Sunday evening was like any other for Nasir Qureshi stationed outside the domestic terminal of the city’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International airport. Like several other fellow auto drivers, he was eagerly accosting exiting passengers in the hope that one of them would hail him for a ride home. In the rush his attention was drawn to a black, rectangular purse lying unattended on the ground. He picked it up and immediately rushed towards the terminal manager’s office. Someone even tried to gather the purse from him claiming it belonged to him but Nasir was one pucca Amdavadi.

(This story originally appeared in on Dec 7, 2016)

Sunday evening was like any other for Nasir Qureshi stationed outside the domestic terminal of the city’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International airport. Like several other fellow auto drivers, he was eagerly accosting exiting passengers in the hope that one of them would hail him for a ride home. In the rush his attention was drawn to a black, rectangular purse lying unattended on the ground. He picked it up and immediately rushed towards the terminal manager’s office . Someone even tried to gather the purse from him claiming it belonged to him but Nasir was one pucca Amdavadi.He politely asked the “claimant” that he should collect it from the manager’s office after proving his credentials and rightful ownership. The claimant disappeared in the crowd and Nasir handed over the purse to the terminal manager. When the officials opened the purse, it contained 30 notes of $100 denomination along with a single note of Rs 500. The money, converted in Indian currency, amounted to over Rs 2 lakh, enough to pay for Nasir’s rickshaw loan and buy him a new one. However, believing in the adage honesty is the best policy, Nasir did not bat an eyelid when officials told him the contents of the purse.While talking to Mirror at his modest one-room home in Ahmed Hussain Ni Chali in Dudheshwar area, 35- year-old Nasir said he earned Rs 600 per day before demonetisation but these days he considers himself lucky if he makes Rs 400 by end of the day. His three children are enrolled in an English medium school while wife is a homemaker. When told that he had set an example for others to be emulated, the ever-smiling Nasir said: “I have not done anything great. It is against my ethics to claim or use something not belonging to me. I did not even peek into the purse before depositing it with the officials.”When prodded that Rs 2 lakh would have more than taken care of his needs, Nasir said: “My three children study in Vishwa Bharti School, an English medium school that imparts good education and affordable for person like me. I pay Rs 1,600 per month towards their education, Rs 6,000 as EMI for rickshaw, Rs 500 electricity bill and Rs 3,000 after monthly groceries. My brother and father live next door and sustaining monthly expenses from driving autorickshaw is not much of a problem by grace of god. I can’t even think of using other people’s money.”He said this was not the first time he was returning something precious to the passenger. “About 10 months ago a passenger forgot his expensive smartphone in the rear seat of my rickshaw. The passenger rang the phone half an hour after I had dropped him. I went all the way to Naroda from the airport to hand it over to him,” he narrated. When asked what would be one thing he would seek, if given a choice, he quickly said auto drivers are abused and shooed away by officials at the airport.“They should devise means to accommodate auto drivers at the airport, just like cabs, so that we too can earn our daily bread respectfully and without insult,” he said. In the meantime, airport officials received a call on Monday afternoon inquiring about the lost purse. The caller identified himself and said he would return after 15 days of overseas journey and follow requisite procedure to claim the purse.