I can hardly believe this, but it truly happened to me.

In a matter of seconds, I lost two items - my mobile phone and my EZlink card. Right from the front pocket of my bag.

I was at Toa Payoh this evening and as my appointment was pushed backwards by 30 minutes, I decided to while the time away shopping around. There I was with my sister, chatting away and browsing the clothes on offer at the piazza in front of Burger King. Nothing out of the blue happened, until I decided to check on my phone for the time and to see if the person I was supposed to meet send me any text messages.

Hola! The zip of my pocket was wide open and the two contents were offloaded!

I looked at my sister, wide-eyed as I shot off these words “Somebody stole my handphone and EZlink card”

My knee-jerk reaction wasn’t this actually. When I didn’t find my phone, I immediately opened my bag to search until it occured to me that my EZlink card was gone too! I couldn’t have misplaced it, as I remembered too clearly that was the last place I saw it minutes ago.

So to my dismay, I concluded the unbelievable - I was pickpocketed.

My suspicion was further confirmed when my sis called my mobile but the phone was off.

You know, I really don’t know how to describe my feelings now. While I should hold responsbility for this happening, at the same time I cannot resist the urge to lambaste the person for such a lowly behaviour. Though I didn’t really did it out loud, there were some flashes of thoughts spiralling around in my mind.

This is a very good lesson for me to learn here. While I’m usually more careful with my belongings when I’m abroad, I realised that I have pretty much let my guard down in my homeland. It’s as if nothing untoward will happen to me in Singapore. I have so much faith and trust in this country’s people and it’s law that I forgot - I am responsible for taking care of myself and my belongings.

My handphone has a strap attached, which I conveniently left it ouside the zip to faciliate me whipping it out to answer a call. This would be an absolute no-no if I were overseas, as I felt it unsafe. But, as I’ve said, the word “unsafe” was practically non-existent in my dictionary when I’m home and thus, I threw all the caution into the wind.

As much as all shopping mood was lost and I was supposed to be reeling with anger, my mind was still functioning well enough to know who to contact to get the number of the person I was to meet and to call him. Then I sms my hubby so that he wouldn’t be calling me frantically. So much for this post-event damage control.

So please, do not push the responsibility to take care of ourselves and our belongings to someone else. We should be the one to do it. After all, if you don’t bother to look after your business, who will? Trouble usually begins when one starts to take things for granted.

My sister didn’t offer much of a consolation. She half jokingly told me that I no longer have to kill my brain cells in deliberating which phone to buy now. For the past few days, I was vexed over which phone to buy (I was comparing two models). So now, since one of the two wasn’t launched yet, it seems like the answer is out.

What can I say? “Thanks, sista”

I am beginning to miss my phone! It has been with me for so long!