[joslicx]

It happened with my driving licence!

My dad got it made thanks to our neighbor (who was in RTO in our city at that time). Next morning I was supposed to drop him at the bus stand as he was going on an official tour. This time I got to drive the scooter as I had a licence now. I was so happy. Turns out, when I was back home, the licence was missing! I had dropped it somewhere!!! So I had misplaced the licence within 24 hours of it being made!!! I was 16 at that time and was in Class XII. I was so afraid I didnt tell anybody about it at that time.

2 or 3 months later a friend (was also a classmate) dropped home. There was something he had that he returned me - it was my driving licence!!! Apparently he had found it that morning while returning from his coaching! It was about 1 Km away from my house! Now what are the chances of that!!! I never even saw him on the road that morning!

Why he didnt give me that in school? Well I hardly ever went to school!!! Was preparing for JEE and was at home all the time! Later towards year end my class teacher reported me to the principal who threatened to debar me from sitting in the boards if I missed any class even for one day!

Its amazing, both of us, me as well as this friend, ended up in the same department at IIT Delhi later!!!

[RSimonS]

Last December I had back to back trips to Victoria London and was booked at Park Plaza Victoria. Choose the hotel for stay as it was of walking distance from Victoria railway station from which I could catch Gatwick express to the airport and also my office is within walking distance.

During the first trip the return flight was little early in the morning and I woke up a bit late and was in a hurry to pack things and rush to railway station, in fact had to run a bit to make it on time. After getting seated and the train started moving I wanted to check the time, to ensure that I will be able to make it to airport in time, turned my to look at my watch and realized it is missing. It was a gift from my wife and felt sad. As roaming of the mobile was above my pay grade, I was not on roaming and was not left too much of options.

After reaching home, i thought about calling hotel and checking with them whether they were able to find it, finally decided to send them an email with the details, I had a patient wait of about 20 hrs for their response and I had lost all hopes on the watch. They confirmed over email that they found my watch in the hotel room and is with the lost and found department. By that time my next trip was also confirmed and I told them I will collect it during the next trip, which happened a week later.

There are some honest people still left in this world!!!...

[Zappo]

Everyone has a lost and find story, don't they? :-) I had one about 6 months back. I was driving through HP. On that particular leg we were put up in Manali. So on the second day early morning we went to Hidimba temple. Post that visit we came out and sat in one of those many small shops that infest such tourist spots. This one was a little bigger and sold everything from samosa, kachori, tea to hand fans, camera films (they still sell those things!), toys and what not. We had a light breakfast or whatever you call it and then moved on. Next destination was Solan valley. As we were half way through and climbing it suddenly struck us that my friends Nikon with costly glass and some other accessories including an iPod I think were all missing. Basically, all these things were in a small backpack kind of bag which my friend hangs on his shoulders all the time.

Now it was panic time. We franatically tried to remember whether we recall having brought with us from the Hotel. My friend thought we did but was not sure. I felt it was never brought out of the hotel. We drove back at a brisk speed (as brisk as you can on the narrow hilly roads). It was decided that I will get down on the circle closest to the hotel and walk back there to check whether its in the hotel while my friend, my wife and daughter drove back to the Hidimba temple to check whether we left it at the shop or worse still on the temple sill when we sat down to tie our shoe laces.

We were praying that we left it at the hotel since chances of finding it either in the shop (we were sitting on a rickety, wooden bench, out in the open, in front of the shop) or on the temple sill were almost nil. I briskly walked into the hotel and went straight to my friends room. Opened the door with the expectation that the bag will be sitting there on the bed, since I was pretty sure I never saw it after we left the hotel. Surprise! It was not there in the room. Now I started sweating mildly even in that cold. Walked into the reception and asked the guy (or rather made a statement with enough confidence) that we left a bag with the camera and other costly accessories on the counter since we stopped there on our way out to enquire a few things. The guy gives me a blank stare and asks what bag? I know by now that we have had it. After a few more persuasive suggestions on how the bag looked and similar replies and indignant stares I just walk out.

With a bated breath call my wife. She picks up in one ring and even before I speak she says guess what? And I reply incredulously, you found the bag! She says yes, with a big laugh. I did not know what to say. Later when he picks me up on his way back again towards our destination to Solan I learn that they first went to the shop and asked whether they saw any bags there. And the shop guy just took it out and handed it back. He also tells them that the lens cover was lying on the table which also he has put inside he bag. And when my friend said with relief that he was afraid that he has lost his costly cam and the accessories the shop guy it seems told my friend that sahab these are hills. People work on trust. You leave something somewhere and 99% times you will again find it back. Don't know whether that generic statement about hills (and the locals there) was really so true but we did not want to find out anyways. However we were sure that if it would have been anywhere else in a big city 99% times we would have definitely lost the bag and its content.

[esteem_lover]

Happened just 5 weeks back. We went to Chennai for a couple of days and stayed in my office guest house as usual. When we were checking out and I had to vacate the room and pay the dues, I looked for my wallet and could not find it anywhere in the room or my bags. PANIC !!! There was some good money there along with my credit/debit cards and a whole lot of misc stuff from the last 30 years which I have always transferred from one wallet to another just like we transfer contacts from one phone to another. Frantically searched everywhere and could not find, the caretaker was kind and said that I can pay the dues the moment I have reached normalcy and also vowed to look for my wallet everywhere. So I traced back my thoughts and actions and went around to the shops I had been to for no avail. Then, I distinctly remembered that I took my wallet with me in the early morning to buy some biscuits for my kids, so I searched around there also to no avail. So with no hope, I started back to Pondy with a half tank of petrol which was more than enough. Just after 10 mins of driving, I wanted to check under the seat, because a lot of stuff has fallen off my pocket to this place, the esteem being a low slung car. I asked my younger son to check there and voila, there it was. What a big relief !!! saved me quite a few rupees and phone calls and procedures.

From that day. I vowed never to take my wallet out to buy stuff when all I have to do is take a few 10 Rs or 100 Rs notes max for these small purchases.

[apachelongbow]

This happend to me several years back. This was when I had my first bike a Bajaj Caliber. One night I had to go urgently to refuel my bike, so that I could guide relatives to the highway. I wore my usual shorts and placed my driver's licence in my pocket and went off on my bike to refuel. Completed refueling, rode back home and guided my relative's car to the highway and rode back home. Reaching home I realised that my driver's licence is not there in my pocket!!!
I rode back the entire route back to the petrol pump, slowly, looking at every inch of the road , speaking with people m then rode all the way to the highway and back, again scanning the roads but no avail, no licence found.

My dad then quickly took me to the nearest police station and we lodged a licence missing complaint. I was procrastinating doing this, however now in hindsight I thank my dad for insisting and being so prompt.
About a week from this incident after I had applied for my new licence one midnight at around 3am a team of policemen came up to my house asking for me. They asked me for my identification and told me that my licence had been found at a crime scene (a jewelry store robbery in Ghatkopar) and I should come over and pick it up the next day.

Hats off to the Mumbai policemen to have taken all this effort to recover a missing licence and try and solve a case. Yes it was also because of a robbery attempt at a jewelry store too, but nevertheless!!

[idofsuresh]

Lost and Found...my previous mobile comes to my mind.

1. Lost inside office - Bangalore. I get a call from my Dad that my phone is lost and he gives me the name of the person from who I should pick it up. The gentleman had picked my phone, called my "Father". Cool!

2. Lost in a restaurant in Taman Negara, Malaysia. Missed the phone in the restaurant. We were out and the waiter in the restaurant walks up to me and hands the phone over to me. Thanks!

3. Lost in an Auto in Hyderabad. Watch movie with my friends thinking I forgot to carry my phone. Go back to the hotel, the receptionist says my wife called. Hands over a slip..my wife gave a name and his phone number from who I should collect my phone. My friend volunteers and sends his driver to collect the phone for me the next day at Secunderabad! I am dreaming!

4. Slipped out of pocket when driving a bike in Bangalore: Reach home. I knew I lost it somewhere. I call my phone number. So many negative thoughts run in my mind. The phone 'rings' - some relief. A benevolent lady after asking few 'interesting' questions to identify the right owner 'finally' accepts I am the owner. Promptly hands it over to me when I go to her place. I am sure lucky!

5. Lost In Chicago: An American gentleman finds my phone and with American accent calls my India home at 2AM to inform that he has my phone. He dialed out my home number with an ISD call from his phone since I had not enabled international roaming on my phone. Again, promptly collected it next day with a profound thanks. Can it get better than this!


That is all I remember about my previous phone now. Yes, it is the SAME phone - lost and found at least 5 times. Died on me after few years after a circuit failure. Oh, I do have belief that good people are there everywhere.

[kARTIK IYER]

Lost and Found... I don’t know what i am going to share further fits the bill. But one of the most strange miracle sort of thing happened to me

About 4 years ago, like each year we go to Bushi Dam near lonavala during monsoons (now we avoid as it’s very crowded). So I, wife, my both daughters, dad and mom went to the dam to sit on steps where the water overflows with good force. Those not familiar with the dam, there is about 20 steps and then huge pool of water below flowing in great speed once dam overflows. So we parked vehicle and walked up and reached the top most steps and full family was sitting in the fast overflowing water coupled with heavy rains made it a great time. I wear spectacles and had forgotten to remove them before getting into water. Suddenly my elder daughter who was standing slipped and to balance herself she caught me and in that action of her's went flying my specs down those steps in heavy overflowing water and no idea where it fell, water currents was fast , lot of crowd. I started searching all through the steps, crowd, overflowing water.. No luck. It was impossible task. No way could I get it

I just got worried how to drive back (as no one else drives in my family) as it was almost sunset and no extra specs in vehicle. That few moments i was just speechless and blank. I just sat on the steps, thinking what and how i reach back, should i stay here make some urgent specs .. Will i get lenses etc.. Just clueless i was..

You have to believe my words now. I just remembered Lord Ganesh and said what i do now. This is an obvious reaction when you are stuck badly and i was that helpless. In minutes one boy from nowhere walks up to me and says " sir your chashma" i found it in the pool of water down and had seen you searching.

I just couldn’t believe my ears, eyes.. Man i couldn’t believe it. I thanked him.. Gave him some money for his deed and left.

Till date i am just surprised with the chain of events and can’t still come in terms how it all happened. I always carry an additional pair of specs in the car and bag each time.

Not sure... if a right instance of lost and found... but i am still lost how it all happened.

[normally_crazy]

I walked into a HDFC ATM at Chembur one night at about 2 am. Removed the cash, drove back home and began to get ready to sleep. Removed my trouser which felt lighter than it should...what is it ?? My Phone and my wallet !! Damn my phone ! I left it in the ATM.

Quickly pulled the trouser back and drove back to the ATM with my fingers crossed. Ran into the booth and checked - my phone and wallet both were lying on the top of the ATM machine !

Phew !! As soon as I picked the wallet and put it in my pocket and took the phone - one guy walked in to remove cash !

Close call that was !

[no_boundaries]

This happened about an year ago when I made a last minute decision to go to Bangalore from Hyderabad by bus. I have this really bad habit of casually leaving my purse and keys in the net compartment of my backpack so as I hopped off an auto to board the bus I did not realize the purse had fallen off. Realizing it later that night when I had to buy chai, I assumed I had left it at home and it would be there. Next evening, this trader from RTC X roads calls me and starts asking all my details and confirms he had found my purse with about 2,000 Rs cash and all my credit cards.
I was so shocked at my utter carelessness. I thanked him. Later that evening, I sent a friend to his shop with some sweets from Bikanerwala as a token of thanks to collect the purse. I did not even realize I lost my purse and the BEST part is he found the purse in Lakdikapool.
I've realized my carelessness and I'm extra careful and organized now with all my belongings.

[blackasta]

Happened to me back in 2006 while visiting Egypt, in Cairo.
We took a cab while returning to our hotel and decided to get down a little ahead to pick up some food. I had a small backpack which I placed near my feet when I sat in the front seat.
After paying the cabbie we got down and walked a few paces, and realized that while paying, I forgot to pick up by backpack!
Turned around like a dumb machine and saw the cabbie making his way through the crowd with the backpack in his hand anxiously searching for us.
Few seconds later I was reunited with the backpack and handed the guy a 5 LE bakhshish (yes they call it the same in Egypt).

Contents of the bag - digital camera, binoculars, 3 passports, 500 USD, keys to our hotel room, some souvenirs.

[silverado]

This happened nearly 12 years ago when i was studying @ kopargaon near Shirdi.

I was in First year Engg, we had completed freshers party late at 3am last night.Had to travel home next day early morning at around 8am.

Sleepy, i along with 2 of my roommates got in a rick and i kept my suitcase in back of rick and held my other small bag in my lap.

We got down at kopargaon to take a bus to Shirdi from where we would take a bus home.

We got in bus and slept, but as shirdi was getting near i saw a grey suitcase just like mine in one of the top racks of the bus.

Thats when i asked my roommate where my suitcase was
we did not have it, It was lost and i could not recollect where i had lost it.

Went back to kopargaon bus stand , in their office for lost and found but it was not to be found.

Concluded that it was lost , severly dejected went back to Shirdi alone and then reached home.

Since i had a 6 day vacation came back to kopargaon after 6 days.
Even though i was not at all expecting to find my bag after 6 days, just thought of doing a police complaint.

As we were walking by Auto stand which is near bus stand, casually enquired with a Autowallah about if they found a bag, and VOILA they had my bag in their office.

I got my suticase after 6 days , everything intact!

It was sheer miracle since my suitcase had 3 of my completed files in it ( which was irreplacable- there was no way i could have wrote them again) , apart from 2500rs, and my clothes.

I remember thanking and gifting the Autowallah 100rs which was a handsome amount for a student back then.

[slipstream]

This happened 6 months back...my wife, daughter and I were on our way to a store in my swift to look at some stuff for a fancy dress competition.

My wife's blackberry had fallen on the road when she got out of the car to seek directions to the store. In less than 5 minutes, we realized that the phone had fallen off. Unfortunately for us, the road was jam packed and I couldnt even park the car to a corner and walk back to the place where we figured it had fallen off. I had no alternative but to drive ahead, take a U turn to the opposite side of the road, drive the entire distance and take a U turn again to reach the specified spot. All along, my wife kept calling her number from my phone and it just kept ringing. We reached the spot, look all around and found nothing, while continuing to dial her number. About 15 attempts later, we found that someone was cutting the call. "Thats it !" I told my wife "You can forget your phone". We dialled a couple of more times only to have the call being disconnected and then it went into "switched off" mode which clearly meant he had pulled out the battery. Having lost all hopes, we headed back home.

What happened next was unbelievable. I got a call on my mobile from an unkown number. When I anwered the call, there was no response from the other end and the call was disconnected. I could hear background noise very clearly but the person on the other side was choosing to remain silent. I received 3 calls in succession with no response again which convinced me that the incoming number could be of the person who had stolen the phone. A quick dash to the nearest cop station, explained the situation and gave them the suspect's number. The inspector in charge called the said number from his phone and enquired, only to be greeted with a very rude and bold reply from the person. This really infuriated the inspector who assured me that he would do his best to net this guy.

The very next evening, I get a call from the inspector that they had traced the phone and I could come and collect it from the station. I got to know from him later that he had traced the suspect's mobile number to a fruit stall that was right behind his station. When the inspector had gone to the fruit stall to enquire, our man was sitting on a heap of fruits with the stolen blackberry in his hand

What impressed me most was not just the speed in which they managed to trace the phone but also the fact that they refused to accept a single pie from me for their efforts and also politely declined my offer to treat them to lunch.

The inspector told me that the smile on my face was worth the efforts that he had taken. I was spell bound. TN Police. RESPECT !

[dgupta]

This is an old story and I will try to keep it as short as possible.

I was travelling back from Kolhapur to Mumbai on a Ghatge Patil Sleeper bus. I boarded the bus from Kolhapur at 11pm after working 2 days without any sleep, I was working on fixing a newspaper printing machine and had been requested, motivated and ultimately threatened to work non stop for more than 50 hours without sleep to fix that damn thing.

Like a zombie I boarded the bus and the next thing I remember is getting down at vashi at around 5 am in the morning, still feeling like a zombie, I managed to push myself into a rickshaw and murmured my home address, slept all the way, entered home, threw away whatever I was carrying, slept off. After around an hours sleep when I felt a little cold, I tried to grab my jacket still thinking I am in the bus and to my horror I realised I don't have the jacket

I gained sense and literally had a where am I moment. And then started the real ordeal, woke up and called the office of the transport company and got bounced off between Kolhapur and Mumbai offices like a deflated football. After all the attempts I did not get the drivers number and was told you can go and check in our borivali garage and check the bus on your own. I draged myself all the way to borivali in that stupor all the way trying to justify this effort, is that jacket really worth it, its too old, i can buy another one, forget it, lets go home and sleep. But emotional sense prevailed and I went ahead (that jacket was gifted to me by my college friends on farewell). I found the garage with some help from the transport office and found the bus parked, no sign of the driver or anyone else, I waited near the bus for almost an hour before a cleaner turned up and let me in, found it lying on the same seat I was on, picked it and wore it all the way home for the fear of losing it again in a bus or train. A happy end to a nightmare trip.

[motorpsycho]

Cross posting this from "Life's like that" , Happened during Jan this year in Pune Amanora Mall,

I had been to Central Mall at Amanora during the Jan sale looking for a pair of sandals. I zeroed in on a pair, unfortunately my size was out of stock. So I gave my number to a salesman "Salman" a young kid , wrote it on a piece of paper . Told him sternly don't loose my number and call me when it's back in stock. And I left the place.

A week later I get a call,

Guy on cell: Hey do you know Salman.
Me: Yes, from central ?(thinking my sandals had arrived)
Guy: Yes, I am a conductor on the sangli bus and I found your number.
Me: Okay(wondering what trouble I managed to get my self into this time)
Guy: I found his wallet on the bus and there was only your number in it so I called.
Me: Oh But I don't have his number, he said he didn't have a cell. But let me call central and try to get in touch with him.

I did not have the Amanora central number, but called the Bundh garden one and got it.

I explained to the guy at central. who 1st understood Salman had my wallet next I had Salman's wallet. I again explained to him and then he got it.

Got a call from Salman laterto say thanks, his wallet on the way to Sangli.

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by slipstream

The inspector told me that the smile on my face was worth the efforts that he had taken. I was spell bound. TN Police. RESPECT !

Unbelievable!!!!

You're so luck not only to get your blackberry back, but to get away from the guy whom I suspect/guess would have given trouble with playing around with the numbers stored on your wife's set.

Good decision from your side to file a complaint upon seeing a blank call to your mobile.