Lost & Found in Mumbai's Auto-Rikshaw | Story

 


I am originally from Delhi, and it had been around 2 months at the time of this incident. That fateful day I was accompanying my girlfriend (let’s call her A) and her friend (B) to pick up B’s friend C from the airport who was coming into town for an interview at a reputed university for his post-graduation.


C arrived with quite a bit of luggage, so we offered to help him with it. We hailed 2 autos; since one can only allow 3 at a time; kept one of his bags in ours and decided to meet at a cafe in Versova.


We reached a few minutes earlier than them and waited for B and C at the entrance. As soon as they arrived C noticed our empty hands and immediately asked us about his bag. I looked at A expectantly and she looked back at me with the same expectation. That’s when it struck us, we had forgotten it in the auto.


The expression on C’s face wasn’t one of extreme anger or anything malevolent but that of sheer hopelessness. I, somehow gathered the guts to ask him what was in it. His reply made me want to kill myself. The bag we forgot had around 30 K in cash, his MacBook and most importantly, ALL his education certificates and degrees.

I’ll summarize the rest of the ordeal in a few bullet points:

Went back to the airport to check the video recording of the area from where we got the auto

Were unlucky as the auto picked us up from right under the camera. So, the top of it was visible but the number plate wasn’t

Filed a report with the Police who were extremely helpful throughout and immediately informed the other stations to be on the lookout. This was particularly striking to me because I have had a few trysts with Haryana and Delhi police and BELIEVE me, you never want anything to do with them ever.


3 Days later C got a call from the auto driver who found C’s visiting card in it and thus, managed to get in touch.


He returned everything exactly as it was found by him. Luckily C’s interview was in 2 days’ time from the day of the discovery.


After being informed of this, I realized why is Mumbai different from every other city in India. I wouldn’t have expected this in Delhi for sure.

 

Story by Manav Gulati

lives in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

 

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