On14th Feb I went to Doctors
clinic by a cab. By mistake I left my woolen hat in the cab. After returning
home I felt bad for missing my favorite hat; not for the reason that it was expensive, but it was one of my
keepsakes.
Next morning I dialed 3-1-1 and reported about the lost item and my
feeling about it; though I had least expectation of getting back such an
insignificant thing. They asked the details of taxi, my address and the time of
hiring the cab .To my surprise, within two hours they informed me the name and phone number of the driver who is the owner of the cab.The related staff of 311 informed me that the particular cab didn’t belong to their company and told me to contact the driver directly .
I did accordingly. To my surprise , the driver received my call and replied me promptly that he was not far from my address; so
he would reach to me within 15 minutes , so please to come down in front of the
building as he won’t be allowed to park
his car.
I was very much impressed with the honesty of the driver. I wanted to give him with something
instead of mere money. I remembered I had some woolen cap with muffler set which I
bought from the Broadway fair for my
son and it was still left with me .I was
so happy to think that it would be a perfect ‘memento’ to remember me whenever he would use it. In
a hurry I started to search all the shelves of cupboard but before I found it the driver’s call came. With unhappy heart I picked up quickly some
soup-cans coffee-pouches biscuit packets , and some other food-staff which were
lying on the kitchen counter and rushed towards the lobby. From the opened
window of the cab the driver greeted me by waving my woolen cap in his hand. I handed him the
plastic bag containing food- staff with lots of thanks for the lost cap. After
coming up I still felt sad for not finding the thing I wished to award him. Just then the phone rang; it was of the
driver’s call. I picked up the call. it was the voice of the driver:
“Mama, I took the swedish
cookies you gave, It tastes awesome …I never tasted such in my life
before…Thank you mama……You have my phone number and name ….though I live in New
Jersy , any time you need ,please give me a call,…I will come surely for you.”
I replied “It is my great pleasure that you have enjoyed the
cookies!
I am now feeling blessed to
leave my hat in your cab by mistake, as it has opened a chance to know each
other .Hope I will call you when ever needed and introduce me as ……
‘mama getting back her lost hat’, so that
you can recognize me easily.’
..”Mama ,I will recognize
you without any reference; Only give your address and one hour time before you need the cab, I will remember you for ever; you
are a nice person, mama.”…..
”OK, God bless you bye!”
I was really impressed of
3-1-1 for this incident; the city must be proud of the dedicated employees like
3-1-1. I am thankful to them. I doubt any other megacity in the world other
than New York will take care of a missing woolen hat!
I was little emotional about the driver
for addressing me as ‘mama’ which bears a genuine touch of warm feeling! His addressing me as 'mama' seemed to me sweeter than my own son ...Perhaps he lost his mother in early age or has not met her for a long time!
Coming back to kitchen, I
remembered it was 15th Feb ;I had invitation to go New york City Hall for celebrating the “Black American Independence Day’ at 5:30PM. I regretted to miss the chance of hiring him as safe and trustworthy companion to attend the event.
By coincidence the cab- driver was a black
American!
We are fortunate to live in
this city with good hearts and dedicated employees of 311!!
Hello Aunty ....Love reading your blog.This particular incident is heart warming to say the least and I love how you chronicle the whole event.
ReplyDelete