The Hindu : dated July 16, 1953: Dirty Trick

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Wednesday, Jul 16, 2003

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dated July 16, 1953: Dirty Trick

An Editorial piece: A new kind of confidence trick seems to be paying rich dividends in Madras City. Though the publicity given to the activities of the light-fingered gentry might have been expected to put people on their guard, guilelessness or perhaps vanity seems to work powerfully on the side of the rogues. The technique is simple., While you are waiting for the bus, or walking along a crowded thoroughfare somebody comes up and points to dirt on your clothes, generally on that part of the anatomy which you cannot inspect without an effort. The dirt may be there or it may not be. It may have been adroitly deposited by your new-found friend, whose solicitude infects you with a sensitiveness to your appearance which is normally dulled in those who are doomed to live and move in the circumambient dust of our cities. While you are taking off your shirt or washing away the dirt, your purse or fountain pen takes wing — and so does the Good Samaritan. . But the ache begins after the operation; and it is not eased by the recollection that you have been had. Moral; when a total stranger points an accusing finger at your immaculate shirt, put up your hand with a trigger-happy cowboy gesture — to cover your pocket.

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