Lost and Found

“I am leaving home for ever.  I am jealous of my brother who got that better chocolate” in a TV channel I saw an ad yesterday.  Father is reading part of the letter written by his grown up son. Promotion of your product is fine, but should one convey a message that even a small, trivial matter is good enough reason to leave home?

There was another program on the same channel a few days back. It was covering parents or relatives, who were sharing their stories about missing their beloved ones, many of them young kids. They were pleading to those missing ones to return home, hoping that they would be watching this TV program from some corner in the world. Losing a thing completely and knowing that it will never come back is good, compared to when you are not sure of it. And then you always hope that someday it would be found. When it is actually found, your joy would be boundless!

I was travelling by bus from Chalakudy to Trichur (two nearby towns in Kerala ) on the way to my college. There was one elderly lady, a row behind me who was talking very loudly. I looked back and realized that she was mentally disturbed and was talking to herself not in a coherent manner. Bus stopped at Kodakara, another small town in between. One person got down and 15 of them were trying to get in to the already jam packed bus. I heard this old lady shouting  “Yes, she lost her gold chain. She deserves it. What does she think of herself? That fellow will run away with that”. It did not make any sense to me, and I didn’t pay much attention to it. Two minutes later, I heard a scream from another lady at the back “I lost my chain, I lost my chain !”. Then only I realized that the old lady was telling the truth. She had witnessed the whole episode of somebody snatching the chain. Bus conductor asked all of us to stay where we were.  I knew, I am going to miss my “Strength of Materials” class which is the first one of the day. Anyways, there was not much strength left in me to sit through that boring subject, so I was happy. People who were watching in the bus stop, noticed one guy attempting to get into the bus and then suddenly changing his plan. They caught hold of him. Cops came in. They took him to police station. They came back within 10 minutes, with our man in bare minimum clothes. He took the cops to a nearby garbage heap and recovered the broken chain! So quickly all that was over, I still needed strength to sit in that first hour in college!. But, I just can’t forget the joy on the face of that lady who thought she had lost her chain.

A few months back, I just got out of the house. Walked a few yards and found one cyclist stopping his cycle and picking up a few currency notes from the ground and he vanished with double the speed in no time. I knew somebody would have lost it on the way, I felt sorry for that person who lost it. Another 20 yards I walked. I am getting a call from my wife from a nearby grocery shop. “I lost the money on the way I had taken from home, can you bring 100 rupees?”. Then I remembered my wife had just gone out before me to buy some grocery. The cyclist went away actually with our money, which I found in front of me! I felt sorry for that person who lost it, sincerely this time!

Losing way is very common to me when I walk or drive my own. I am very bad at knowing directions or navigation. I stepped out of our rented house alone for sight seeing, (four of us had jointly taken it when we were into our first job),  just next day we occupied it. I walked, turned left, right, left, left and so on watching all the fun. I lost the way and did not know how to get back to the house. No mobile or any land phone. All I know was the house number, I was not sure of even the color by which the house was painted! I saw one gentle man at his gate pretending to do some mild exercises, jobless like me. I inquired the location of this house with my broken English. “Oh this is nearby” he said, as if I didn’t know it ! But those few words were enough for me to realize that I can converse him in Malayalam. Then discussion was on in Malayalam for 10 minutes, and finally he gave me directions to reach house # 2205 and asked “Any of your relatives in that house which you are looking for”. I just replied, “No it is me who is living there” and started off really quick from there.

By the way, if you lost a piece of rubber from your shoes go and visit Subway. If the piece is really big, then go for that one footer sandwich. You may find it there. (Pardon me for my exaggeration, please go and visit subway FB page to know more on this! As such FB is losing users big time, so let me promote it. Though I am making Subway lose its customers in the process !!)

You may lose many things. You may lose money on the way.You may lose an article in an auto. You may lose faith in democracy. You may lose peace at home. You may lose hope in life. You may lose “face” in Facebook” ! Try not to lose as much as possible. But, in case you lost “something”, don’t worry, the ecosystem is very much up there to help you find the lost things. However, do exercise a little more caution when that “something” is your precious life.