Tuesday, 11th March, 8:30 am. I'm sitting in the Rahbar bus with Graph Theory book in my hands. The next day I'm gonna sit in the final exam of the M.Sc course and the only time I've spent so far reading this subject is during my commute to my office. Since I have to change bus at Motijheel and want to do it quickly I have a 10 tk bill in the shirt pocket so that I wouldn't need to take out my wallet from the back-pocket and tuck it back again. Don't know why but I think sometimes that saves almost 10 seconds when an ATCL or Rajdhani is just about to leave from Motijheel and I need to get on that hurriedly. All this chattering about how I get to the office is just to say that like all other days, the Rahbar bus reaches Motijheel, I push my way through the standing crowd in the bus, immediately see a Rajdhani Express on the brink of starting and get on board of that. Finding a secluded seat, I again make myself busy in my text book.
9:00 am. I reach office. Similar to all other days, I throw the stuff in my pocket to my drawer and start working, listening to Bon Jovi's Wembly concert. Never for a moment, I find anything missing.
10:15 am. Someone calls on my cell asking if I am Tanvir Rahman (A very common mistake people make with my name). I think this may be a part of the passport application verification process so start talking cooly. After asking on which bus did I ride today the man asks me if I have lost my wallet on the bus today. I think, no way, I've just kept that in my office drawer as I usually do. Opening the drawer I get dumb-founded. It's really not there. So I ask the person where I can meet him and he gives me the address of a place near Milbarack Police Line.
I tell the incident to my colleagues (friends) and all of them smell something fishy going on. The place of meeting is from 5 minutes to my home but going there at 8 in the evening is risky so I also start doubting the person's motive. I had only 5-6 hundred taka in my wallet so that is of no importance to me. The only things I value in there was my HSBC ATM card and Quantum Foundation's blood donor card. My friends advise me to immediately block transactions through my card (though I have no trace of my account password anywhere in my wallet). I don't deny that's also my first notion but something in the man's voice makes me wanna take that chance to fetch my lost wallet from him. All my friends (colleagues) are telling me that I must've been pick-pocketed and now the gang wants to trap me into meeting them so they can beat the password out of me.
Becoming too doubtful I seek the help of Nazim. He has a friend in Bangladesh Navy and asks him to cross-check the mobile no I was given to contact with. He finds out that a woman answers the phone and claims to be the man's wife. After this incident the man phones again on Ellis' (my boss) cell and tells that if I want my wallet so bad, I can immediately take it back and need not harass his family. He tells me that he works for an ex-Police IG in Uttara and I can come to his workplace and take my wallet back. After conferring with everyone in the office I decide that his motives may be honest so I should give it a try but need to be on the qui vive at every step I take. So I take Zeon Bhai (CodeCrafters Office Assistant) with me and start for Uttara.
12:15 pm. I reach Uttara and call the man's workplace. I get told that he's out at the moment and I can wait in the ex-Police IG's home. Seeing that the home is away from the main road, I decide to remain cautious and tell that I'll wait in the street beside the taxicab I've rented. After waiting for almost a quarter to an hour, I finally meet the person. He also have come with an accomplice as he was afraid he may get into some trouble in course of doing something good. He hands me over my wallet, tells me to verify if everything is in place and asks me to give him a written statement so that I cannot make any false claim later.
This man is Md. Tota Mia. He works as an office orderly for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and hence he lives in Milbarack Police Line. His family consists of his wife and two children. Both his children study in Jubilee School. He may not be as well of as I but he seemed to me a contended man proud of his family and his values. As a token of thankfulness I offer him 500 tk but he vehemently refuses to accept it and sends me back to my office.
I cannot deny seeing incidents of fraudulence, hijacking and murder in everyday newspaper have made me lost my faith in the inner honesty of people. Neither can I say I'm better than any of them. If I would've found a wallet lying in the seat of a bus, I'd never have touched it. Why bother about someone else's problem? If people can afford to be callous (like me) let them be that way. If I try to pick that one up, people at the bus would stare at me thinking I have intentions to pocket that wallet for myself. On such a situation I'd probably avoid sitting there and just shake that matter off my mind. I don't know how many would've taken such a step as Mr. Tota Mia and show that there's still honesty and integrity left in this world where everybody is running his/her own race and not bothering to think for anyone else's sake. Man like Mr. Tota Mia are becoming a rare bread in this fast paced city life. People like him still uphold the true virtues of human life and makes me wanna restore my faith. I may not have thanked him much that day. I was too overwhelmed by the incident and the rare show of altruism. This moment I take the chance to say my heartfelt gratitude to this good soul. Mr. Tota Mia, wherever you live, I'll never forget what you did for me on that day. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
9:00 am. I reach office. Similar to all other days, I throw the stuff in my pocket to my drawer and start working, listening to Bon Jovi's Wembly concert. Never for a moment, I find anything missing.
10:15 am. Someone calls on my cell asking if I am Tanvir Rahman (A very common mistake people make with my name). I think this may be a part of the passport application verification process so start talking cooly. After asking on which bus did I ride today the man asks me if I have lost my wallet on the bus today. I think, no way, I've just kept that in my office drawer as I usually do. Opening the drawer I get dumb-founded. It's really not there. So I ask the person where I can meet him and he gives me the address of a place near Milbarack Police Line.
I tell the incident to my colleagues (friends) and all of them smell something fishy going on. The place of meeting is from 5 minutes to my home but going there at 8 in the evening is risky so I also start doubting the person's motive. I had only 5-6 hundred taka in my wallet so that is of no importance to me. The only things I value in there was my HSBC ATM card and Quantum Foundation's blood donor card. My friends advise me to immediately block transactions through my card (though I have no trace of my account password anywhere in my wallet). I don't deny that's also my first notion but something in the man's voice makes me wanna take that chance to fetch my lost wallet from him. All my friends (colleagues) are telling me that I must've been pick-pocketed and now the gang wants to trap me into meeting them so they can beat the password out of me.
Becoming too doubtful I seek the help of Nazim. He has a friend in Bangladesh Navy and asks him to cross-check the mobile no I was given to contact with. He finds out that a woman answers the phone and claims to be the man's wife. After this incident the man phones again on Ellis' (my boss) cell and tells that if I want my wallet so bad, I can immediately take it back and need not harass his family. He tells me that he works for an ex-Police IG in Uttara and I can come to his workplace and take my wallet back. After conferring with everyone in the office I decide that his motives may be honest so I should give it a try but need to be on the qui vive at every step I take. So I take Zeon Bhai (CodeCrafters Office Assistant) with me and start for Uttara.
12:15 pm. I reach Uttara and call the man's workplace. I get told that he's out at the moment and I can wait in the ex-Police IG's home. Seeing that the home is away from the main road, I decide to remain cautious and tell that I'll wait in the street beside the taxicab I've rented. After waiting for almost a quarter to an hour, I finally meet the person. He also have come with an accomplice as he was afraid he may get into some trouble in course of doing something good. He hands me over my wallet, tells me to verify if everything is in place and asks me to give him a written statement so that I cannot make any false claim later.
This man is Md. Tota Mia. He works as an office orderly for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and hence he lives in Milbarack Police Line. His family consists of his wife and two children. Both his children study in Jubilee School. He may not be as well of as I but he seemed to me a contended man proud of his family and his values. As a token of thankfulness I offer him 500 tk but he vehemently refuses to accept it and sends me back to my office.
I cannot deny seeing incidents of fraudulence, hijacking and murder in everyday newspaper have made me lost my faith in the inner honesty of people. Neither can I say I'm better than any of them. If I would've found a wallet lying in the seat of a bus, I'd never have touched it. Why bother about someone else's problem? If people can afford to be callous (like me) let them be that way. If I try to pick that one up, people at the bus would stare at me thinking I have intentions to pocket that wallet for myself. On such a situation I'd probably avoid sitting there and just shake that matter off my mind. I don't know how many would've taken such a step as Mr. Tota Mia and show that there's still honesty and integrity left in this world where everybody is running his/her own race and not bothering to think for anyone else's sake. Man like Mr. Tota Mia are becoming a rare bread in this fast paced city life. People like him still uphold the true virtues of human life and makes me wanna restore my faith. I may not have thanked him much that day. I was too overwhelmed by the incident and the rare show of altruism. This moment I take the chance to say my heartfelt gratitude to this good soul. Mr. Tota Mia, wherever you live, I'll never forget what you did for me on that day. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
