Image Courtesy: Mid-Day.com
Not realising she had kept jewellery worth Rs 2 lakh in it, Canada-based NRI Naaz Karim gave a suitcase with a broken handle for repairs at a roadside shop in Andheri.
She was in for a pleasant surprise when the repairman handed her a pouch that contained her jewellery along with her repaired suitcase.
The honesty of Tukaram Gawale, the bag repairer, and Mohammed Alimuddin, a key maker who discovered the pouch, floored Karim.
Karim said, "Those men are poor and uneducated, but honest."
Karim, who came to the city about a month ago, had broken the handle of her suitcase on the way to India. She said that after she gave the suitcase for repairs, she could not find her jewellery and reasoned she must have left it back in Canada.
It later turned out that she had failed to notice the jewellery pouch while emptying the suitcase before giving it for repairs. Gawale, who has a small shop on JP Road in Four Bungalows, had told his neighbour Alimuddin to take care of his shop and keep Karim's suitcase inside. When Alimuddin picked up the bag, the pouch fell out.
"I told Gawale about the pouch. We didn't even bother to open it," said Alimuddin. The pouch contained rubies, diamond and antique gold jewellery.