·
Will you go and give it in the
nearby police station?
·
Will you just keep it, thinking
that you got lucky?
·
Will you put it back where it
was, as you do not want to get into any unnecessary problems?
·
Will you try to locate the
person, who has lost it?
Most of us would, opt for the last option i.e trying to find out to
who it belongs to and return to him.
But now imagine if the wallet does not contain any information that
helps you to trace, as to whom it belongs to, then nothing can be done about
it. Whatever is lost is lost forever. If there was a photo id card or some business
cards in it, it would be probably easy to find who the wallet belongs to, so
that we could call and inform the owner. So, if there is a mechanism of, “if found,
please return to” then the possibility of a person getting back what he/she
lost, is much higher. Do you agree?
I learned this lesson, after an interesting incident that happened,
about a year back. I had bought a new bike and not yet fitted a luggage box. My
house and office are located quiet close by. In the evening when I returned home, from office, I looped my
laptop bag in the side hand grip handle, near the back seat and rode home. On
reaching home, I realised that my bag is lost. It had fallen off somewhere midway,
due to some bump on the road. I
immediately rushed back on the same route, but I could not find it anywhere. I
felt it was lost or stolen. The bag had my mini laptop worth 15K, Rs.25000/-
cash and some other files. In a jiffy, I seemed to have lost it all.
My mind was in a dilemma. Should I complain to the police station?
Can the police really help me? However with a faint hope, if someone finds it
and gives it in the police station, they can return it to me, I asked my staff to lodge a complaint in the nearby
police station. After about 2 hours this incident happened, I got a phone call
from a person, who asked me, “Have I lost a bag”. I anxiously replied, “Yes”.
He said that he found it on the road. He picked it up and took it to his house.
He then tried to trace, who it belongs to. There was no way he could find. Then
he switched on my laptop. He opened my offline mail box and he saw my name and
mobile number, in the “sent items” folder. So, he just guessed it must be the
owner and called that number.
I felt really lucky. I then enquired the way to his house, went and
got it and came back home with mouth filled with thanks and heart filled with joy.
There is a saying, “We do not value light until there is darkness”.
The same is true, with our belongings. We do not realise the value of them
until it is lost. The joy we get, when we find something that we have lost, is
an immense experience.
As a school going kid, we kept losing our pencils, eraser, sharpener
etc. Even as a grown up adult, there are
few things we are prone to lose, such as Pens, Keys, Mobile phone, Wallet, Travel
baggage, Laptop or Tablet PC, USB drive, Books, and the likes.
Here are a few things you can do, to maximise the chance of it being
returned to you, if lost (not stolen).
1. Try to include your name and mobile number in your key chain.
2. You can put your home or office phone number (not your mobile
number) on the home screen or welcome screen of your mobile phone or tablet pc.
3. Have a few business cards or personal info card in your wallet and
laptop bag.
4. Make sure your travel bag has a name tag.
5. Have a word document with your name and address in the desktop
screen of your laptop or tablet pc. You can also have the same type of doc in
your USB drive.
6. Make small sticker labels of your name, address and mobile number
and stick it to your books and other possessions.
7. Always include sender’s (your) address in your postal letters,
parcels and couriers.
I hope you are not, as careless as me. Even if you are a careful
person, these tips will be of help. Losing is like an accident. We never know
when and how. It is always good to be on the safer side.
By the way, if anyone of you, has a good tip on how not to lose a
PEN, please tell me. I will be grateful.
Happy Reading,
D.Senthil Kannan
Article Dated May 2012