This week, my second story related to knowing. This happened in my home just over two years ago. It was a period in between lockdowns. Like most others, I was working from home and most of my day was spent in my home office. My home is two storeys, and my office is located on the upper level.  

On this morning, I was in my office on the computer writing my week’s article. Writing had become a ritual at that point and a ritual that I ‘lost’ myself in. I learnt to ‘zone into’ writing by ‘zoning out’ of my external world. It was and still is a sacred time for me. My Saturday mornings!

As I was writing, I heard a sound that didn’t ‘feel’ right. I remember it vividly even today. I remember tilting my head to one side (I am doing it now as I recall and write about it). My brain alerted me to the unusual sound. It was a subtle sound.

I remember thinking, ‘What is that?’, but because I was so engrossed in writing I did not follow through on my thought. I carried on writing and about 3 minutes later felt thirsty and got up to get a glass of water. As I walked out of my room, I realised what the subtle sound was.

A man was approaching my husband’s, Markus, office! (Markus’s office is 2 metres away from mine separated by a bathroom). The subtle sound was someone breaking in!

I didn’t shout. I let out an audible ‘oh’ which caught Markus’s attention. He said, ‘What?’

And I replied, ‘There is a human in our home’ rather calmly might I add. That got Markus out of his chair with a rather audible, ‘What!!!’.

Here’s the thing. In the nanosecond, after my brain caught sight of the intruder, I knew he was not a threat! Another component of ‘knowing’. Although the intruder had just broken into our home, I also knew he was not ‘harmful’. He didn’t seem like a ‘professional’ burglar.

Markus came out of his room and saw the intruder, who was by now backing away towards the stairs. He had no weapon on him, and his body language was one of guilt and ‘don’t harm me’. We escorted him down the stairs and the intruder retraced his path to where he entered our home.

We were wondering how he got in as we went downstairs. We soon found the grill that he broke to get in. We also found the ‘tool’ he had used to break the lock. We left our axe behind our home and the intruder used it to break the lock! That got Markus angry. The escorting out of our garden became a chase and a threat to not come back again.

I did something bizarre next. As we escorted him out, I asked him who he was and why he was in our home forgetting that he was an intruder and not a guest. You see, my late mother used to feed vagrants. Anyone who knocked on our gate or rang the bell with a hungry belly got fed! And during the days when I lived at home, I helped my mother organise their meal.

The intruder reminded me of one of them. And as if reading my mind, he said ‘There used to be a lady here who used to feed me’.  To which I replied, ‘She has passed on’. But to be honest, I didn’t recognise his face and wasn’t sure if he was lying.

He jumped over our boundary wall and ran off. We didn’t call the police because we felt it was not punishment he needed, but food and/or shelter. I would have fed him before sending him off but that day my fridge was void of Asian food. My mother would have fed him, and I have her DNA!

But that would have meant condoning his breaking in! It was a dilemma I sat with for a few days after. I felt guilt for not feeding him but anger about his breaking in.

About 2 months after our break-in, I saw a police car at my neighbour’s gate early one morning. I texted my neighbour who told me that an intruder had gotten into their home and slept in the dining room overnight! My neighbour called the police.

It was the same intruder!

I smile as I write this because it’s amusing in hindsight. Talking with an intruder who had just broken into our home is quite unusual but the brain ‘knows’ when it knows! But I should have listened when my brain first alerted me.

Have you experienced similar?

As always, you can reach me at yoga@yoganesadurai.com