Picked up a phone from a bus seat in 2008, went wrong after that

Back in 2008, I was returning from college to home and found a phone on an empty bus seat. It was a Motorola L7 or L6, that time it was a dream phone. Only rich kids in school used to have it.

Maybe it dropped from someone’s pocket. I picked it up and just kept it in my pocket without thinking much.

At that time I didn’t even have a basic phone, not even a Nokia 1100. So for me it felt like jackpot. I brought it home and started using it.

I used to call my friends on their landline numbers, because that’s what we remembered those days. For 2 to 3 days I was very happy, using that phone like it was mine.

Then suddenly one day I got a call on my uncle’s landline, because we didn’t even have a landline at our home.

I picked the call and my best friend started shouting on me
“sale kutte kya kar diya tune, apne sath mujhe bhi phasa diya”

I was confused what happened.

Then he told me he got a call from BSNL people saying that he received a call from a stolen phone and they are tracing it.

Later he realised that it was me, because I already told him that I found a phone.

Turns out the phone belonged to a JEE officer from our village BSNL exchange. And those days they had full control to trace call records.

Before this call, some of my other friends already knew I had that phone. One of them suggested me to sell it or I will get caught.

And like an idiot I actually did that.

I went to a market around 30 km from my village and sold that phone to a shopkeeper for 800 rupees.

After my friend’s call I got scared and realised this is not a joke. I cannot just sell someone’s phone.

I somehow contacted that BSNL officer and said sorry. He was actually a nice guy. He said no problem, just bring the phone back and he will not complain.

Then I went back to that shopkeeper and asked for the same phone. He got angry, shouted at me, even threatened me.

But after I told him the full truth, he agreed to help. After 2 days he arranged the same phone from another city.

But this time he charged me 2000 rupees for it.

So I sold it for 800 and bought it back for 2000.

I returned the phone and the matter got closed.

Even today I remember this and laugh. What a mindless kid I was.