NAVI MUMBAI: An unknown thief who had unknowingly broken into the locked house of the legendary Marathi poet, Narayan Surve, at Neral in Karjat taluka, fully felt the power of poetry and became remorseful on realizing that he had stolen an LED TV from Surve’s property, and so soon returned it and also left a handwritten apology note before the poet’s family members could return back to the house.
This unusual burglary came to light this Sunday when Surve’s daughter, Usha, and her husband Ganesh Ghare returned there after being away for 10 days. The Neral police which has registered an FIR against unknown person for housebreaking-theft (HBT) have also taken in their custody the apology letter of the thief in which he states in Marathi that he “did not know this was the house of poet Narayan Surve”, otherwise he would not have broken in to steal the TV and a few other things.
The Neral police which has registered an FIR against unknown person for housebreaking-theft (HBT) have also taken in their custody the apology letter of the thief in which he states in Marathi that he “did not know this was the house of poet Narayan Surve”, otherwise he would not have broken in to steal the TV and a few other things
The thief, who was obviously aware about the poetic works of Narayan Surve, ended the scribbled note with the word “Sorry” written in English. The stolen LED TV was also lying close by in the same room where a big portrait of Surve is present along with his various scrolls of honour for his lifetime body of literary work.
Police inspector Shivaji Dhavle of Neral police station told TOI: “The thief does seem to be a literate person but we do not know how educated he is, going by his childlike scribbled handwriting in the apology note left behind. We are checking the fingerprints on the LED TV and also a few CCTV footages from certain cameras attached outside.”
It is likely that the thief had made multiple entries into the house, and after seeing Surve’s portrait and trophies, he returned the stolen TV. However, a few cooking supplies items and a few other things are still missing.
Poet Narayan Surve who died in August 2010 at the age of 84, was well regarded for his sensitive and poignant literary works depicting the struggles of the poor and working class people. Surve who was an orphan himself had done several odd jobs in his life to survive, but ultimately he became well-known as a poet after he struggled hard to teach himself how to read and write in the school of hard knocks.
Raigad based social worker and founder of Ankur Trust, Vaishali Patil, commented: “It is very rare that a thief has returned back the stolen goods after getting to know that they belonged to a famous poet. Narayan Surve’s books and poems were not just read by the so called `intellectuals’ but they permeated among all the working classes. Even porters, drivers, labourers were known to enjoy his poems.”
