Kareena Kapoor’s Geet Dhillon in the Bollywood rom-com Jab We Met had to endure brusque station masters when she twice missed her train and seemingly lost her luggage. Passengers are more fortunate if they leave behind their iPhones and iPads and gold chains, mangalsutra, rings and other jewellery items in the trains at New Delhi Railway Station. And that’s because station manager Rakesh Sharma is on the job.
When it comes to returning lost items to their owners, Rakesh has the zeal of an evangelist. He uses Facebook and Instagram to put out alerts, personally tracks down passengers and calls them up. His reward is the “smile of relief” and “effusive thanks”.
“I see the happiness on their faces and it feels right. Like this is what I’m supposed to do,” says Rakesh.
The norm is for ‘left luggage’ to be deposited at the station’s lost and found room, that is, if the person retrieving them doesn’t follow the adage ‘Finders keepers, losers weepers’.
So, when Poonam Mehra received a call from Rakesh, she was first confused and then ecstatic. She had travelled to Delhi on the Amritsar Shatabdi Express and didn’t realise she had left her bag on the train until Rakesh tracked her through the passenger list, got her number and gave her a call.
“With the help of my colleagues, I gather details of the passenger travelling on that train—bogie, seat number, etc. I get the passenger’s phone number and ticket details from the IRTC list,” he says.
Since 2006, Rakesh and his team have reunited 600 items with their owners. Although, he doesn’t recall any startling or odd items left behind. The detritus of travel collected and returned over the years include laptops, phones, spectacles, jackets, coats, jewellery and even water bottles. He’s built a network of ‘informants’ like catering service personnel, cleaning crew, and even other passengers who alert him about ‘left luggage’.
Amazing experience with IndianRailways. We had left kindle in the Shatabdi, didn't realize it until we got a call from NDLS Station Manager Mr. Rakesh Sharma!! Got it back today from him. Happens only in #IncredibleIndia @IRCTCofficial @AshwiniVaishnaw@Rakesh271966 @RailMinIndia pic.twitter.com/SdhV5W4QFW
— Bhavani Giddu (@bgiddu) July 7, 2022
A network — of staff and passengers
Often, passengers are unable to return to New Delhi Railway Station to claim the item either because the city is just a transit destination or they live elsewhere. Rakesh is undeterred by these roadblocks.
If a passenger can’t collect the item, then he will send it to them by any means possible. And let’s not forget, Rakesh has the Indian Railways at his disposal.
He often requests TTs (travelling ticket examiners) or catering staff who move from train to train to carry the item with them and deposit it at the station most convenient for the passenger.
“I left my laptop on my seat while travelling on the Chandigarh Express earlier this month, but because of Rajesh Sharma, I was able to get it back,” said software engineer Dipendra Kumar from Mohali, Punjab.
Rakesh doesn’t limit his mission to Indian passengers. Over the years, he has helped people from the UK, Nepal, Australia, the UAE, Kenya and the US.
“Once, an Australian national had left his MacBook on the train, but we couldn’t reach him. Our calls to the telephone numbers on his records went unanswered,” he says. At his wits’ end, the station manager started looking for the passenger on Facebook. He found his profile and the two connected. The MacBook was finally shipped to the passenger’s home in Australia at the latter’s cost.
“People feel that once an item is left in the train, it will never be recovered. The image of Indian Railways has benefited from his work,” said retired Indian Railways officer B.K. Shukla.
Also read: Lost, found or vanished: For many child runaways, dice rolls at New Delhi railway station
Inspiring other railway staff
Rakesh’s reputation precedes him across the length and breadth of the Indian Railways. Other railway officers and employees have started seeking his ‘expertise’.
On 27 September, Poornima Baveshi left her bag in the train while travelling from Vadodara to Mumbai on the Mumbai Central Shatabdi Express. The bag was found by a catering staff and ultimately reached Chief Inspector of Tickets Sanjay Balsode, who had heard of Rakesh’s extra-curricular exploits. Balsode sought his advice and together they were able to identify Baveshi as the owner. She collected the bag from Mumbai Central station the next day.
Many railway staff are convinced that lost and found is under Rakesh’s purview now. Over the years, he received many departmental awards, which have further cemented his reputation.
Even passengers, especially those who live in and around Delhi, are aware of the station manager’s knack of finding ‘lost’ items.
When Ajay Kumar realised he had left his phone on a train while travelling from New Delhi to Ludhiana, he immediately approached Rakesh in panic. It didn’t take long for the station manager to suss out that a fellow passenger had picked up the phone with the intention of returning it to its owner. He connected the two men. His work was done.
He and his team often use social media—Facebook, Instagram and Twitter—to reach out to the passengers. This comes in handy when they are unable to identify the item’s owner.
“I put a photo of the lost item and ask for information,” he said. It’s not as effective as plain old detective work and scrolling through passenger lists.
He is careful to make sure that items are returned to their rightful owners, and questions them in detail. If it’s a bag, he’ll ask them about the contents.
He recalls one particularly “tricky” case involving an iPhone that was found near the generator coach of the Kalka Shatabdi on 15 November. The phone was running low on battery and its screen was locked. Rakesh couldn’t identify the owner because it hadn’t been found near a seat or berth.
So he extracted the SIM, inserted it into another phone, and identified the owner with the help of TrueCaller. It belonged to one Dr S.K. Mandal, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi. The phone was sent to Varanasi through Rakesh’s network of train personnel.
“As long as I work with the Indian Railways, I will continue to deliver lost belongings that people leave on the train,” Rakesh says. Had Geet in Jab We Met known of Sharma’s work, she would have said: “Tu original piece hai, maloom hai na tujhe! Aisa doosra nahi hai.”
Almina Khatoon is an intern with ThePrint.
(Edited by Prashant)