It was the night of 13th October 2016 and one of my friends Devika had just boarded the bus from Deccan bus stop Pune, when she realized that her phone is missing. She worked as a HR head in an equity based company and the phone contained all her contacts, confidential documents and her pictures. She reached back in the hostel panicking, asking me to make a call in her number to check if it was somewhere in her bag. Generally if a phone is lost, or stolen (which was actually her fear), the call is not responded, but luckily someone picked it up asking whose phone it was? On Devika’s claim he informed that he had found the phone and was waiting at the null stop bus stop for her and she can come and take it. It was late in night, and we waited impatiently for the rickshaw which was too, playing hide n seek with us that day. After a whole lot 15 minutes, which had almost killed Devika of anxiety we stopped an auto. He had to go to his house, and so refused to take us there. On persisting and begging that it was an emergency situation, he finally agreed. Maneuvering through traffic jams, we finally reached the Null stop bus stop as directed, only to find nobody there. Devika had lost all hopes, as it has happened to her before, when after asking her to come to a location and retrieve her belonging, she had been deceived. Pacifying her, I called on her number, to see if he is still willing to answer the phone. Luckily he answered the phone and told us the exact location, where we would find him. Devika asked the colour of his shirt, and again started the search. At a distance of about half a kilometer, we found a guy smiling with a phone in his hand with an expression of waiting for someone. Devika recognized her phone, which he happily returned. “Where did you find it?” Devika asked. “Someone had stolen your phone, and had boarded the busI was travelling in. When he saw a policeman boarding the same bus, drunk as he was, he got frightened and threw the phone on the bus seat and fled. When I saw the unknown mobile phone, ringing, I assumed that someone must have forgotten it and so replied. So basically you got back your stolen phone from me.” He replied grinning. Devika thanked him profusely, as it was an imaginable kindness someone has shown towards her. He told us that his name was Karim and he was a student of UPSC. She offered to give him some money, which he blankly refused. Then asking for his phone number, she promised him, that she would always be ready to help him, if he ever requires any job anywhere as she has many contacts in HR departments.
The phone was not, monetarily big, but the gesture of a complete stranger, who could easily go away with the phone made us smile and re establish our faith in kindness and honesty.