How A Journalist's Wallet Will Travel The World Back To Her, Thanks To A Kind Stranger

In a spot of news that restores faith in humanity, an Indian woman's wallet returned to her (well, almost) all the way from Austria. It was all thanks to a kind local stranger who continued knocking on her social media until she took note of his messages desperately telling her the wallet was in his possession.

Journalist Dhanya Rajendran visited Vienna last month with a card-stacked wallet that - as all card-stacked wallets are at the perennial risk of - dropped out somewhere. "To add to me woes, I was not allowed to board my flight as my RT PCR results never came!! And I had to book return flight again for the next day. Had to test again," she

A short story about a really nice man named Omer in Vienna. I went to Vienna last month to attend the International Press Institute's World Congress. And at my clumsy best, I lost my wallet. I am one of those travellers who keeps all their cards in the same wallet 😀

She eventually reached Bengaluru, where she is based, without her wallet in tow.

A short story about a really nice man named Omer in Vienna. I went to Vienna last month to attend the International Press Institute's World Congress. And at my clumsy best, I lost my wallet. I am one of those travellers who keeps all their cards in the same wallet 😀

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) October 14, 2021

Now, recovering a wallet lost halfway across the world may seem impossible on regular days. Who takes the time out anymore to bother about returning people's lost belongings for the value they may hold? Luckily for Rajendran, a local in Vienna came through.

But it wasn't all that easy for him to reach Rajendran, it turns out.

Indian Woman's Wallet Returned From Vienna: How It Happened

A few days after she made her way back to India, "I noticed a man called Omer commenting on random photos on my Insta account saying 'I found your wallet'," Rajendran writes. "When I checked, he had been messaging me on insta and Fb... But I had never checked the message folder."

So relentless in his pursuit of returning the lost wallet to Rajendran was the man that he apparently replied to every Instagram story of hers in hope she would see his messages. But she never did. It was only through notification-generating comments that she noticed Omer.

"Finally, I replied," she writes. The man, Rajendran wrote, works at a mosque in Vienna and has handed over her wallet to a friend there.

Earlier this year, a similar - more dramatic - story of a Pakistani man's quest to return an Indian man's lost wallet back to him went viral on the internet, warming thousands of hearts. Ghazi Taimoor tracked his entire Bollywood-style chase to one Rahul in London on Twitter, where netizens hung onto every word of this cross-border friendship story. Read below: 

Guys! Just found this wallet on Shoreditch High street.

Name on the bank card suggests the wallet belongs to a Rahul R******. Time to HUNT RAHUL DOWN.

Will update y’all pic.twitter.com/Z7u2aUpZHK

— Ghazi Taimoor (@ghazi_taimoor) July 29, 2021

Trending now: