Robbed at Gandhi's memorial

Mahatma Gandhi remains a hero for India’s masses for his tolerant approach and violence-free revolution. So it was upside-down that my treasured local friend, who had taken me to Gandhi’s memorial, Raj Ghat, had his shoes stolen while paying homage. One of Gandhi’s seven social sins is wealth without work, but someone at the memorial ignored the signs of the outlook, which are available in most languages around the tranquil garden. My friend took the theft well and we tried not to laugh as he shuffled out of the tomb in bare feet, in the same way Gandhi walked before his death in 1948.

The other friend in my group then said his motorcycle had been lifted while he was visiting the site another day. He’d left it in a no-parking zone, but there were 20 other bikes there and he was surprised not to find it when he went back. After speaking to a police officer and learning it had been impounded he said: “There were 21 bikes there, why did you take mine and none of the others?” The officer replied: “Because 20 of them were police bikes.” It cost him 200 rupees to get his machine back, which I soon learned was much less than the price of a new pair of shoes.