Indian railways officer tracks down a Sydney man to return his lost laptop

An Australian visitor who had lost his Apple laptop on a Chandigarh-Delhi train thought it was impossible to find it. But this officer made it happen.

Rakesh Sharma in his office at New Delhi Railway Station. Source: Supplied

Many of us may have forgotten something in a train or bus while travelling. And the search doesn’t always end with success. Often we give up the search and finding property lost in public transport is precluded due the low success rate of the exercise.

And if the train station happens to be as busy as New Delhi Railway Station, where 600,000 passengers travelling in 354 trains pass through every single day, the chances of recovering lost property are even slimmer.

But one man is changing this. Meet Rakesh Sharma, the Station Superintendent of New Delhi Railway Station.

Mr Sharma became the subject of several articles in the Indian media which praised him for making that seemingly impossible search possible for passengers who pass through India’s capital.

Source: Supplied

He is also a fine example of how social media can be put to good use, and not just as a pastime.

“Our train staff and even passengers come to my office to report lost property they find in trains. I ask them from which compartment and seat they had found those lost items. Then, I search the PNR allocated to that seat and look for a phone number. If I can’t find that, I search the passenger’s name on Facebook. I then send the passenger a message on Facebook and most of the time, people respond. However, this is not the official procedure followed by the Indian Railways. We are instructed to simply deposit lost property in our Lost and Found department, which is returned to the passengers if they contact us, against a nominal fee. But I like to go the extra mile and find the owners of the property through social media,” Mr Sharma told SBS Punjabi.

The items can often be quite valuable.

“I’ve found visa documents, even jewellery inside trains. For me, the value of one rupee is just the same as one crore (10 million) rupees,” Mr Sharma says.

Very recently, an Australian tourist, benefitted from Mr Sharma’s service.

Paul Mallam with his wife at Taj Mahal, Agra during their India trip. Source: Supplied

“This March, an Australian tourist named Paul Mallam was travelling on the Chandigarh-New Delhi Shatabdi train. After the train emptied out at New Delhi, the catering staff of the train brought a bag to me and said they had found it from a compartment of the train. When I opened the bag, I found an Apple MacBook inside. I took down the details of the seat from which the bag had been found and then logged onto Facebook, hoping to Paul Mallam,” adds Mr Sharma.

Mr Mallam -  a Sydney-based artist - spoke to SBS Punjabi about his experience. 

“I’ve been to India many times. It’s a wonderful place but Rakesh is truly special,” Mr Mallam says as he recalls the experience of recovering his expensive laptop.

“My wife and I were travelling to India this March. A co-passenger and I got very engaged in conversation. That’s when I forgot to pick up my laptop after the train reached New Delhi. Almost everyone I met after reaching my hotel, told me that Delhi is such a busy railway station and it would be impossible for me to get it back. I went to the Railway Police to report the loss. Two days later, I was astonished to receive a Facebook post from Rakesh that he had recovered the laptop… I think he’s a wonderful man,” Mr Mallam, who is an artist and paints primarily using watercolours.

Paul Mallam shares a chariot ride with a bridegroom at a wedding in India. Source: Supplied

“Given the scale of responsibilities that Rakesh has, the number of people and trains passing through New Delhi Railways Station every day, I can say he really is a special person. He’s very attentive to his duties, follows up with people diligently over Facebook. He contacted me over the weekend in Delhi and by Monday morning, returned the laptop to the hotel I had been staying at. I have nothing but praise for him,” Mr Mallam told SBS Punjabi.

Often, a heartwarming gesture such as Mr Sharma’s can leave a positive imprint on the mind of a foreigner.

“In finality, I can say that I had a wonderful time in India. India is a country full of special people and I would encourage everyone to go there,” Mr Mallam says as he concludes his travel story to India.

 

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