Curious Ethics...

A few days ago, I experienced an instance of what I've been calling "curious ethics" here. I was in a store, made a purchase and somewhere in between paying and leaving "misplaced" my wallet. It was all kind of odd, not sure whether it fell out of my lap or was taken out of my bag, but either way, it wasn't on me when I went to pay for food five minutes later. I went back to the store, twice, and was met with a "No English, ma'am" the second time I returned. Curious, very curious.

So I filed a police report, arranged to cancel credit cards (collect calls are impossible to make in India) and was most upset about loosing my irreplaceable Hampshire ID --- everything else was either expired or renewable. I had a "like mother like daughter" moment when my mom, without prompt, was most upset about the Hampshire ID.

But low and behold, I get a call the next day at my hotel that I need to go pick something up at the police station...right away. I walked down there, half expecting to only get my business cards and maybe my useless IDs back. But everything was there --- save 2,000 rupees and the ragged-edged wallet itself --- cards and trinkets (even my paper soap) wrapped in a copy of my passport that I kept in my old wallet. Supposedly, some "school children found it at the market down the road"...where I haven't been.

Some questions pop to mind --- Isn't it interesting that the money is the only thing that matters? What did they buy with those 2,000 rupees? Did they even know what the credit cards were (they're rarely accepted much less used here in India) Are there schoolchildren somewhere who are 10 rupees happier? And most importantly, who would want a torn-up, ragged, oil-stained Vera Bradley wallet?

How curious are the ethics of all this?

B(ee)