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Lost and found

Lost and found

If you are like me then the very mention of travel will make you want to experience something new. Each travel is a story by itself by stringing together all the events, good or bad. Some, you would like to learn a lesson from, and then forget about it; others, you would like to cherish lifelong.

Getting things stolen, misplacing or losing stuff is part and parcel of travel and you would like to take those extra precautions against it happening. Generally when you lose something, it is either gone for good or turns up in one corner of your luggage the next day.

Here is a story that offers a different ending. Lost and Found.

shatabdi train @lemonicks.com/

Our coach in Shatabdi.

While on our trip to Uttarakhand last year, we had decided to take the Shatabdi express from New Delhi. The plan was to get off at Roorkee and visit our friend’s factory and then move on to Rishikesh.

All was hunky-dory. All according to plan and I patted myself for that 🙂 or so, I thought. We were duly picked up from the Roorkee station & we proceeded towards the factory. At this point I noticed V was squirming in the car and making frowning faces and generally going red then white and all shades in between.
I asked him the reason for his trying to compete with the rainbow outside.

He blurted out, “Where is my jacket?”. This is quite the normal routine at home. He would ask where is this and where is that and even if I had not handled the stuff I would be expected to know and generally I would, too. Tell me, if the same story goes in your households as well. 🙂

Coming back to the point,
I said “I don’t know. You had it with you in the train”.
“Ah!” he said. “The train.”
“Yes, the train”. I uttered without attaching much importance to it and then it clicked!!

As soon as we boarded he had removed his jacket and hung it on one of the hooks. Later we had changed the seats to some more comfortable ones and he had not picked his jacket up !! I fumed, why couldn’t he take care of his stuff? The expensive quilted jacket was bought in the US and was favourite with both of us.

Dejectedly I told him to let it go. He said “Let’s try to get it anyway. Let’s go back to station and lodge a complaint.” Has it ever worked in your whole life?

We are aware what happens to these complaints in India generally. The manager who had come to escort us and was showing the places en route to our hotel, suddenly jolted out of his reverie and asked if something was amiss. When we told him the story, he was pretty serene, much like Buddha. He said “No problem”.
We looked at each other. In India when someone says “No problem” then generally that’s when all your problems begins! 😛

We made a U-turn, went to the station master and narrated the story. By this time, the train had just arrived at its last station….. Dehradun. The station master called up his counterpart over his special railway phone, much like a hot line. Color and other details of the jacket were conveyed. They immediately deputed someone to the coach and seat number before the cleaning staff arrived. And guess what? That someone found the jacket intact !! Well, it wasn’t that easy as it looks like now.

Next was, how to get it back. The cool manager, Mr Joshi, in his serene tone, said again, “No problem, let us complete the factory visit and you’ll have your jacket before you reach Rishikesh.”. God bless him… This time I believed him. We completed the comprehensive tour of the factory and had sumptuous lunch.

Meanwhile, it was Mr Joshi’s turn to make a series of telephone calls. He made arrangement for our travel to Rishikesh via Dehradun, giving instructions to the driver to stop at such and such place and a person would meet us at the car with the jacket !

Rest, as they say, is history.

Such is life. I am sure there are a lot of you out there who have a few such stories to share.

Hats off to all those who go that extra mile to ensure your travel is safe, pleasurable and yes, memorable too !! 😀

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14 thoughts on “Lost and found”

  1. WOW- what a great ending to this story!!!!!! This is normally not the usual end to this kind of story-I’ve left shawls, cameras, purses…on public transport and never seen them again….what a wonderful thing that you were able to retrieve said coat and go along your merry way!!! PLUS you didn’t miss a beat with your travel plans- you were able to view the factory and then continue to your next destination- WHAT A GREAT STORY!!!

  2. Samaresh,
    LOL…. Did he notice you? Poor boy… he must have thought your bag contained some good stuff and what he found in it? A book!! I hope he read that book. 🙂

  3. Connie,
    All thanks to the gentleman Mr Joshi who helped us.

    And I too have many incidents of lost & found, nearly lost, totally lost cases. 😀

  4. What an amazing story. I can say that because of such people only India works 🙂

    Hats off to that Gentleman!

    Congrats to you for getting back the jacket.

  5. i was taking bath in the waterfall when the boy came near by as he was herding cattle so i didn’t gave importance he picked up my bag & ran towards the wood i lost my fav book fountainhead & few cans of beer 🙁

  6. Samaresh,
    Ha Ha ha
    I can now visualize the scene…. him running with his loot. 😀

    Poor boy !
    I hope he at least used the beer cans. 😛 I suggest you should go under waterfall more often. 😀

    On a serious note, did you buy another copy of Fountainhead or not?

  7. I guess most times we don’t want to try finding that lost thing, so sure we won’t get it back. I guess with these success stories being shared, one would give it a try next time!

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