Could I borrow your phone?

This happened on my journey to Secunderabad about a month ago. I was travelling there to report to Coromandel for whom I work now. In the train, around an hour and half from Bangalore, this stranger asks me for my phone. He says he needs to phone his brother to come to Hindupur to pick him up. I give him my phone, telling him that I've low balance and hence, he should keep his call short. He then starts talking on the phone. He goes on and on in some language I don't know (Urdu I think). He gradually starts moving away, pausing for a little while in the cubicle next to mine, and then the next. I keep up with him while keeping a careful eye on my luggage as I was travelling alone. I had with me my laptop and all my academic documents. I slowly started suspecting that this man is part of a bigger gang where one person distracts the owner while others make away with his luggage.

The said phone borrower goes on and on in that tongue of his and is in no mood to give me my phone back. By now I start asking for my phone back to which he replied, "Don't worry, your phone is not in danger" in Hindi. He even pauses to buy a couple samosas in the middle of his call. He then moves to the door and stands there phone in hand, still jabbering away. He even puts the phone near my ear momentarily to reassure me, though I didn't hear any voice on the other side. By now, I thought that he was some sort of a lunatic rather than a member of an organised gang of thieves.

The train rolled into Hindupur and the platform started whizzing past us. All of a sudden, he jumped right out of the coach, samosa and all, in the direction opposite to the train's motion. Naturally, he lost his balance and fell on the platform. I could see my phone bounce on the platform and fall into the tracks. I thought all was lost for my phone. I waited for the train to slow further while keeping an eye on him. He had stood up and continued standing in the place where he had just fallen off, staring at me with a confused look, dazed. Now that the train was slow enough, I jumped off, but made the same directional mistake he did, in my excitement. I quickly recovered from the fall and moved towards him. When he saw that I was approaching fast, he tried to make a run for it. I caught him on the platform and screamed away for help. I could sense a faint odour of alcohol on him. People got intrigued and the TTE came up and took charge. While the TTE was leading him to the police station, I excused myself and started looking for my phone along the tracks. There it was, batteries, phone and battery cover lying separately. Somebody went down and fetched it. We then handed him over to the railway police.

Looking back, it was an eye opener on how easily my phone could have been stolen. The idea was good, but its execution was horrible. A cleverer or more experienced thief would have had no troubles. They have always said that trains are unsafe. Incidents like this tell me why. Also, poverty can drive people to such desperation for my phone, on resale won't be worth more than a thousand or two. But for me, the exhilaration that this whole incident produced is what I'll remember it for.

PS: The phone still works fine. Hail Nokia!