My Camera and The hard earned money.

We had just reached the outskirts of Panaji on our way back home last Sunday, when I felt something amiss. After cracking my head for a minute, I realised that the camera, which was in my hand all evening was not there anymore. I distinctly remembered having the camera in my hand when I got into the car near the children’s park. I forced my son to stop the car (he was not ready. Said that I had left the camera somewhere and there is no point in searching inside the car) and searched. Seats, below the seats, behind the seats, glove compartment, boot, everywhere. No camera. Then I remembered that we had stopped for a minute in front of a shop to buy some snacks. Did I take the camera with me when I went into the shop and left it there? We had to check. I forced my son to turn back. (again, he was not ready. Said that even if I had left it in the shop somebody would have carried it away). I went into the shop and made enquiries. The shop keeper was sympathetic. But sorry, he did not notice any camera.
Had I kept it next to me on the seat and did it fall out when I got out of the car near the shop? We knew that even if it had, we will not be getting it back. How can a camera remain unnoticed lying on a busy road in a tourist center? Still, you don’t lose anything by searching. But where to search? Me and my wife started near the place where we had parked our car. We bent down and started looking below the parked cars. As we started our search, we felt that someone was trying to get our attention and looking up saw the shopkeeper of a shop on the other side of the road beckoning us. We went there.

“Are you searching for something?”
“Yes. My camera is missing and I thought I might have dropped it here.”
“Wait. Is this your camera?”
He produced my camera from the shelf which was under his cash counter.

We were astonished.

“Someone noticed this camera lying on the street here and brought it to me. They thought who ever had lost it may come back looking for it and requested me to hand it over.”

We just could not believe it. All is not lost in this world. There are still people who would like to do the right thing. We thanked him and the unknown person who had found it, profusely, and returned to the car. I said that i had purchased it with hard earned money, and it is no surprise that we got it back. My wife said that whoever found it must have been brought up by good parents. She also said that we should make it a point to patronize the shop whenever we had an opportunity. After we were done with such talk, I opened the cover and took the camera out.
It looked intact. I switched it on. A dull glow came on the screen with a large black patch at the center. The shutter did not open up. None of the controls worked. The lens appeared to have been pushed inside and cracked. It must have been run over by a vehicle. May be our own. We felt very bad.

I said that it was our bad luck. Still, I was happy to get it back though ruined. I would have felt much worse if we had lost it.

My wife said, “who ever found it saw that it is damaged and that is why they handed it over to that shop fellow. Who will give away a good camera found on the street? I wouldn’t “. She turned towards me. “And it shows how hard you are working”.