Saved by the simple honesty of taxi driver

A goodwill gesture by a good Samaritan taxi driver in India has restored a Johannesburg woman's faith in humanity.

On a recent trip to Gujarat, India, Usha Lakhoo, 50, learnt just how honest people can be after she left her passport, travellers' cheques, cash and cricket tickets in the auto-rickshaw taxi she was travelling in.

Lakhoo, from Lenasia South, told the Sunday Times Extra this week that she, her husband, Raman, and sister-in-law, Niru Govind, had gone to a market to buy a bracelet when her nightmare began.

"We were dropped off at our destination and the next moment I realised my hand-luggage with my and my husband's passports and our travellers cheques had been left behind in the taxi.

"I went into such a frantic state. I started screaming. I was running but I didn't know where I was running to because there were 20 rickshaw taxis in the area."

Lakhoo, a mother of two, said she could not track down the auto-rickshaw because she did not know the driver's name or the tag number of the vehicle.

"A police officer approached to help but we didn't have the taxi's number and I just started crying. I was stopping everyone who looked like the taxi driver."

Lakhoo's husband called relatives who then went to the rickshaw pick-up point to find the driver while Lakhoo and Raman waited at the drop-off zone.

"Someone told us that when people find lost bags, they take the cash and throw everything out. I told them I didn't mind them taking the cash but we wanted the passports."

Raman was trying to get hold of family in South Africa to assist them with getting in touch with the embassy.

Two-and-a-half hours later, Lakhoo saw the taxi driver, Bharat Manu, approaching her.

"I just hugged him. It was my first reaction. In India, you don't do that to other men but I just hugged him. He opened his seat, took out the bag and asked me to check if everything was in there. He actually found us. He told us he drove through several streets in the city looking for me."

Lakhoo could not believe her luck and was so grateful that she gave him 1000 rupees (over R150). He reluctantly took the money but told Lakhoo he was just happy to help her.

She said word got out about Manu's honesty and humility and newspapers in Gujarat hailed him a "hero".

"They are so holy in their own way and believe so in honesty that he actually returned my bag. There are no words to explain his honesty. There are people out there that we can trust and we should not have preconceptions about people or places."