Reactions live!!!!

I had just written last Sunday about how we react to situations generally, how we should actually react, and what to do and what not to!! And just four days down the line, I never expected I would have a live proof for another of those instances, where I bought time and in the end, went appreciating my each and every step!! And now I thought, I should be able to share that incident here.

Last week, I was on tour. I was travelling from a place called Mancherial to a place called Warangal by train. I travelled in the AC chair car, on the two seater, taking the window seat. The train I took eventually travels up to Secunderabad, which happens to be my headquarters. Now I possess two mobile phones with me. One is my official number provided to me by the company I am working for. It does not have STD facility. So I have another phone with me, just to keep in touch with my folks, all of whom have to be reached by STD!! It so happened that I had kept the STD waala phone in the right pocket of my pant. The distance between Mancherial and Warangal is covered in a little over 2 hours. And having worked the whole day, I was a bit tired and fell asleep on the train. On reaching Warangal, I took an auto to my Hotel City Grand, the place where I always stay when I am in Warangal. And the auto this time took me in a road full of potholes and bumps.

On reaching my room and freshening up, I decided to call my mom. So I tried to search my phone, but to no avail. I searched my bag, my pant, my shirt and God knows what else. But luck was not on my side. I had lost my mobile phone!! And it was simply hard to believe it. How could I have been so careless!! I started cursing myself. Not a big deal, because it was an old handset which was not retaining the battery charge properly, nor was its mic and speaker in good condition. I was just passing its remaining life time only to avoid the hassles of changing the Sim every time I wanted to make an STD call. So given the condition of the mobile phone, even the person who found it, would literally have cursed me!! Be it the question of the Sim being misused, I could always have blocked it.

As soon as I realised that I had lost my mobile, I tried calling that number. I sincerely hoped that it was somewhere in the bag, though I was sure it would not be. And moreover it was in the silent mode, so spotting it would have been even more difficult. On becoming sure, I sent an SMS to the phone, asking the finder to give me a call, just in case he finds it and wants to return it back!! Not that I was being too optimistic, but for the reasons mentioned above, I had a gut feeling that I would get it. But I had literally lost all hope. I had no idea where I had lost it. Was it in the train, or was it in the auto because of the beautiful route he had taken on the way, I was not sure. I did not tell anybody. I just called my colleague in Hyderabad, told him what had happened, and asked him to contact Airtel and bar outgoing calls from that number. He promptly did that and called me back. I again called the number, to be greeted by a sweet female voice "The Airtel you are trying to reach has been switched off or out of calling area". So I just thought that Airtel has deactivated the Sim. I started contemplating many things. What if it reaches wrong hands?? I thought about giving a police complaint either with the Railway Police or the Warangal Police. But for that I had to be sure where exactly I had lost it, something I never was sure of. I even contemplated telling it to our Administrative Manager, through which I can claim an insurance from the company, which again demands the lodging of an FIR. Too many complications. But unlike on other occasions, where I would have suddenly acted in a haste, something in my sub conscious mind, kept me in a cooler state of mind. I had never been so calm and composed before in life, when something as serious as this had happened.

Whatever it was, after some time, I was simply buying time, before talking to someone or doing something silly. After some time, I casually called that number again. Not expecting any result, I was surprised to hear it ringing. I only cursed the Airtel fellows, for not doing their job. I even called up my colleague and asked him to follow up with Airtel. I was worried more about the misuseBut somehow or the other, after some time, something suddenly flashed into my mind. It was saying out of calling area earlier and now its ringing. Which means, it was out of coverage area a while ago, and now its back in coverage area. Which meant that it was still in the train. Suddenly, I got an idea. The train was still on its way to Secunderabad. It takes another 2 hours from Warangal to Secunderabad. So there was plenty of time left. So I called up my colleague (the same one) to just go to the railway station and check up in the chair car as soon as the train arrived. Thats when I really got excited and started feeling that I may get back my lost mobile. There still was plenty of time left, and I was getting more and more anxious by every passing minute.

Finally my colleague reached the station, checked the coach and got the mobile. It seems, it was in between the seat and the wall, with the display facing the wall. So one thing I have always believed, was proved yet again in front of me. "Whatever happens, happens with a purpose and happens for good!!" The point I am trying to make here is, I dint act in a hurry. I thought. Out of somewhere, I got the wisdom to call the number again, and from there I got an idea that it could still be in the train. It never occurred to me that the train was on its way to Secunderabad and I can still check it there. Till I was sure it was in the train. Had I panicked and acted in a haste, giving police complaints, speaking to my administrator, I would have been termed as a fool, a careless fellow, and God knows what not.

I am really happy that the incident happened, and the timing could not have been better. It was a very eventful week I had.