03 March 2019

Lost and found

My sister, Shreya returned from India to Stuttgart on Thursday. She had gone to India for vacation, mainly to avoid the coldest month of winter, which is usually the month of February and also to spend time with her mom and finish some formalities there. She called me on her way back from the train and she was very happy to return to her routine which does not involve much noise and crowd. She has become a German already, I think by the fact that she enjoys her own space and doesn't yearn for people around like I do. She loves black coffee and she makes every second of her life here interesting and happening. She called me later on Thursday evening when she had gone shopping for groceries and she did not sound good.
She: Tai, I lost my keys while coming back home from the grocery shop. The keys were in my hand and then I put them in my jacket and didn't realize it had a hole. I have no idea where the keys might have fallen off. I went and checked back the route where I probably thought might have dropped them, but didn't find anything.

I: Oh, that's sad. Do you have a spare set of keys with which you can get into the house?

She: Yes, I do. I have a spare key set for the main door with which I can get it. But the set which I lost also had post box keys and some other keys.

I: Ok. Relax. Go to the office which keeps Lost and Found things. I am sure some samaritan would return it in some time.

She: Yes, I will go there and check

And then she hung up.

I was convinced that she will get the keys in a day or two. But she was worried about the cost which she might have to shell out in case the house owner wanted to change the keys of the whole building. It was a big risk actually for the others if the keys were lost. Anyone could get hold of them and come inside the building, unaware. I am sure she didn't sleep well that night and I prayed that she get the keys somehow.

I got a call from her on Friday evening. And she was squealing with joy. She cried, "Tai, I got the keys". And then she narrated how she went back asking in the shops on the route which she had walked the previous evening. Her colleague gave her the idea that probably someone might have found the keys on the road or outside the shop and given to the shop owner as not everyone can manage to go and deposit them in the "lost and found" office. So she went and asked in every shop there and to her delight found the keys in the bakery where she always goes. Someone brought the keys to them and they kept the keys with them in the hope that the right owner would come to claim them. So finally she was now relieved and relaxed and could spend her weekend constructively in other things which needed her attention.

My faith in the values of the people in this country was strengthened once again. A lot of respect for the person who thought of giving the keys to the shopkeeper. Shreya had lost her mobile and she had got it back from a stranger and now this episode of keys happened with her, yet again She got them back from a stranger again without great hassles. The goodness in people is very much there, it comes alive with such experiences and I wish and pray it is passed on to the generations as well.



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