Mumbai Meri Jaan

This post is not about 'Marathi Manoos' or about the Tiger and his cubs or even Bolywood, but about the spirit of 'Aamchi Mumbai'.

As I climbed on to the cool cab and told the cabbie to take me to my destination at Peddar Road, I was thanking my stars for finding my wallet after a 3 hours chase across Mumbai. I told myself that this is possible only in Mumbai. In Delhi, where I reside you cant even think of even registering a complaint with the police, forget about finding your wallet which you have left behind in a cab.

It all began on a March evening when my cab driver asked me whether I am interested to take the route to Peddar Road in South Mumbai from Santa Cruz airport through the newly opened Sea Link. Since I have heard and read and seen so much about this controversial yet an amazing engineering feat, why not? So off we tool a detour from Bandra to the Sea Link. What an amazing experience. You can see the shore line of Mumbai from the middle of the sea as you zip across the wonderful 'Rajiv Gandhi Setu' as they have renamed it. It saves you on a good day around 15minutes of your travel time between Bandra and Worli. As I got down, I thanked the cabbie for his suggestion to take the sea link and walked to the lift to climb to the 20th floor of Jaslok Hospital where my cousin sister and her family reside. Un-consciously my hand went to my back pocket, and I thanked God being near to an ICU. I realied that I left my wallet on the cab seat when I took out money to pay toll tax at the sea link. Oh my God. I looked at the pre-paid reciept and found two numbers listed on it. I tried calling them, but no one picked up. I was terrified and sweating. My credit cards, debit cards, cash, driving license- everything is gone. I ran out hoping that the cab will be around. It has gone away. Only one hope left. I still have the pre-paid receipt with the cab number on my shirt pocket.

Out of desperation, I called 100. Luckily it was picked up on the 5th ring and the policeman manning it asked me whats the problem. When the person heard my story about the lost wallet, he asked me to go and lodge a complain at the Airport Police Station. I cant believe my fate. Only option for me was to again go back and find out if the pre-paid counter guys have the cabbie's number. I climbed up to my sisters place who were waiting for me in anticipation since I am visiting them after a long time. The smiling face's turned into that of anxiety once I told them my plight. I took some 1000 buck from my brother-in-law and rushed out to catch a cab to the Airport. In the meantime I called up Sushmita and luckily got my debit card and credit numbers and called up the bank to block my account.

As I explained the situation to the pre-paid counter, to my surprise they assured me that you will get your wallet back. The guy, Manoj called up his supervisor and explained the situation to him. The supervisor in turn spoke to me and told me that since the cool cabs come back again to the Airport, unless they have picked up another customer on the road I will get my wallet back. I was amazed at the sincerety and effort that these two gentleman has put to find out my wallet in a busy airport like Mumbai. After some 10 minutes the supervisor, Deepak came and asked me to follow him. As I walked with him towards the taxi queue I was scared to ask him whether the wallet has been traced or not since in my heart I was hoping that it has been found. Hope never dies!

We went and met another two gentleman on a bike and all of us walked towards the taxi queue. And to my surprise the same cabbie who took me was there smiling and holding my wallet with another 20 cab drivers all around him. The cabbie asked me as to why I left my wallet as a gift to him. I was floored. I cant believe this. Deepak asked me to count and check that everything is there intact. I just wanted to hug all of these nice human beings. Forget about the cash, I just want my driving license, debit and credit cards back. I hugged the cabbie, gave him Rs500 and promised that in future I will be extra careful. The rest of the cabbies wanted to know whether I have lodged a complaint with the police station. If I did, than the police will make the life of the cabbie difficult. I thanked God that I never went to the police and trusted the simple pre-paid counter person to help me locate my wallet.

As I climbed into a new cool cab to my jouney back to Peddar Road, I proudly told the cabbie to take the sea link again. The vastness and openness of the sea resembles the spirit of Mumbai. And by the way, the cabbie was from UP. So the wind from the sea nurtures even the so called people from the badlands into submission. Thats Mumbai! Jai Ho!

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