Toll ticket helps Columbia University prof get back Rs 75k, passport

Toll ticket helps Columbia University prof get back Rs 75k, passport

By Sridhar Vivan & Niranjan Kaggere, Bangalore Mirror Bureau



What would you do if you forget your belongings in a taxi, didn't have the car's full registration number, driver's phone number or the driver's name? Perhaps, kick yourself for your negligence, rue your luck and pray that the driver's morals get the better of his circumstances or his greed. A Columbia University professor had left a bag behind in a cab, but remarkably, in a matter of hours, she not only tracked down the cab, but also recovered the bag which contained Rs 75,000 cash, laptop and US passports.

Dr Anupama Rao, 44, an American national who teaches History at Columbia University, had specially flown down to India to attend her cousin's wedding reception scheduled for Sunday in the city. At around 11 am on Saturday, Rao along with her parents, aunt and other relatives arrived on a flight from Ahmedabad at the Bangalore International Airport and hired two cabs to travel to a relative's residence in Banashankari where they were to stay.

When the cabs dropped them off at their destination in Banagiri (near Deve Gowda petrol bunk), the occupants disembarked, but inadvertently left a bag containing the cash, passports and laptop behind. The cabs had long departed before Rao and her family realized the lapse.

Unfortunately for Rao and her family, she had no clue about the driver or the car. All she had was a receipt for toll she had paid at Devanahalli for the cab. "The toll receipt had only the four digits of the car(KA 0880),but not the entire registration number," Rao said. "We searched the internet for contact details of the Devanahalli toll operator. We called them asking if they could provide CCTV footage of the cab. However, the toll operators said they could not help. We then called different cab operators who were operating vehicles from the airport. But, again, with lack of details, we made no headway."

Rao, however, stayed patient and hopeful. She also kept trying. "I had a fare receipt of the other can and I called the operator, giving him the time and the little details I had," Rao said. "The operator checked the cabs that had left the airport at 11 am and eventually zeroed in on the car. He soon connected us with the car owner. The car owner was very friendly and he gave us the driver's number. The job was still half done as I had got only the driver of my car and not the car in which the bag had been left behind."

The driver though could tell Rao only one thing: The car belonged to KSTDC. Rao then called the KSTDC counter and gave a very basic description of the driver. Luckily they stumbled on a helpful operator.

The operator searched logs books for cabs that had departed the airport around the time %and soon tracked down the cab driver. "Finally, we had the driver's number."

In all, it took about four hours for Rao and her family to track down a cab merely from a toll booth receipt.


Skipped lunch to return bag, says cabbie
When 26-year-old V Iyaz , the cab driver, was told about the Rs 75,000 cash and a brand new laptop left behind in his vehicle, Iyaz said he made the decision to return the items to their owner "at once".Iyaz revealed that as usual, he had picked up passengers at the Bangalore International Airport and had headed off to Banashankari III Stage where they wanted to be dropped. He said he did not realise they had left a bag and laptop behind.

"I was in a hurry to rush back to the airport," Iyaz said. He revealed that he was having his lunch when he was informed by control room of the belongings left behind in his cab. "I left off eating lunch, informed my fare that I was on my way to return their belongings and left immediately," he said. Hailing from Gulur village in Bagepalli taluk of Chikkaballapur district, Iyaz has been driving taxis for the last five years and is hoping to become a BMTC driver soon.


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