LOST AND FOUND

 

LOST AND FOUND

The day was like any other day. It was a Friday.  Evana’s Amma was there at the Pettah Bus stop to pick her up when St. Thomas School Bus arrived at 4.30pm on the dot. She had no other go as there was no one else at home to trek the distance.

Amma is a very busy person on, work at home. IT. She had somehow disentangled herself from her schedule on permission to proceed to Pettah.  Even while she was waiting she had to attend to calls and SMSs and respond at once.

A regular feature in her life.  

Just a kilometer.

To save time she takes an autoriksha  both to and fro.

Expensive. But her tight schedule dictated it.

On Friday she was busy more than ever. And she forgot to take out Evana’s school bag from the vehicle. The auto went off.

It was after ten minutes, it came to light the school bag was missing. It contained Evana’s text books and note books. Evana , 7 years, is in the 2^nd standard.

There was no way to track the autoriksha as they did not have its Registration Number.

The entire house was in turmoil. Evana’s grandma, was visibly upset.  Her BP went on a gallop. She went out. Threw open the gate. She stood there hoping the auto would return with the bag. After a while her husband went out and told her it served no purpose.

She had a brainwave. The Residents Association had installed Cameras in the area. Her husband called Rajmohan who had the access. Unfortunately he was at Ernakulam. Rajmohan assured he’d be back the next day and he’d locate the autoriksha through theCCTV.

That was the whole issue. The autoriksha remained untraceable.

The elderly gentleman from the beginning of the episode was sitting there like a Zombie till then, the rest of the people at home had felt. They thought why he was brooding. He didn’t say anything.  He displayed no emotions.

Then he asked his wife to fish out the phone number of Anilkumar, former councilor. He called Anilkumar. He requested him to help out. “How?” was the response.

“Please circulate among your circle of workers and friends. “

Evana started crying. She was sad the bag was lost because she was careless. The grandpa pacified her. He told her it was something that happened to many children. He assured she wasn’t at fault. He suggested she’d better have some food.

The man went into an overdrive. He called Bobby, a neIghbour and a politician. CPI. Bobby was in a meeting.  He messaged back asking for the matter in Malayalam. Ann wrote out in English and asked Google for the translation into Malayalam. The data was forwarded to Bobby. Bobby replied that it had been in the Janamaithry and two groups of autoriksha drivers.

Then the father in law asked Ann to call Roy, his nephew and seek his help. She promptly did that.

Meanwhile Ann called her husband 10km away, and apprised him of the developments. He called his friend in the Police, an SI. He suggested the  registering of a complaint with 112. Ashwin phoned his father and requested him to do that as he believed his father pretty good in conveying such issues.

The father called 112. They were very kind. They asked for the Police Station in whose jurisdiction the incident occurred. When the reply was Pettah, they provided the phone number of Pettah P S and advised to refer the matter there. Pettah PS was also very helpful. They advised to file a complaint the next day and that necessary paper and pen were available there.

The father in law and the daughter in law then proceeded to the place from where she took the auto. It was 7pm. No autos were parked there. They waited there for some time and made enquiries. An autorksha driver who had returned by then told them, such bags are delivered either at the union office or the local Police station.

When they sought where the Union Office was with Mr.jayaram, a shop keeper, he showed them the circulated message on his phone. He assured he would talk to the Union President and advised them to go back home.

Meanwhile the father in law called his friend, Kannan, a painter and who knew many workers at Pettah. Kannan sprang into action and spread the matter through his groups.

The father in law and the daughter in law returned home in an autoriksha. When they revealed their predicament, the driver advised them to post the matter in the Facebook and he assured they’d get the schoolbag back in no time.

Back home while they were wondering what else they needed to do, the calling bell chimed. It was Anil on his scooter with the bag. He said he was the person who drove the autoriksha. He said he had discovered the schoolbag when he reached  home. Though his wife told him to deliver it at the Police Station, his friend Sathy, another Union Leader advised him to search for any ID in the bag. Then he went to the house he had taken a passenger last. When they told him it was not theirs he was certain it belonged to this house.

He was planning to take it to the Police Station in case it did not belong here.

Evana took her bag gleefully. Her Amma tried to give some money to Anil. He declined. He wanted nothing.

Tense moments were over.  The cumbersome issue was the recreation of the texts and the notes in case the bag was irretrievably lost.

Such a nice man, the family thought.

Three hours

Lost at 5.15pm.

Found at 8.15pm

In the interim, the message for assistance must have reached countless phones.

There is goodness in this world. Kind people abound all around.

The Schoolbag was lost… and found.

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