It's not all bad out there!

Like many, I have done it a million times before. I got off the plane, collected my bags from the luggage carousel, and headed out to catch the taxi lined up outside — nothing unique or special about that.

It was Sunday evening. I had got off the plane at Bengaluru (renamed from Bangalore), waited for a colleague of mine to join me before heading off to the exit. My colleague debated if we were to going to take Uber, and I suggested that we did not as I did not have the patience to wait for the fifteen minutes for the Uber driver to find us. I told her that we would take a cab. We walked to the cab line, it was pretty empty a range anyway and soon got into the cab that the attendant pointed to us. We dumped our checked-in bags at the back, and I put my backpack alongside me in the back seat of the vehicle. The ride to the restaurant was uneventful as my colleague and I spent time catching up and getting ready for the session we were doing the following day. As we reached our venue, around 9:00 pm, we got off the car, paying the driver in cash for the fare, gave him a moderate tip, took our bags from the back and took the elevator up to the fourth floor and asked for the maitre d’hotel to store my bags for me. As I turned from handing him the luggage, I saw a backpack on one of the restaurant chairs, and then it hit me!

I HAD FORGOTTEN MY BACKPACK IN THE CAB!

I quickly informed my colleagues, and we rushed downstairs in vain hope that the cab driver would still be around, but since nearly 10 minutes had passed, he had long gone. Panic set in. In that bag was my US passport, the Indian OCI card, almost five hundred US dollars, an equivalent sum in Indian rupees, a gold chain that someone had asked me to handover to their daughter in Chicago, my medicines, my laptop, my Ipad and my talking point for my sessions. In other words, the bag had my life. All kinds of scenarios flashed through my mind. I cursed myself for not having taken the Uber or for not having booked a car in advance. I cursed my cockiness since I was familiar with Bengaluru and now paid the penalty for it.

Dinner turned out to be a brooding affair for me, and I suspect I spoilt everyone else’s appetite as well. We called up what we believed to be the cab company, but without some reference point, it was difficult for the cab company to trace which cab was the one that dropped us. We had not taken the car number, did not know the cab company, did not check the cab driver’s name, had given him cash and had not received a receipt.

One thing the team did that was reassuring was that we spent a few mindful moments praying for the bag to be returned. Everyone sent positive vibes and never a moment doubted that if the cab driver were to find the bag, he would return it.

We started planning our moves. After dinner, by which time two hours had passed, and there was no sign of the driver coming back to return the bag, we decided to lodge a police complaint that would be needed for me to get a temporary passport from the US embassy. Since I did not have a copy of the passport, I managed to connect with my ex-assistant, who still had the details, and she worked hard to look at what could be a backup plan. Meanwhile, the US consulates were closed on the 11th for veterans day and in some locations on the 12th for an Indian holiday, and I had return tickets for the 15th. Further, I was also going to find it challenging to disrupt the three-city tour we had planned.

The police were very helpful in their tone but helpless without some hint of the details. I did not even remember the face of the driver since it was dark. However, they promised to accompany us to the Airport the next morning to see if there were any CCTV footage they could tap into at the exit. We decided to then drive up to the airport that night itself to check if we can seek help from the police at the airport exit. It was around 12:30 am now. I called up my wife, and she went on a panic overdrive. Her immediate response was to petition her favorite Indian God and bribe him with goodies if I were to get back to the bag. The amount of specialty food he would have received would have been enough to give even him indigestion. I called up my sister to tell her that the Gold chain that I was supposed to handover was also missing, and she too petitioned a different Indian God for divine intervention. My adrenalin was pumping at an abnormally high level. I was thinking through various other scenarios. How do I call up Microsoft and wipe my laptop? I tried to use the find my phone to track the location of my iPad only to realize that I had switched off my iPad to conserve my battery. I was thinking of asking my wife to research the Indian equivalent of my medication so that I can continue with my BP meds…now very needed. I prayed to God that if I were ever to get the backpack back, I will take and keep photos of everything and never assume that such a thing will not happen again. I will also take down the car details, the driver's name and the name of the cab company. How silly of me...I have been traveling for nearly 40 years, and here I was, making such a mistake. Hubris is not a good thing!

Suddenly, as I was planning to call my wife once again, I saw a mail appear on my phone and out popped a name I did not recognize. On reading the email, my spirits soared. It was from the passenger who had hailed the cab after us; he had noticed the bag on the back and informed the driver. The driver had requested him to see if he, the passenger, could identify whose bag it was. On poking through the pack, somehow, he found my email address and sent me the mail informing me that my bag was in the car, with the car number, the driver's name, and the driver’s phone. We spoke to the driver, and he told us that he would meet us in an hour at my hotel on his return after dropping the passenger.

An hour later, we collected the bag. The driver (whose name I now knew), Irfan Khan, had not even opened the bag, and everything was where it should be! And when I offered him money, he flatly refused, insisting we pray for him and his family instead!

These are moments when we realize and redeem our faith in humanity. The driver could have just taken the bag or the money, and it would have been difficult to trace him. The passenger need not have sent me the message as it would be difficult to find who the bag belonged too. My cards were in a deep recess on the front end of the bag, not easy to find. The police were very helpful, and when we went back to withdraw the complaint, they were generous and welcomed the fact that while they could not help, they were empathetic to my tension. My colleagues went out of their way to help locally.

Of course, this whole episode taught me two lessons. One- be careful about the bag, take photocopies of essential documents, ensure you note down some details of the vehicle one is taking, make sure that you leave copies of the passports, etc. with your spouse or office or both, and so on. But more than that, having faith that everything will turn out all right was another one. Most people want to be good, do good and that the driver’s sincerity and integrity were remarkable.

As we look at the world around us, we are often consumed by what’s wrong- false information, manipulation, scams, cyber-crimes, real crimes, vandalism, theft, scandals, and other even more serious crimes. I feel for those who have been victims of such situations. But sometimes, humanity does things that allow one to rejoice in its goodness.

And Irfan Khan is an example of the goodness in people. Thank you, Irfan.