Was it right that I was 'Hushed'?

A pretty egoistic doormat!

I saw this yesterday at the door front of an apartment as I walked down the stairs. I was tempted to knock on the door and ask them 'Will you guarantee that the shoes are not stolen'. May be a bit stupid as we were in a posh apartment building! But that is no guarantee as recently my new shoes were stolen in even more posh surroundings.

We were there for a concert, part of the Bengaluru Habba'! We walked as it was about a 40 minutes walk and Tara said 'Let us walk'. She wanted the exercise. I had my new shoes on and should have changed to older ones as we chose to walk but did not! My first mistake.


The walk along the new airport road was a nightmare. The footpath was about a foot wide.


And we encountered this as we turned left into one of the better areas of Bengaluru. The proof?
Just take a look at the smart looking toilet that is strewn around on the footpath and the granite compound wall.

Then Shakku spotted this Hanuman temple and said let us go in, I have been there and it is a nice one. I think she said 'A cute little one!' but I am not sure. Hanuman and cute?


I walked in reluctantly as I was worried about my shoes being stolen. My second mistake. It was safe.

Before stepping into the house where the concert was arranged, I noticed that people had taken their footwear off. I took my shoes off and thought let me look for a place safer than next to the path but decided not to worry. My third mistake.

It was not there when I looked for it after the concert. I noticed Tara and most of the ladies had found small niches to hide their footwear! Some men had also walked in with their shoes on. I realize that I was too trusting!

As we looked around for the missing shoes. One of the organizers went on his bike to get us a Auto, but did not succeed. Another resident offered a pair of slippers, which I politely declined. Then the owner of the place offered to drop us at our place as her car was going in any case to drop the artistes close to our house.

We wish we had got an Auto as the car driver was rude and wanted to drop us off two blocks away from our house! That is when I lost my cool and he got a piece of my mind instead of a tip which I had planned to give him.

We were hoping that one of the men had taken it by mistake and would realise his mistake and return the shoes. We had left our tel numbers with the organizers. But no such luck!

As I later replayed to incidence in my mind, I recalled that as I took off my shoes, a woman helper was staring at my shoes longer than normal and I am certain she was the one who took it.
So I suggested to Tara that she should probably talk to the landlady about it and also about the rude driver. If the helper stole from visitors, she would surely steal from her employer as well.

But she said forget about it! Take it as a bad experience and buy a new one. That was how I was hushed and gave up on my 'Hush Puppies'. I will go back to my old sneakers, they have some more life left in them. But I still feel that we should have had a chat with the landlady.


Here was a brilliant suggestion by Ram:
I strongly suggest wearing a chappal next time and do take along a reliable lock
with for guaranteed security
Ram