When I told this story to a friend he said, “The taxi guy gave it back! Now that is surprising.” The first time it happened I ignored it.
Then the second time my father’s colleague well in his 60s, replied’ “Write about it, tell people there is still hope for India. Many have given up on our country.” That made me aware of the fact that what I was taking for granted, i.e. the taxi fellow returning my cell phone was quite surprising for others.
Then yesterday while having lunch at office, two of colleagues said the same thing again, “So the taxi driver returned it?”
Now is it that so surprising? Only one colleague, who himself has traveled a lot said “Well, it is quite possible in Himachal Pradesh.” Why, at Shringi, I would leave the room open with my DSLR lying around. I will of course not do this in Delhi or many other places but a small town in Himachal Pradesh is still safe enough.
Yes..there’s still hope and good ppl around. And these things come on least expected moment, while crossing a stream or finding your lost phone, you never know.Mk
When you first mentioned that the hotel owners had your phone, I was reminded of an old incident. We were on our honeymoon in Chamba. While taking a stroll in the busy market place one afternoon, I hung my new Monte Carlo sweater on my shoulders as the sun was pretty warm. After some time, I realized that the sweater was missing. I said that lets turn back and look for it, my wife gave me a look that seemed to say ‘do you relaly think you can find a new expensive sweater once you have dropped it in the middle of a crowd’. I could understand – she is from ‘plains’ and not used to the himachali ways :). Walking back a kilometer we found the sweater hanging on a pole in the middle of the road crossing – and no clues to who put it there. Your story once again strengthened my firm belief in the general goodness of people. Though it tends to get spoilt in cities like Delhi.
I agree. The people in cities don’t have so much goodness. Not only in India, but abroad too.I also happened to lose my expensive Mohair sweater in a bus within the Geneva city. I was told to go to lost and found office, you could almost always find your item there. I was told people there are quite honest. With high hopes I went there 3 times but couldn’t find my sweater. They had all types of umbrellas, books, clothes, shoes.. even leather jackets but not my thing. Looks like someone liked it very much to return it back.
Its very rare to see these kind of honest people now-a-days. Good that you wrote a post about it. When you go there to collect your cell-phone, convey my wishes to the taxi-driver 🙂
Madhukar, I agree with you, there is still hope, in fact a young lad returned my sister’s cell phone right here in NCR and refused to take any money for the deed.Rajeev, that is a very interesting incident, I am sure your wife too would have become a fan of the hills by now!Cuckoo, sorry to hear that you lost a very expensive sweater. In fact, I had given up on my cell phone and it was such a pleasant surprise when I came to know that it was found.Prashanth, I surely would do so 🙂
Mridula, when i read that you were able to locate the phone after having misplaced it, i also was surprised.having lost 2 phones myself (one i dropped in taxi and one got stolen from my brothers pocket), i also find it unusual.
I dropped my cellphone somewhere in Delhi, just because I had not clipped the case holding the phone properly to my belt. Whoever found it, immediately switched it off and that was the end of the story.
Nilesh and Sudu, thanks for sharing your accounts. I guess I am still not surprised on getting it back in Himachal Pradesh but my sis getting it back in Noida does seems very surprising now.
oh it is unusual, sure, but good to know its normal from your perspective:)I miss the hills. Its been ages. too long…
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Shakester, i guess I have to sy not too many shared my perspective even at Shringi, now that I have my cell phone back.Sumita, i do not know much about the border between India-China border in HP but a little bit on Sikkim.