Mumbai Mirror

• MBA student forgets his phone in the cab; within half an hour the cabbie returns it at the passenger’s home

Mumbai, Nov 12: Sasidhar Nandigam, a second-year MBA student, got his mobile phone back within half an hour of forgetting it in a taxi. The taxi driver not only drove all the way back to return the phone, but also refused to accept anything in return.

The incident took place on Sunday evening when Sasidhar, a resident of Garodia Nagar, Ghatkopar, was returning home with his family from Siddhivinayak temple. The family took a taxi from near the temple at around 5.30 pm. Minutes after reaching home, Sasidhar, 26, realised that he had forgotten his phone in the taxi.

“My immediate reaction was to call up the number, but nobody answered the phone. I thought the driver must have found the phone and is deliberately not answering,” said Sasidhar. But later he realised that he had kept the phone on silent mode while entering the temple. While he was busy calling the number, his brother went out in search of the taxi.

For the next half hour, Sasidhar’s brother looked frantically for the taxi but to no avail. “I had given up hope of finding the phone. Apart from the fact that we paid Rs 13,500 to buy the phone not long ago, there was lot of important data on the 1 GB card on the phone. I was just desperate to get the phone back,” he said.

Sasidhar decided to call the number one last time hoping that the taxi driver would pick it up. This time he got lucky. The driver not only answered the phone, but also told Sasidhar that he was on his way back to Ghatkopar from Sion to return the phone.

Few minutes later, the taxi driver was outside the building with the phone in his hand. On getting the phone back, Sasidhar gave the driver Rs 100, but he refused to take it.

“I am just doing what is expected of any decent human being. I didn’t hear the phone ring earlier or I would have come right away. I saw it stuck in between the cushions on the front seat. I saw the phone only after I had reached Sion,” said the driver, who refused to even give out his name. “What’s in my name? I am just a small time taxi driver,” he said.

When Sasidhar insisted on him taking the money, the taxi driver said, “I do this all the time. In the morning, someone forgot a bridge groom’s clothes in the taxi. I went back to marriage hall to return it. I don’t take anything for such deeds,” he said with a smile.

Even before Sasidhar could thank him, the taxi driver got into his vehicle and left.

“I had heard so many incidents of people losing their phones in taxis and autorickshaws, but never anything about someone getting the phone back. I really don’t know about this taxi driver,” said Sasidhar.