Cost of Negligience - Price I payed for the value that I gained

I recently attended a college friend's wedding and out of all the good things that I did in the nostalgic setting, least did I know that this is what I would be writing about. Anyways, after the beautiful wedding got over, me and one of my friends left the venue around 11:45 pm and by 1:15 am we reached home. I was tired from the sleepless night and the swamped day we had & my friend had excruciating pain in his legs, so we decided not to unload the car completely. We both took our main bags and went inside the house. Normally, I press my lock button until I have the audible confirmation. That night ( kick me, kick me, kick me!!), I didn't act as per my habit:(:( , I just wanted to go home and take off the 3 pound, stone studded dress that I had donned that evening. So without giving a second thought to the stuff that was in my car, we went inside. And sure enough, that was the first time, in 5 years, the first theft happened in the community where I reside - somebody got free access to my car which was still laden with things from our trip.

Kick me a few more times please, because I SAW THEM THROUGH MY BEDROOM WINDOW!!!!!! My car was parked on the rear side of my house and they parked their car right under my bedroom, which aligns with the front facade of the house. When I saw two late teens getting out of a car parked in front of my house I grew suspicious and got up to see what was going on. They went from one house to another, only going to houses that had big driveways. Soon I lost the sight of them, and dismissed their presence thinking that may be they were here to visit a friend of theirs.. Bad idea!! I should have blown the whistle.

Next morning, my friend complained of his missing laptop bag, but it didn't dawn upon any of us that a theft could have occurred. It was only when I found an obsolete cell phone, which used to normally dwell in my car, lying in my front yard that I started thinking in a different direction. Soon, we we found that all the electronic items were missing from the car - work laptop, GPS, IPOD, Bose QC3 headphones,and Digital camera.

Lessons learned:
1) Stay vigilant, and report any out of the place activity that comes under your radar. No matter how big or small. There is a reason we pay taxes, avail the service. Don't underestimate the gravity of any such situation. Let the cops come and assess the situation in a dignified manner.
2) Lock your car, irrespective of how safe you think the place is - it took several hours for my neighbors to believe what happened. Everybody has always assumed a relaxed approach because of the reputation the neighborhood and the area has earned.
3) Do not leave valuable possessions in your vehicle. All the things that were stolen, were lying in inconspicuous areas of my car. While my unlocked car was a different case, do not take a chance.

I wish I had spent that extra minute to check my car. I wish I had emptied my car. I wish I would have followed the two guys and called somebody to check on them. There is no point in crying over spilled milk, but this experience was a wake up call for all of us.

I will leave the wedding story for some other day. I am still not over the post wedding woes :( If they had stolen my car, I could have at least leveraged the Lo-Jack's recovery service. Yeah, may be the next time, I will leave my keys inside.

- Dukhi Aatma