Bag Snatcher

It was around 12:15 pm and my wife had left school earlier than the other teachers as she had a early morning period. She was walking back from school as she has been doing for over 11 years.

She stopped at the a vegetable shop and and had a bag in each hand in addition to a mini backpack and another bag on shoulder which contained school stuff.

It was in a short lonely stretch that suddenly from the corner of her eye she noticed this large American SUV near her. Before she knew what was happening, the driver reached out and grabbed the bag on her shoulder and drove off. The windows were tinted and she was too shocked to note down the license plate.

The shoulder bag had strong handles as it was used to carry heavy stuff. But when the bag was snatched, the handles surprisingly snapped. If it had not, she could have lost her balance and fallen and things could have been worse. It was as if angels just cut the handles so that she was safe.

The bag contained some pens, class mark sheets, headphones (used for online classes), the smart board stylus, house keys and a bible.

Her wallet was in the small backpack. This had all the important IDs and cards along with cash.

Thank God for keeping her safe.

Thefts are common in Salmiya, especially in the mornings as most roads are quite deserted. However, even on roads that are busy, robberies take place. On a not so lonely road- near Udipi restaurant, a parent whose bag was snatched by a thief in a car, lost her balance and fractured her knee. A worker from the school had her gold chain snatched near Apollo Clinic.

Indian expats are a majority in Salmiya block 10 and make easy soft targets.

I had asked her to may be start using a transport service, but she suffers from motion sickness.

She continues her walks to school and back but avoids the lonely stretch and has started taking another route walking home. She has also stopped carrying her wallet.

Advertisement