By IANS,
Lucknow: The three siblings were no less than “little angels” for Ikram, a shopkeeper in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district, when they handed over his box containing around Rs.15,000 which was given to them by mistake on their purchase.
The siblings had Thursday night purchased a clay pot for Rs.30 from Ikram’s stall in the ongoing fair at the Gandhi Maidan in the Kotwali area.
Ikram was not at the shop at that time. While packing the clay pot, Ikram’s teenaged nephew Fazil could not differentiate between the cardboard box containing the cash and the pack of the pot. So, he packed the cash box and gave it to the children.
“I was quite depressed when I learnt about Fazil’s mistake. I could not even sleep that night. My friends tried to pacify me, saying I would get back my cash box after a police complaint,” Ikram told reporters Saturday in Badaun, some 250 km from here.
“Frankly speaking, I had no hope that I would get back my cash box,” he added.
The day after his nephew accidentally handed over the cash box to the children, Ikram was in no mood to go to the shop and instructed Fazil to visit the fair and intimate the police the moment he comes across the three children.
However, after being persuaded by his friends, Ikram decided to resume work and left for the shop in the evening, unaware about the surprise that was “waiting” for him.
“I was depressed. How would I compensate my loss? It was the only thought in my mind,” he said.
“Hardly 20-30 minutes after I had reached the stall, I noticed three children approaching me, waving their hands. Before I could speak anything, the two girls and a boy, aged between 10-15 years, kept my cash box on a table of my stall,” Ikram said.
“They introduced themselves as Samar Rizvi, Sumbul Rizvi and Tah Hussain Rizvi. They told me that they are from Noida and had come to their maternal uncle’s place in Sotha in Badaun,” he said.
“I could not control myself. Tears came in my eyes. I thanked the three angels. They told me that they would again visit my shop to purchase other items. Today, I can say that honesty is not only preached but practised also,” Ikram added.