The difference between a developed and a developing country: or (chori ki story)

The past week was a learning experience on the above count. Last Thursday Venkat lost his bag on the tube. Well, the tube is not some sci-fi time warpy tunnel you walk through, but just the London usage for the underground, which sometimes peeps above too, and runs merrily with houses and grounds and even graveyards on its side. He slept uncontrollably on the tube after getting in at St.Pauls and finding a seat in Stratford. A bearded, capped black man (are they called African-British in this country?) sitting diagonally opposite was eyeing him and his black bag which he smartly placed between his legs and entered into the attractively beckoning sweeeet slumber. He woke up suddenly after having crossed his stop at Newbury Park and the train almost reaching Barkingside. He looked around searching for something, that was his black bag and wondering where he had pushed it in his sleep. A 13 or 14 year old boy informed him that he saw the man sitting diagonally opposite to him pick up the bag and get out on some previous stop. He lost his black bag, with 3 watches, his train pass, (Oyster pass its called, why???? ), a usb drive, some secure id card and his office id. He got off at Fairlop and called me with the depressing news, which was weird and funny and unexpected.
Now starts the interaction with the 1st world system:
He backtracked to Newbury Park and informed the travel police about the incident. He entered the station master's or the travel policeman's room that resembled a 3rd world country's erratic, unkempt station masters room with files piled everywhere and paint peeling, and a general air of lassitude. The police gave him a crime reference number and I think he was granted a free exit from the stop. (I was scared of this part when he informed me of the robbery on the phone. Will he be forced to buy a ticket since his Oyster pass had been stolen and hence had no proof of honest travel. But my fears were just my fears:) )
So he came home and we discussed and mourned and later informed all our family about the 'crime incident' and we all marvelled and laughed about the fact that 'yaha bhi yeh sab hota hai'. In fact we have been lucky to have never had anything stolen from us so far in our life, so it was even funnier to think that we needed to come to Great Britain to experience our first theft. Venkat started thinking that his time is turning bad again, just the previous week he had crushed my rimless glasses with golden frame and before that some other tiny loss had occurred. But I tried to console him with stories of losses in my family; Anshi had her mobile stolen twice in a bus, but the 1st time she actually managed to retrieve it thanks to a stroke of luck and Mausi's daring dynamism (thats another story). And Papa would always lose things in the local train when returning from his office at Nariman Point, and we had actually grown up with Mummy lamenting and him laughing over the carelessness that led to all of those. I didnt remember this then, but Mausi's classic tale of Amisha spotting a man in the station carrying away their suitcase and Mausi admonishing her for suspecting people would definitely have entertained him if not helped feel better. Of course in moments of loss you dont feel like hearing things like oh, its ok, it happens, dont worry, and everybody loses some thing at some point in his or her life. You just want to be with the feeling, with a sudden memory of the importance of an item lost flashing upon you, and pulling you back into a sullen gloom.
Well, to continue with the system interaction story. We of course didnt think anything would come out of the crime reporting and that anyone would follow up on this case, like in India we thought, the police would have many more important mysteries to solve and criminals to catch, and our minor theft would be quite low in their priority of things. But we were wrong. The very next day we got a call from the transport police going through the details of the 'case' again and giving him a number to call in case he remembers anything else and asking pertinent questions like where was the bag, and where do u think the thief must have got off, and such. Venkat revels in any sort of communication and he informed the interrogator to both's heart's content.

On Monday he got a letter. This was again from the transport police expressing regret over the incident and promising action but not results. We were happy with the follow up and the fact that we were seeing system machinery at work, though we didnt actually believe anything would come out of all the talk that had been happenning.

On Wednesday we got a letter from a crime victim support group. They informed us of a hotline number we could call in case we were traumatized by whatever had befallen us - in our case - theft while he was sleeping.
Another call and some police person told Venkat about the existence of collection centres which held all those items that have been rejected by the thief as useless in his scheme of things. The idea is that the thief rummages through the contents of whatever he has stolen and discards or throws away all that he deems as useless in the station premises or in the train. We got another number to call and check if our thief had followed this behavioural pattern.
Today Venkat called that number. After another conversation recounting the losses and the entry, exit points and all things relevant, he was informed by the lady at the collection centre in Baker Street that they have the bag with all contents, but no watches. We can go and collect the bag, and will be charged a 5 pound fee:) The story was the thief disposed the bag at Woodford. We realized that he must have got off at Leytonstone, which is the station from which the railway branches into 2 lines. He must have caught the train going on the other line, rummaged through the bag in the train, taken the watches and disposed the bag either on the platform or on the train. He was smart enough to not get caught by the CCTV cameras that are supposedly installed in all the stations.
So we realized that the system works, and this is the difference between a 1st world and 3rd world country.