Mumbai, Nov 2 (IANS): In a heart-warming tale of the integrity of the ordinary Mumbaikars, a retired college lecturer found her lost gold bracelet - after 5 hrs - on a road where it had slipped and fallen off.
The 'miracle' happened on Sunday (October 30), when the ex-lecturer of Narsee Monjee College, Vile Parle, Ramila N. Desai, was celebrating her 72nd birthday.
First, a friend dropped in to wish her and the duo walked down from her Matunga west home to the nearby Sujata restaurant, barely a km away, near the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Dadar west.
"Since it was a special day, I took out my favourite gold bracelet worth around Rs 1.50 lakh, wore it and we went to the eatery for lunch. When I returned around 2 p.m., the bracelet was missing," said Desai, a widow who lives alone.
She, along with two other young friends who came to greet her - Aranta Nikust, 25, and Saily Mohite, 24 - both managers in the HDFC Life Ltd. started a frantic search for the bracelet at home, staircase, in the society compound, outside the building premises and on the nearby roads, but to no avail.
Crestfallen at the sudden loss on her birthday, the two girls attempted to console the senior 'birthday girl' and hoping to cheer her up, decided to take her for a walk at the famed Dadar Chowpatty Beach.
Later that evening, as the sun was setting on the Arabian Sea horizon, the two girls decided to treat Desai - make her savour some yummy paani-puris at a popular local vendor, but his shop was shut.
"It was dusk and getting dark, so we decided to stroll down to the same Sujata restaurant. As we approached it, I almost screamed - I saw my missing bracelet lying safely, on the roadside where it had fallen off that afternoon," Desai said.
Both her colleagues, Aranta and Saily hugged her, did a bit of a jig, and she picked up the bracelet even as local shopkeepers and pedestrians wondered what the roadside excitement was all about.
"This is a great example of the honesty of Mumbaikars. The bracelet was lying there for some five hours. Thousands of people walk and hundreds of vehicles ply on that busy stretch. But somehow, nobody noticed it or touched ita" said the elated lady, sharing the pictures of the big 'memorable birthday' with her family, friends and on social media.