An Encounter with a Purse Snatcher

This always seemed like a thing that would only happen in movies or dramas. Or a thing that would happen to ‘others’ but never ‘yourself’. But yesterday it was proven wrong when I had an encounter with a purse snatcher. It all happened really instantaneously but left me with a racing heart for a couple of minutes and lots of alarming thoughts.

It was 8 P.M. at night. With a shopping bag in my left hand and my purse on my right shoulder, I was walking towards my car in the parking lot. The parking lot is right beside my office building (Green Trust Tower). It was dark there as always, but I could make out from afar, where my car was parked.

As I walked towards it, I felt two guys walking into the parking lot as well. I didn’t pay much attention to this fact as I had seen people pass through that area before. When I walked a bit further I felt those guys were a bit far but right behind me. I was alarmed a bit but not much. By this time I had taken out my car keys and just reached the car.

I was about to unlock the door when I noticed those guys split up. One went further away towards the left of the car and the second one walked right towards me. This literally rang loud bells in my ears and I was extremely alarmed. This movement alerted me as there was no particular reason for that guy to walk in my direction. There was no special path there. No car parked there. No motorcycle.

I quickly unlocked the door and opened it so that there would be some light (the light we get from opening car doors). I couldn’t sit in the car that quickly. By this time that guy was very near me. I turned my back towards the car, slid a bit behind the open door and looked at him as he passed by. As I was looking, he looked at me, extended his hand, grabbed my purse, pulled it and started running like hell, pulling me along with it. Thank God the strap of the purse was strong so it didn’t break. And as I pulled my purse as well so that guy failed at getting hold of it.

At that instant all I could do was scream some random words like “What the hell is wrong with you!” The guy ran like hell after his failed attempt and I quickly sat in the car and locked the door. I sat there for a couple of minutes as I tried to catch my breath. My heart was racing like a charging Ferrari at that time.

I wanted to start the car instantly so that I could follow the purse snatchers a bit and maybe scare them. But as I had turned the ignition off while it was converted to CNG, in the morning, I was unable to start it. It took me a few minutes before I somehow managed to start the car. But by that time I guess it was too late. I sort of patrolled the parking area a bit to try to spot those thieves but didn’t see them. Then I moved out of there, towards the road where they were running to, and tried spotting them but didn’t see anyone there either. Then I decided that they would have long gone far away or would have hidden somewhere so I would not be able to find them. On thinking this I moved my car in the direction of my home and sped forward.

Many thoughts raced through my mind. What if the guy had succeeded in snatching the purse? I would have lost my mobile, wallet, ID card, ATM cards and credit card. What if I had fallen due to his pull? I would have been bruised. What if the guy actually struggled with me for the purse? I would have surely lost the battle along with the purse and some other valuables. What if the second guy had come back to help his accomplice? I could have been badly hurt and molested.

Since all of this had not happened, Thank God, I thanked Allah and kept moving. The only ‘injury’ that was inflicted upon me was a small bruise near my wrist. I got it due to the friction of the purse strap against my arm due to the pull by the snatcher. But it was something microscopic and not worth consideration.

I must admit that I did get scared a bit. But then I brushed my fears away and thought of all this as a ‘bad’ adventure. I even thought of a fun side of all this as the idea of putting it all on my blog came to my mind. ;-) I guess I have done that now and even dragged the story a bit. So I guess its time to stop now.

Let’s pray that may the world be rid of such purse snatchers.