Today I Lost a Friend

My wallet was stolen today.

It was 2 PM local time and I was in Rajiv Chowk Metro Station underneath Connaught Place waiting to board the yellow line with Shammi. Shammi was taking me to see the "real Delhi" before I left for Orissa. The crowds were oppressive and people pressed in on us from every side. My wallet was foolishly in my back pocket, a mistake I have never made in the past while traveling.

We boarded the train and there was one of those automated announcements that they play all the time on the Delhi Metro...

"Pick-pocketers have been identified in the stations and on the trains, please be careful of your personal belongings."

I reach my hand back and give my pocket a half-hearted pat. It is empty. All of a sudden I am hit with feelings of panic and disbelief. My heart races and I check my other pockets. Did I not have it in my back pocket? Did I leave it at Shashi's house? When did I have it last?

I experience what can only be called a poor-choice-by-the-director-flashback. Standing on the metro platform only 5 minutes ago I had reached back and patted my wallet in the pocket.

Being brought back to the present I turn to Shammi and tell him the news. He asks what I had in the wallet, and what I think we should do. I take a mental inventory of my wallet:

2,000 Rupees
My Drivers License
Insurance Card
Photocopy of Passport
Barnes and Noble Membership card
3 credit cards
1 debit card
1 emergency $20 dollar bill hidden in one of the compartments

We get off at the next stop and find an internet cafe. I proceed to call my bank and credit card company and cancel all the cards. Turns out the person who stole my wallet had tried to buy in total $5,000 dollars worth of stuff with my cards. Thankfully none of my credit cards work over here without me calling to authorize them. He did however manage to wrangle $400 bucks from my debit card. All this happened within 20 minutes.

I loved that wallet. I have had it for 7 years. I have lost it 2 times, and both times it has come back to me. It was my friend, and a companion that has traveled the world with me. The worst part of all of this is I never realized how much I cared for that wallet until it was gone. I never told it how I felt, how much it meant to me. And now I don't think I will ever get the chance.