Reporting the Encounter..!!

This post is next in line with First Ever Visit to a Police Station..!!

As soon as we stepped in the police station, I noticed the difference with those we see/have in India, or at least in movies.

Anyways, coming back to the point, I saw two cops indulged in their work. As soon as they noticed us, one of them came to the counter to attend to us. I started speaking and hence informed him about the loss of my passport. He started asking me questions like:

"Was it an Indian passport?": Yes, it was, so did I say to him.

"How and Where did you lose it?": I informed him of the walk from our hotel to "The Star" and that as soon as we reached the destination, my colleague acknowledged that it could not be found. 

He then inquired "your colleague acknowledged": I informed him that the passport was with my colleague along with reason. He then looked at my colleague and so did I, saying that the passport was in my colleague's pocket. My colleague then nodded in approval too and said that it was with him.

So to conclude, I said, it should have been lost somewhere on the way from Holiday Inn, near Sydney Entertainment Center to The Star. My colleague interrupted and said that as per him it should have been lost only somewhere near the harbor because he remembered that's the only time when he put his hand in the pocket. 

I was quite surprised to hear that and said "You did not even remember that I had given my passport to you when we reached "The Star" and now you remember when did you put your hands in your pockets?" The police guy was writing it down in the report when he repeated that it was lost between the Holiday Inn and the Star. My colleague tried repeating that he is sure that it should have been lost somewhere near the harbor. I told the cop that we can't be 100% sure, it could be any place between the two points.

The constable then asked my colleague if he has checked his pockets well. My colleague said yes, trying to check it once again in front of him.

He asked us of our purpose of visit to Sydney, for which I told him that it was a business trip.

I asked him about the procedure thereon and if he knew how can I get back to India. I must admit that the constable was extremely helpful. He immediately searched for and gave me as many numbers as he could find, of the Indian Embassy on the internet. He did tell me that it would be closed any way since it was weekend and that I would have to wait till Monday. I was worried and he could sense that well. He said that I should not worry for the consulate should be able to issue a fresh passport to me in 48 hours or so. He keyed in the information and gave me a card with the event number indicating that report was lodged.

I tried all of those phone numbers but none of them worked. He looked for another number and passed it on to me. I tried that number as well and luckily that one took me to a voice mail box. I dropped a message, stating my name, nationality, current location & time, reason for travel and that my passport was lost, and that the same has been informed to the NSW police at Day Street Police Station. 

The constable then called rangers(these people take care of things, lost and found near the Darling Quarter) to see if they had got it. But they hadn't. He passed on that number to me as well so that I could check with them the next morning. He then suggested us to retrace the path back to see if we could find it.  I informed him that I had already done that almost twice. He did suggest to talk to people at all the nearby restaurants.


After listening to what police officer said, I decided to retrace the path from the harbor to "The Star" back. So when we reached the bifurcation to our hotel and the harbor, I did let my colleague know about it. He said that we should grab something to eat first. I said that I would rather go and check there first. He repeated that but I took the road to "The Star", conveying my intention to try once again to him and he followed. When we reached the entrance of casino again, I asked the representative who was managing the crowd if they found any Indian passport there. He suggested me to check with hotel reception, at the rear side. I asked him the way to it. He hurriedly said something.

So, I just started walking into that direction. My colleague continued to say that he does not think that it had fallen over there but I was not convinced. I had nothing further to lose, so I wanted to give it a last shot. When we reached downstairs, I signaled him that we need to take the right to reach the reception. His feeling was that there could no way be a path to the reception within the building and we should go out, walk around the building to enter it from the other side. I did not think so, my feeling was that it was a huge mall, should have been well connected and there should be a way to get in there through the mall. So, I followed my gut. He replicated his wordings, that we should go out and try find a way to the rear entrance. Within a few minutes, we could reach the reception, cutting through the crowded food court, and then the lobby. I asked the lady if they found an Indian Passport but they had not. I gave my contact details & business card to her so that she could inform me just in case they find it.

I was talking of visiting the restaurants on our way back to hotel  but my colleague did not like the idea. I said I would go and talk to them and I visited around 2-3 of them, that's when he joined me. I talked to another 6-7 of them and handed over my business card to the folks at the restaurant.  I tried to find the people who clean that area but could not. Staff at a restaurant suggested us to try early morning next day. My colleague then suggested that we should grab something to eat first for we have not had anything yet. I could not think of food at that time and thought of making a few calls to the folks back in here(India) to inform about it. I went back to my room and called up my manager, parents etc., posted about being stuck in Sydney on the Facebook wall. Many friends, colleagues & well-wishers reached out to talk, share ideas, offer help, and whatsoever and I am really thankful to each one of them.

My colleague managed to get the return tickets cancelled by that time. He came to my room while I was still on a phone call. As soon as it was all done, he reminded me that we have not had dinner. I was in no mood to eat anything and conveyed this to him. He insisted, so I told him that "I can give him company but I am not hungry." We went to Mc Donald's, nearby, he ordered a meal and insisted me to get something as well. I wanted to get back to the hotel quickly, so I agreed. The only veg thing available was the pack of potato fries. He suggested that we may try another place, but I was not in mood to do that. I simply asked him if we can get back to the hotel.

As soon as I returned to my room, I wrote an email to Indian Consulate at Sydney enclosing a copy of my lost passport, details like how/when, the event number, police station and name of the police officer in charge who lodged the complaint.

to be continued..

Edited: I had forgotten to include this part when I wrote it yesterday, an amendment to make a note of each & every thing that happened.