my passwords are saved in the laptop all the bank websites, my email account, and business software open without asking for a password. Thankfully I had still had the phone, so I called my family and asked them to log in to all my accounts and change passwords. I was shocked and devastated but thankfully I still had the other bag which had my money, credit cards, and my passport. God is great if that was gone, I would not be able to take my flight back home which was on very next day.

I lost my laptop, not a big deal. The point is even after so many years I get nightmares about it and I still feel stupid. For some time, I even suffered panic attacks. The worst was to whom so ever I described the story has his or her own story. The conversation would be ” oh this is nothing listen what I went through………” or ” thank God it could be worse….”

Since that day, whenever I read about a crime, I feel the pain of the victims. My heart tears into a million pieces when I read about rape-murder. How a parent must be coping with losing their child to such a dastardly act. I have read comments from the parents asking the question, why the killer did not kill them before their child.

What kind of sinful people are out there who snatch mobile phones, chains, or burgle a house? The world is full of rapist murderers and white-collar criminals. So how we keep our selves safe, no amount vigilance can prevent such acts. We keep teaching our children please be safe, don’t do this don’t do that. What else, pray harder or ask God’s forgiveness every minute for any sin we might have committed knowingly or unknowingly.

Dear God, please never ever punish me beyond my capacity.