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Saturday, September 24, 2011

Ask and It is Given


I rummaged my pockets once again but it was not there. ‘Hell!’ I muttered to myself.
My wife asked as to what happened. ‘I have lost the mobile' I replied . It was the fear of what would follow, more than loosing the gadget in the foreign land where I needed it most, was my greatest worry.
We had just arrived at the Geneva Main railway station and dragged our luggage out of the gleaming concourse to the main foyer.Earlier we had left Bern at 4.00 PM by Swiss Rail,an epitome of efficiency,for Geneva.
The views from the train were spectacular as the train zipped through towns of Fribourg, Palacieux, and Laussane. Laussane is a historic Olympic town, next to the lake with a breathtaking view. At 5.45 PM train arrived at Geneva where we got down. Within a few minutes of alighting I realized that my mobile phone was missing! 
After a frantic search and inquiry, I headed to the Help Desk.They informed me that the train would have terminated at Geneva Airport and I may check with them. So I took the next train to the Geneva Airport. Somewhere, in my heart I felt that I will find it!  My wife kept waiting at Geneva Main station while I went out in search of missing mobile phone. 
I was in luck, as the baggage counter clerk at the Lost Property, flashed my Sony Ericsson phone. My joy knew no bounds, and had a great sense of relief. Almost the impossible had happened! The honesty of Swiss left me completely floored. I returned to Geneva Main station and my wife  informed me that her chanting a Buddhist prayer had been answered.

We located the Hotel Central which we had booked earlier, that was located in the midst of the Old City, with some effort, and finally called it a day !

Next day it was a cold morning, as I stepped out in the balcony of our room on the 6th floor . The distant Alps with snow clad peaks looked beautiful. Our breakfast was delivered in the room. After some deliberation we decided to visit Saleve! Mont Saleve is a tourist attraction in French territory from where one can have a panoramic view of France/ Switzerland and the return trip is about 70 km. Armed with all the information provided by the beautiful girl at the reception we stepped out. The morning rush hour had begun as we arrived at the Bel Air tram stop near the hotel. We waited for a tram to take us to Saleve. I tried to take direction from a man who spoke only German and told us to get in the tram which he boarded. He got off after a while and told us to follow him. He then brought out a car parked after the next bend and told us to hop in. We were a little concerned with this overtly kind gesture and enquired if he was a taxi driver. He waved his hand in negation and told us to hop in.I looked at my wife and we decided to take a chance and got in his car. He drove for about 10 minutes before stopping his car near a house. A lady appeared from the house along with this man and spoke in fluent English. She queried as to where we wanted to go and laughed when her husband explained that we mistook him to be a taxi driver. She then informed us that her husband would take us up to Saleve and will drop us back to the tram station. This was the best help we got!!
I was now convinced that there was some divine force at work in Geneva since I had recovered my lost mobile phone earlier. We thanked them both profusely as the kind gentleman showed us around Saleve and dropped us at the tram station in the city. 


5 comments:

  1. There is a divine force that looks out for us. I agree with your wife that her prayers were answered. They are answered an amazing number of times and even when they aren't, it would be for a better reason than we can fathom.

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  2. such is the honesty of people there, its really a benchmark for anyone to follow. Especially us.

    nice read.

    cheers,
    Blasphemous Aesthete

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  3. I'm amazed by their moral standards...:)

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  4. @Blasphemous Aesthete- It is unfortunately lack of values ingrained in us from childhood that we become what we are! Thanks for liking.
    Saru- The moral standards are high for sure and we have still a lot to learn!

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