A few months ago, I was in Mumbai for a corporate meeting. The meeting started in noon and ended late in the evening, after which I attended a party with my friends in Powai, Mumbai.
Next morning when I woke up at 7.00 AM I was in complete shock!
My bag containing Phone and laptop was missing!
I had no recollection of where my bag could be. To make matters worse, I had back to back meetings from 3:00 PM and the presentations and documents were in my bag.
I had searched my hotel room, so I started out for the party venue. After a long journey and even longer discourse with the staff there, all I got was the party organizers’ address.
I visited the organizer who declined seeing any such bag left at the venue. It was now 12:00 noon and I still had no clues as to the whereabouts of my bag.
As a last resort, I went to Powai Police station. (I say a last resort because, well, we all have an image of Indian police….you know…..laid back, rude, potbellied …etc. etc.).
So, as expected, I met with some cops who at first royally ignored me and then tried to scuttle away my complaint. But as I had nothing better to do, I persevered, and Alas! After about an hour, I met with inspector Anil Vasute.
Don’t under estimate the power of Three!
A third person can bring in a new perspective and invaluable insights. Which is why companies hire consultants (Like me :))
Entire morning, I had shared the details of my ordeal several times with several people and had become agitated about saying it over and over again, but Anil Vasute still asked me to repeat it one last time.
I obliged and repeated my story and to my utter surprise he started smiling and told me he will get my bag back!
In my anguish of losing my phone and laptop, what had I missed that he caught on to? That it was an iphone and macbook!
I breathed my first sigh of relief when he said “We can trace your bag by tracking your iphone and mac.”
The answers lie in the details
In the next few minutes he had fired several questions at me. What’s the iphone model? Is gps activated? Can I remotely activate the gps? What’s the IMEI number?
Turns out iPhone has the Find my iphone feature which can be used to trace any iphone.
I felt like Watson must have when Sherlock was solving a case…….a sense of excitement which comes with the imminent closure of a case/deal.
However, that was short-lived. My phone and laptop were switched off and so could not be traced.
Not one to be disheartened, Anil Vasute gave me his contact number and the registered complaint number and assured me that he will follow up on the complaint.
Having tried my bit, I came out of the police station with my next plan of action.
– Buy a cheap phone and local sim (I still had hope that Sherlock would crack this case)
– Forward the new number to him (In case he actually did crack the case)
– Call the office (To remind everyone it’s not a holiday)
– Attend my meetings (had to be done any which ways)
– Call my family (Tell them I’m very much alive)
– Keep calling on my original number (one should never lose hope)
Opportunity can knock at any Hour……..Be Ready.
By the time my meetings concluded, it was 8:00pm. I had an early morning flight back to Delhi and my optimism was waning now. I called my Mom to give her the bad news. To my surprise her first words were “Why have you not been receiving my calls ?”. I asked my mom if my phone was still ringing, she said Yes!
I immediately contacted Anil Vasute, who despite being off duty came back into action. He asked me to meet him at the station and in the meantime call any friend who has an iphone and request them to track my phone as no one at the station had one.
My friends from Delhi traced the phone to within a 1km radius in Powai. I gave the location to Anil Vasute and we immediately rushed towards it. By 10:30pm I found myself standing admist an overwhelming crowd at Hiranandani, Powai.
Presence of mind can solve many business challenges
With hundreds of shops and thousands of people there, it was virtually impossible to trace the phone. But then, all of a sudden, he stopped a group of boys, who were taking a night walk, and asked “Hey, any of you has iPhone?” The boys were shocked but one of them replied “Yes”. Anil asked that boy to join us in our hunt.
The Boy’s phone helped us trace the phone to an apartment building in Hiranandani. And guess what…….it was the same society where I had gone earlier in the afternoon………..the party organizers apartment!
Perseverance always pays off
Anil Vasute asked the security guard to call the organizer. The organizer told us that someone recently dropped my bag to his residence and he was about to call me. Finally, after an entire day’s ordeal, I got my bag!
I would like to end with a big salute to Anil Vasute who is among the finest cops I have met. When I look back, the episode enriched me with not just my lost belongings but some important life lessons.