Give and Tuk-Tuk

In today’s dog-eat-dog world, it’s always refreshing to hear stories about people actually being humane towards each other. One such incident happened to Naresh Kumar, a 25-year-old former IT employee, when he met an auto driver named Ahmed who turned out to be his “good Samaritan”.

Shifting homes from Kukatpally to Hitech City, Naresh was looking for a means of transport on Sunday evening at 5.30 pm to move some of his personal belongings.

“I was looking for an auto to shift my PC and clothes and some other luggage, and after a long search I found this auto guy standing in front of a shop. When I asked him, he asked for Rs 300 but I bargained it down to Rs 250 because there wasn’t much luggage,” Naresh says.

Naresh Kumar

After finalising the rate, Naresh took off in a hurry and asked Ahmed to follow him, since he had to catch a train to Bengaluru later that night as well.

“At Kukatpally, we had to take a U-turn so I did and then waited on the other side of the road for him,” says Naresh, adding, “That’s when it struck me that I hadn’t taken down the auto’s number or the driver’s contact details.”

With no way to contact the driver, Naresh took a few rounds up and down the road to Balanagar and Hitech City to see if he could spot the auto but to no avail.

Thinking the auto driver had stolen his luggage, he went to the local police station and tried to file a complaint, but because he had no way of identifying the auto, he couldn’t do so.

Dejected and almost accepting the fate  that he had lost a few thousand rupees worth of possessions, Naresh came back to his house in Kukatpally at 9 pm.

Just as he was getting off his bike, who should appear but Ahmed! “He told that he had gone all the way to Hitech City even though I hadn’t given him the address! He then came back to the place he had picked me up from. My neighbours don’t know me well and don’t have my phone number either, so it was really lucky that he had met me at exactly that moment,” says Naresh.

The two finally managed to deliver the luggage and parted ways, but not before sharing their stories over tea and biscuits in true Hyderabadi fashion.

“He owns a small truck, and he tried to get some business out of it but hasn’t been able to, so far. He also said he wants to learn English, so I told him I wouldn’t mind teaching him,” Naresh says, adding that he has posted Ahmed’s phone number on a Facebook group, asking people to help him out with his business and in any other way they can.

Ahmed himself confirms the incident, saying, “All along, the only thing I was worried about was that he shouldn’t think that I stole his luggage!”