From the other side of the glass

Let me start off with some little incidents:

Scene 1: Hyderabad Airport 

I am waiting for a bus back to home with a friend after seeing off my mum at the airport. Lost into conversation and in my eagerness to board the bus, I leave my wallet on a bench at the stop. I get into the bus, racing to grab a window seat completely oblivious of the non existence of my wallet. After a substantial 20 mins in the bus and my blissful ignorance, the conductor comes in to announce that he received a call from the stop that somebody left a wallet there. This freaked me out as I realized that the somebody was me and the wallet had all my bank cards and IDs. Since the bus had already travelled half the distance, I was told to wait at the destination stop for the next bus to arrive. After another half an hour of anxious wait, the next bus came and didn't fail to disappoint: the driver was carrying my wallet wrapped and taped carefully in newspaper.

Scene 2: Madhapur Hyderabad

My friend comes to visit Hyderabad and I am all charged up and happy on seeing her. After picking her up from the railway station we take back an auto to drop us home. On the way we get down to have some breakfast at a local eatery and merrily spend 2 hours talking over dosas and chai. It was when we stepped out of the shop that it struck us that we didn't pick up our luggage from the auto. Flabbergasted we stand there completely clueless of the auto we left the stuff in. Neither did we recognize the auto nor its driver, thus setting the stage for a typical needle in the haystack problem to now locate an unknown auto rickshaw wala in a metro city. The only option left was to enquire about him from the station where we originally got into his vehicle, so thats what we settle on doing. To our surprise, every auto driver at the station was already aware that a bag was left in an auto at the slightest mention of the missing suitcase, thankfully our driver had spread the word to all his fellow auto guys and asked them to direct the claimants to the auto union building where the bag was kept. The poor guy had even done rounds in the market where we left to locate us while we were busy gulping down jugs of chai.

So why did I write these scenes? To brandish on a public blog about my (and my equally wonderful friends') great knack of leaving around things? Ha. 

This is for that unknown person who picked up an orphaned wallet at a bus stop and took the trouble to make sure it reaches its owner, to the auto guy who didn't just run away with luggage which he could easily have had he wanted to, to the cab driver who brought back my cell phone. There are people like these who reinstate my faith, in hopefulness, in trust. We might be living in an era of 'ghor kalyug' but there are always people who rise up to the occasion and make you look at things from a different angle. Thank You!

Here is an advertisement from IDEA that kindles the same feeling: