Saturday, January 22, 2005

Salaam Bombay

In spite of being a born & brought up in North India and having spent the last eight years of my life in NCR(National Capital Region) I have always been a great fan of Bombay. My recent visit to Bombay reinforced my faith in the commercial capital of India.


I was in Mumbai on Dec 20, to receive the CRISIL Young Thought Leader award.. Tired due to the train and the flight journeys which did not let me get my required sleep, I ended up taking a little nap in the cab which transported me from the office of CRISIL to the venue of the award ceremony. I was woken up by the cab driver at the destination where I walked into this multistory building with groggy eyes. Once inside the building, I realized my wallet was missing. The fare was paid by a colleague so I had not noticed this earlier. Desperately hoping that I had forgotten it in the office, I called up only to be told that it wasn't there. Then it hit me - I had left my wallet in the cab. That's it, my wallet was gone. Neither me nor any of my fellow travelers had the cab number. It was a cab we hired from the roadside so no way to reach/find out. I tried to think positive. Maybe the taxi was still standing outside for some reason. Highly unlikely, I told myself. The taxi driver would have left the place as soon as he discovered the wallet. Anyways I did try and have a look at the taxis outside the building. That I did not recognize the driver did not help matters at all. I came back resigned to fate - My wallet was lost.

About an hour later, the HR person from CRISIL came with a slightly fat middle aged man who had come searching for me. He didn't look like one of the audience members or the participants of the presentation ceremony. The guy was the cab driver who had driven back and was searching for me. Strange indeed, considering locating anyone in that multi-storied building would not have been easy task. He found my identity card and tried calling only to realize that those were Jamshedpur numbers. He refused to hand over the wallet to anyone except me. The wallet had everything intact - cash, ATM cards, credit card and some bills.
... The spirit of Bopmbay (Mumbai).

Another salute to the city which I have always held in high regard. There is something about this place which makes people the way they are - professional , stretching to their limits , honest and efficient. Why I rave about Bombay so much? That question requires another huge post. Maybe my next one. Till then, Salaam Bombay.

9 comments:

Abhi said...

hey sonia , congrats fr the crisil thing.me frst time on ur blog.nice stuff.me a first year guy at ur friendly neighbourhood skool called IIM C .ya ya i remember..u ppl beat us.

Anonymous said...

The breaking wave and the muscle as it contracts obey the same law. Delicate line gathers the body's total strength in a bold balance. Shall my soul meet so severe a curve, journeying on its way to form?

SK said...

Hey,
congrats for the crisil thing. Just came here blog-hopping, and liked the blog. Like management related articles more than anything else, hence, that may have been the reason.
By the way, I tried to read that article on crisil but somehow couldn't. Some problem with the page. May I have the link if you don't mind??

Darth Midnightmare said...

Hmmm...congrats for the CRISIL thingy.....and well, thanks for the compliments heaped on my city :D:D:D:D yeah, Bombay rules! :D

Anonymous said...

Nice to see it.. :)
Guts

Anonymous said...

congrats dudette on cytl ...

shashank here (wonder how else to leave a name here)

£ijo Isac said...

Congrats on winning the CRISIL Young Thought Leader Award ;-)

Anonymous said...

I am hoping you tipped the cabbie. Shame on your if you didnt!!

Sonia said...

oh ya I did :) . Thanks for the suggestion though. but who is this ??:)