Maintaining security of your house when you go on vacation

The world of today is becoming smaller and smaller and everyone wants to get away from the humdrum of routine life at the first available opportunity.
Those who have the advantage of relatives living nearby can transfer the security aspect to them temporarily. Those who have trustworthy people can hand over the responsibility to them – they can come in at night to provide the necessary security cover. Watching TV or nibbling knick-knacks from the fridge are added incentives for them.
But, for those like me who is denied such helps, I have to rely on God to keep my house safe when I am away.
Of course, I do not have any costly stuff in my house and, whatever little I do possess have been acquired through innumerable sacrifices – therefore the loss would hit me hard. Hence, I had to devise my own unique security system.

The place where I have my bungalow is in an isolated location. The houses are not next to one another as in cities but are stand-alone ones separated by shrubs and trees. Obviously, once darkness sets in, each house stands like an island – there is a Gurkha guard who makes the rounds after 11pm. He would blow his whistle and make some noise with his stick on the tar roads. If people with evil intentions were nearby, they would wait for the guard to pass.
Hence, I devised my own security measures.
The first one was to keep a couple of lights on inside the house – at first sight, these lights would sent out a message that the house is not empty. The CFL bulbs are sturdy ones and can remain glowing even for up to three months at a time. Yes, they did prove their worth when my family and I had to go to Bangalore to look after our granddaughter for three months at a time.
Yes, the child was just 6-months old when she came to Bangalore and we, the grandparents from both sides took it by turns to look after her for 3-months duration. We did it for twelve months.
Well – the CFL bulbs in my rooms were my security guards and safety lights.
As to the safety of the items in the house, one of my friends gave a very wise advice – lock only the front door, he said. Do not lock the internal rooms. Also, leave the almirah unlocked. The reason was that if someone does force his way in, he would damage only the front door. The other doors and almirah would be spared and it would be less headache for you to get them repaired.
My friend is no more but I follow his advice even today. (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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