twice!
i couple of guys took away my cell phone and other valuables in an armed robbery, on an open street in a crowded place. before i write down the details of the incident, my mind was drifting towards this industry economy:
let's do some calculations
number of cell phone users in pakistan: 77 million
average cell phones stolen every year (let's keep an average of 1 phone every 2 year): 77 * 0.5 = 38.5 million
average cost of cell phone = 5,000 rs.
stolen cell phone industry turnover = 5000*77,000,000= 385 billion rs.
that's roughly 5 billion dollars+. with this amount, you can easily finance your election campaign, build mansions in dubai, london, new york, etc.
anyways, this is how it happened:
the time is around 9:45pm and i'm returning back to home in my car when my wife says we need to buy mangoes for home. i stop at a nearby grocery stall in dehli colony. as soon as i am done paying for the mangoes, an average looking guy (looked like a typical karachiite) came very close to me, pointed a gun at my belly and asked me to give him my cell phone. it took me less than 2 seconds to understand what's happening, so i very calmly gave him the phone. he then asked for money - i took out my wallet, took out all the cash from it and gave him that. he asked if i had any more with me, and i showed him my empty wallet. he searched my pant pockets if i was telling the truth. he also held my wrist and had a good look at my watch - somehow he didnt like the seiko i was wearing, so he didnt ask for it. so after finding nothing in my pockets, he asked if the lady sitting in the car is with me - and i said yes she's with me. so he went to my wife and asked her for rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. unfortunately she was wearing some good amount of jewellery in her hands - which they gladly took away. they wanted to search more in the car which had my laptop and my wife's purse, but then i told them 'dude, i think you've had enough' and he looked at me and smiled, and said 'really?' and i said 'yes'. he maintained his smile and said 'oh well, okay' and sat on a motorbike which was driven by an accomplice and drove away. without making much fuss of the situation, i went back to the grocery stall, took the mango bags, and drove away too.
this was the second such incident with me in 4 years time. it really didnt excite me to purchase 5 kgs of mangoes for rs.70,000/.
let's do some calculations
number of cell phone users in pakistan: 77 million
average cell phones stolen every year (let's keep an average of 1 phone every 2 year): 77 * 0.5 = 38.5 million
average cost of cell phone = 5,000 rs.
stolen cell phone industry turnover = 5000*77,000,000= 385 billion rs.
that's roughly 5 billion dollars+. with this amount, you can easily finance your election campaign, build mansions in dubai, london, new york, etc.
anyways, this is how it happened:
the time is around 9:45pm and i'm returning back to home in my car when my wife says we need to buy mangoes for home. i stop at a nearby grocery stall in dehli colony. as soon as i am done paying for the mangoes, an average looking guy (looked like a typical karachiite) came very close to me, pointed a gun at my belly and asked me to give him my cell phone. it took me less than 2 seconds to understand what's happening, so i very calmly gave him the phone. he then asked for money - i took out my wallet, took out all the cash from it and gave him that. he asked if i had any more with me, and i showed him my empty wallet. he searched my pant pockets if i was telling the truth. he also held my wrist and had a good look at my watch - somehow he didnt like the seiko i was wearing, so he didnt ask for it. so after finding nothing in my pockets, he asked if the lady sitting in the car is with me - and i said yes she's with me. so he went to my wife and asked her for rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. unfortunately she was wearing some good amount of jewellery in her hands - which they gladly took away. they wanted to search more in the car which had my laptop and my wife's purse, but then i told them 'dude, i think you've had enough' and he looked at me and smiled, and said 'really?' and i said 'yes'. he maintained his smile and said 'oh well, okay' and sat on a motorbike which was driven by an accomplice and drove away. without making much fuss of the situation, i went back to the grocery stall, took the mango bags, and drove away too.
this was the second such incident with me in 4 years time. it really didnt excite me to purchase 5 kgs of mangoes for rs.70,000/.
