After I read an article this morning about a NY taxi driver Mr.Chowdhury
returning diamond rings to a passenger, I was very much touched
by his honesty and human quality. I have my tears in my eyes. For
an immigrant like him working in the touch line of work as a taxi
driver and not having too much money, yet has the best human quality
as he demonstrated. It is just a great exsample set for all the
people living in this world. I wish I could send him a little gift
just to say THANK YOU BEING A HONEST PERSON.
Best luck to you, Mr. Osman Chowdhury!
NYC Cabbie Returns Bag of Diamond Rings
By VERENA DOBNIK
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK — Never mind diamonds- a New York cabbie was a
Texas girl's best friend. The driver returned 31 diamond rings
he found in his cab after dropping off the passenger, who had
left him with a 30-cent tip on a $10.70 fare.
"All my life, I tried to be honest," said Osman Chowdhury,
a native of Bangladesh. "Today is no different."
But the 41-year-old cabbie from Queens did have a message: "I'm
proud of what I did so that people know New York taxi drivers
are honest."
What he did started on Monday evening, when he picked up the
woman at a hotel in midtown Manhattan and drove her to an apartment
building several blocks away. She gave him $20 to pay the fare
and asked for $9 back.
Hours later, at about 10 p.m., three other passengers with luggage
discovered the woman's suitcase when Chowdhury popped the trunk
open for them.
Chowdhury first drove to the building where he had dropped off
the woman. But he had no idea in which of the many apartments
she might be and didn't want to cause a disruption by knocking
on doors.
He took the suitcase to the Manhattan headquarters of the New
York Taxi Workers Alliance, a drivers' advocacy group to which
he belongs. He and the alliance president looked inside and found
two display cases with 31 diamond rings inside.
"I saw flashing, and I said, 'Oh my God! Diamonds!'"
Chowdhury recalled. "I was shocked. I was trembling."
They also found a small luggage tag with a Texas telephone number
they called — the home of the woman's mother in Dallas.
Meanwhile, she called the number, too.
The woman, who said she was a jeweler, got back the gems on Monday
when she arrived at the alliance office around midnight —
incredulous at her luck. She offered Chowdhury a reward —
a check for $100.
"I cannot take a penny for being honest," he said,
but he reluctantly accepted the money to cover the fares he lost
while trying to track her down.
He said it never occurred to him to keep the diamonds.
"I'm not going to take someone else's money or property
to make me rich. I don't want it that way," said the soft-spoken
cabbie, who was a contractor in Bangladesh until he came to the
United States 15 years ago.
He does not own a cab but rents one.
"I enjoy my life. I'm satisfied," said Chowdhury, who
is single.
He didn't even mind the meager tip.
"I think some people might be broke," he said. "Or
they're distracted."
The woman from Dallas asked that her name not be made public.
