If someone wrenches away a part of my car (though I do not
have one at present) I would feel bad. Any part of anything that we use is also
a part of our own existence; our own body and soul. That’s why breaking ins in
locked houses cause a lot of distress to people other than the loss of the
valuables. I do not dare to talk about physical violations on both men and
women by boors and authorities. It must be scarring people for the lives.
However, in this small write up I plan to play the devil’s advocate. My trigger
is one of the news items that I happened to read in today’s newspaper.
In South Delhi, within ten minutes seven high end cars lost
their side view mirrors. The CCTV grabs show the auto-borne thieves striking
within the gap of a few minutes in different places and wrecking havoc on the
high cars like Audi, by taking their side view mirrors. A call made to the Audi
showroom by one of the owners (of the cars) brought the prices of these mirrors
into day light. A pair of it costs Rs.2.5 lakhs. It is a real loss for the
owners. South Delhi being the rich part of the capital city often faces
vandalism of different sorts. Taking away the car parts is not new to Delhi.
Cannibalizing the stolen cars is an acknowledged grey market business and the
authorities have not done much towards stopping it. My concern is not that.
(An Audi Car)
If a pair of side view mirrors (in that case any costly part
of the car which cannot be locked away as it constitutes the external functions
including the beautification of the car) that costs Rs.2.5 lakhs is stolen then
we have to understand that there is a market elsewhere for it. Also commonsense
tells us that the consumers of such stolen goods cannot be using low end cars
for adding of anything like an Audi’s side view mirror to a low end car or an
SUV would suddenly bring the public attention including that of the Police. Hence,
we deduce the fact that the end users of these stolen goods are those people
who use similar brand cars elsewhere, who in turn have lost their spare parts
like side view mirrors.
A thief does not steal a car part just for fun. Yes, when it
comes to the stealing of car logos (like the universally identifiable logos of
the Mercedes Benz, Jaguar, Ford and so on) it is done at times for the heck of
it. Hear the words of Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize winning Turkish Novelist. In
his new novel, ‘A Strangeness in My Mind’ as the story progresses, Pamuk makes
his protagonist Mevlut talk these words, “You should not park here, the
neighbourhood kids will steal the side view mirrors,” said Mevlut. “They’ll
even take away the Ford Logo...They sell them to the spare parts dealers up the
hill or wear them as necklaces. If it had been a Mercedes, they would have
ripped the sign out long ago.” (Page 266).
(Orhan Pamuk, author)
I need not explain further why thieves take away high end
car parts as Pamuk has explained it well in his novel. If it happens in Turkey,
definitely it should be happening in any part of the world. I believe it is a
fall out of the high end consumerism. As more and more people are taking the
risk of buying high end cars in order to live a ‘different’ life, a parallel
grey market is also developing along with it. What Arundhati Roy calls as ‘lifestyle
war’ is what is making this new art of pilfering a rampant business. Anything
that is mechanical has and needs spare parts. And all the mechanical devices
are created for enhancing the life styles wars. That means the spare parts thus
pilfered become the weapons of the new war and the thieves (they in Delhi are
identified as Kaan Thod Gang, the ear severing gang, as they specialize in
taking away the side view mirrors) the foot soldiers of the new war fare.
(Arundhati Roy, author and activist)
As I mentioned before, anybody would feel bad if something
is stolen from their possession. But a car that worth more than a crore and its
functional as well as decorative parts cost Rs.2.5 lakhs (which in fact is more
than the price of a car that is offered by certain companies) automatically
carries such risks in the public spaces. I am not supporting the theft but what
I want to underline is the fact that the life style warfare would create its
side characters who would always try to thwart the main focus of the war by
creating parallel war zones which could produce profit for them and in a conscientious
manner. The gang of thieves stopping a family in the middle of the night in a
deserted patch of the road and raping the female members of the family is
fundamentally different from the gangs that steal spare parts of the high end
cars. The petty thieves who pick pockets or snatch chains are also different
from the thieves who strike at the high end cars. They are like parallel
operators in a life style war/market, whose acts are eventually legitimized by
the grey market operators who further push the same spare parts to those high
end car owners who had lost the spare parts in similar operations.
(a bracelet )
This kind of stealing is a conscience game. The thieves know
that the owners of the cars are liable to be pilfered because they have excess
money that’s why they buy such high end cars. They also know that most of the
people who afford these kinds of cars use money earned by illegal means. Hence,
the thieves think that stealing them is also a part of their social commitment
to redistribute their money or property in a perverted way; by stealing or
damaging their property. They find some kind of activism in it. While we say
that any kind of stealing is a criminal act, the high end stealing always has a
charm that’s why in the popular narratives the diamond thieves are always given
the halo of a hero. There is a lot of skill and planning to do such theft; it
involves smartness and agility. They are backed up by the invisible
conscientious support of the populace that thinks that the owners of the high
end cars should be punished in some way.
I will close this small essay by recounting a story told me
by an artist friend. A man who was walking along the road stepped on a golden
bracelet. He picked it up and looked around. After so much of deliberation this
man went to a goldsmith and assessed the value of it. Once he realized that the
bracelet was original, he thought of selling it and buying a chain for himself
with the money. He did it. After that he kept on asking himself whether he did
the right thing or not. He also thought of the person who had lost it and the
pain he should be undergoing. So he went to a guru and asked him whether he did
the right thing or not. Guru told him that he could wear the golden chain
without any prick of conscience because a person who wears a golden bracelet or
anklet must be a show off and he definitely must not have any financial liabilities
for himself or in his family. So the bracelet was a part of the life style war
for the owner of it. Hence, having it accidentally and converting it into a
golden chain need not necessarily be an act of theft, the Guru assured. The man
went away happily.
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