A Lousy Weekend!

This is in continuation to Reporting the Encounter..!! So you might want to turn the pages over, to get a hint of what this post is all about. For everyone else who managed to follow through, without getting bored and/or discontinuing, thanks a lot for your patience.

It was 1:00 am in the morning and I was surfing through internet to get a hang on the process I was supposed to follow from Monday onwards. I probably read the content of every single page listed in the first 10-15 results' pages on Google for all possible search strings for the situation in hand. Everyone from my manager, to his manager to the VP extended help and colleagues there in Australia or back in India searched for information and sent it too.

I wish I could say it for this one

I completely read through the website of ministry of external affairs, India and the Indian Consulate at Sydney. They require you to fill up a form for each case whether it was one like that of me or for a new passport application for an Indian resident staying in Sydney and so on. What confused me was that most of these links take you to the same page, having link to only one web based form. I was not sure if I should because the description indicated that it was meant for a fresh passport application, but I filled up the form and saved a copy of that on the notebook. It generated a random number saying AUSSI******* which is an identifier of your file. After doing all this, I suppose I fell asleep some where close to 3:40-3:50 am in the morning. 

Early morning at around 5:45 am, I went out to see if I could find some sweepers or  anyone from caretaker groups of that area. I  retraced the whole path once more but could not find anybody, I guess it was too early. I went back to the room and tried to catch a short nap, woke up again at around 7:00-7:30 and went on for the same journey. Luckily, this time I managed to find somebody from that group, I told him about what happened. He then talked to few more of those in his group but nobody had found anything. 

He then told me about a Chinese lady who had forgotten her bag, wallet, passport and other belongings in the same area a few days ago. They found all that stuff, which was then returned to the lady as it is. His assumption was that there is no reason that something lost in that area would not be found except for cases when somebody throws it in the dustbin or when it might have fallen in a water body. I then went on to find the office of the rangers who oversee that area. I did not have any luck this time as well. They told me the same thing as did that guy I talked to a while ago. I then talked to the folks in the all the remaining (open)restaurants/bars/bistros and souvenir shops in the locality.

I was then walking back to the hotel, when the tram guy who helped last night, asked me if I could get my passport back. I was amazed to see that he remembered. I told him that I could not find it and thanked him for being kind to ask that. 

My colleague called me up at around 9:47 am in the morning to inquire if had checked with the sweepers and other guys and if I had my breakfast. He told me that he would go out to check once. Later, he came to my room at some time around 11:30-11:45 am when he informed me that his wife and child are ill. At around 1:33 pm in the afternoon, he sent a detailed email to all the stakeholders with the summary of the workshop and next steps to be followed once we reach India. 

He invited me to his room at around 2:00 pm or so to be able to divert attention from the topic. I was still looking for more information on the internet, so I refused. He insisted, so I went to his room with my laptop. I did not know what to discuss, so I sat there for a few minutes and then continued my search while he was enjoying an animated movie. Since it was not helping, I went back to my room after 5-10 mins. 

In the evening, he suggested that we should catch up for dinner. While we were going towards harbor on the same lane, I asked him of the bistro he went to, so that I can ask the folks if they found something. He said that he did not think that it was lost there. Since there was no harm in trying, I asked him a few more times. When we reached near the same spot as the previous day, and I pointed out to one of the bistros asking if that was the one, he said he did not think so. I thought may be he does not remember, so I suggested that I would go and ask in each one of them. He did not like the idea and said that he did not think it would help. I insisted and then he finally told me the place he went to. I went in and asked the lady at the bar. While she went on to check inside, he said that he did not think that he put his hand in his pockets while he was there. The lady came back with no good news.

After going back to the hotel, it was just a few more calls, texts etc.

I called up the police and rangers a couple of times asking for my passport over the course of that day. Those people are really nice, they remembered me by the time I called them up the second time and tried reassuring each time that they will reach out to me as soon as they find something.

to be continued..