In Kuala Lumpur one is on guard for purse snatchers, and our condo has three padlocks (front door, terrace door, and bedroom window). India is no different, except thankfully for an apparent snatch thieves, hotels and tourist areas have signs reminding people to secure their belongings. So imagine my amazement when I received a forgotten purse intact. Here is the story.
About midway to Pondicherry from Mahaballpuram (about 90 km) our driver received a call asking if I had left a small purse in the toilet at Mahaballpuram. I checked my handbag found that my purse wasn’t there. Next was trying to remember what was in it – money (not sure how much – enough to be an annoying loss) and glasses with transition lenses (more than an annoying loss). If we returned to Mahaballpuram we faced at least an extra 2 hours of travel and a substantial additional charge from the travel agency. Our driver, Suresh Babu, suggested that he would find a bus driver in Pondicherry who could bring the purse back from Mahaballpuram and I would have it the next morning – the logistics escaped me. And the next morning I had the purse; Suresh asked that we count the money – everything was in order.
Suresh told about a customer who left his camera at a hotel. Suresh orchestrated a similar retrieval process. This time he sent a taxi driver back to the hotel. Throughout the trip we have been reminded that drivers not only assure our safety on the road, but are important in dealing with guides, finding clean toilets, and identifying places to eat. The retrieving of loss objects wasn’t a service that we expected, but we were happy to finding out that we weren’t the only forgetful ones.
How was I identified as the owner of the purse? We stopped at a handicraft boutique close to the Shore Temple. I had pulled out the purse to get small change for the toilet. Our guide (I think his name was Basru) said that since it was a government owned boutique the toilets were free. I guess that I didn’t put the purse back in my handbag. When the purse was discovered, a staff member remembered that two of Basru’s customers had used the toilet. (So much for being anonymous.) Because so many transactions take place over cell phone getting in touch with Suresh was easy.
The staff at the boutique, Basru, and Suresh proved that India can be incredible.
I'm impressed!
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