I was riding solo to Ladakh on my Mahindra Mojo and that day I had to cover around 340 km from Jispa, Himachal Pradesh to Leh, Ladakh. It was the month of September 2019, the rains had receded, almost no snow was visible on the peaks and skies were absolutely spotless blue.
I started my journey towards the hinterland from Jispa at 7o'clock in the morning, the anxiety levels were high because I travelling alone but at the same I was excited to see the beauty of Ladakh. No journey is dry of troubles and I faced something which could have put my whole trip in jeopardy.
At KM 40, Zing Zing Bar, I stopped at a small tuck shop, to take more water to drink during the ride. After making payment, I kept my wallet on the saddle bag to adjust my luggage, re-pack small items and finally keep my wallet back in the tank bag. My brain somehow missed to take a note that I was supposed to keep my wallet also. I got onto the bike and started riding. 100 m ahead of that shop, I told myself that something was wrong, I stopped to check my wallet and cellphone is there or not.
Cellphone **Check**
Wallet **Oh no**
For a moment, I went blank, then came back to my senses, started searching for it in my tank bag. While, I was doing that, I don't know what happened to me, I peeped through the rear view mirror, I saw a person picking up something from the road next to that shop and then he sat back on his chair. Then I recollected, that I had forgotten to put my wallet back into the bag and it might have fallen down when I started riding. I took a U-turn, went to that shop, checked with the lady owner but she said she has not seen my wallet.
After eliminating this possibility, then my suspicion went on that man who had picked up something from the road. I was not completely sure and accusing him directly did not seem the right thing to do. Now the problem was my driver's license, Aadhaar card, RC, cash worth Rs. 4000 was in that wallet. I mean, losing cash was still ok for me but not my documents. This was like a do-or-die situation for me. Either my trip would have ended there or I would get my wallet back.
I asked him, "Did you see my wallet?"
He said, "No, I haven't"
I said, "I have seen you pick up something from the road and you went back to your seat, so do you know where is my wallet?"
He replied, "No, I don't have your wallet"
Meanwhile, crowd gathered to see what was happening. I could, from his voice, make out he was lying. Without screaming, I told him that if you want the cash, I will give it to you but return my documents. He did not budge.
In my mind, I was losing hope to recover my possession but I mustered some courage and with a more assertive voice, clearly told him that he has taken my wallet. It would be better that he returns it to me and if he wants cash, I will lend some to him. Luckily, I had an action camera mounted on my helmet and I used that as a bait to break him by threatening him that I will go to the cops and show them the recording (in reality, my camera was never on) but it did save me later.
That moment of confidence, rewarded me the results. The man, in front of everyone, handed over me my wallet. I am sure it was an extremely embarrassing situation for him to do that. It was all done without verbal or physical abuse. I forgave him for what he had done and offered cash if he was in need to which he refused.
It was a nerve wrecking incident but I kept my cool and handled the situation calmly!!! Hope you like this short story!!
Regards,
Adhip
