Woman shares how strangers helped find her lost iPhone, starts Twitter thread capturing spirit of Mumbai

The now-viral thread prompted people to share their own encounters with kind strangers in Mumbai.

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Megacities like Mumbai are often in the news for high crime rates, crumbling infrastructure, and general apathy of city dwellers. Now, a Twitter thread is challenging this notion by showing how despite the general bleakness of Indian cities, one can find a glimmer of hope in strangers’ small acts of kindness.

On Sunday, Twitter user @historywali shared a long thread detailing how busy rickshaw drivers and a delivery person went out of their way to retrieve her lost phone. The lady ultimately found her iPhone through a Swiggy food delivery agent named Rahul Kumar who found it lying near Versova metro station and returned it to her.

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While concluding her tweet thread, @historywali wrote, “A few days ago, someone who has recently moved to the city had tweeted here asking why we love Bombay despite the shit infra, high rents, all of it. This is why. I am tweeting this thread from my phone which I lost this morning, to find again, thanks to Mumbai & her people.”

Thread.

I lost my phone this morning.
iPhone 12 mini, which I’ve had for about 2 years.

I was going up the escalator at the Versova Metro station, when I reached into my bag and had my ‘waitaminute where the fuck is my phone???!’ moment.
Heart sank.

— Historywali (@historywali) July 2, 2023

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Her tweets prompted others to share similar instances they experienced in Mumbai.

I’ve dropped my passport in Mumbai, left a camera in a shop. Dropped money and every single time the people of Mumbai have helped. Despite what so many think, I genuinely believe it’s such a helpful and caring city ❤️🧿 https://t.co/WBpzJWvU9U

— Parle Patel (@planetParle) July 3, 2023

You painted quiet a picture. It was a roller coaster ride of emotions for us readers too.
This is exactly the reason why we love this city. A city is made up of its people & that’s what matters the most. Bombay is what it is because of them ❤️
We will catch up on infra soon..

— Yash Choudhary (@Yash_ch14) July 3, 2023

In 2016, walking on the Foot-Over-Bridge at Andheri Rly Stn, my Samsung smartphone fell to the floor, slid across, fell 20 feet, bounced off the roof of a local train, & landed into the crowd on PF-1. A poor young man held it up in the air & waited until I collected it from him.

— Jumla Planet – Dis’Qualified (@JumlaPlanet) July 3, 2023

I remember @butterdfly losing her laptop twice and getting it back both times.
Mumbai is its people. The best there can be.

— The Greater Fool (@Sohan_u) July 2, 2023

As someone who stays close to DN Nagar metro station, I’m so glad to read this! A similar incident had happened with one of our Japanese office counterparts in Powai. Fortunately, we managed to get his phone back as well.

— Aash 😇 (@classy_maasi) July 2, 2023

Commenting on her tweets, a person wrote, “Similar thing happened to me at Azad Nagar Metro station. Phone slipped out of my pocket in the rickshaw I was in. I realised when the driver had already left. I waited 5-10 mins panicking and wondering what to do next. And he returned just to give my phone back. The good samaritan”.

Another person remarked, “I’ve dropped my passport in Mumbai, left a camera in a shop. Dropped money and every single time the people of Mumbai have helped. Despite what so many think, I genuinely believe it’s such a helpful and caring city ❤️🧿”.