Life will not always turn out the way we plan ! There are always twists and turns, which we learn to accept slowly.

These are generally the situations that actually add essence, teach us, get us to unplanned,yet beautiful destinations and finally give us an interesting story to tell.

Here is one such story about a trip that did not happen, but is remembered forever !

After a few trips together, my friends and I planned for a trip to Lonavala, a hill station in Pune, Maharashtra for 3 days. We planned to first visit Mahabaleshwar, stay a night there and then take a ride to Lonavala the next day.

We took the train to Lonavala ! We all had some fun on the train, ordered biryani, shared a few stories and passed our time till 12:30 midnight and then fell asleep. At around 2:00PM, I suddenly woke up to see my friends standing and discussing about something serious. I asked them what happened, and my friend said he lost his iPhone 7.

We searched everywhere for a while, spoke to the TC and finally gave a complaint to the railway police. We tried calling the lost phone, it wasn’t switched off, but no one was answering it. We tried again and again, and someone on the other side finally lifted, but wasn’t speaking anything.

Finally, we tried to find the location of the phone, using the ‘Find your iPhone’ application, and got to know the phone was just two stations behind. My friend who lost his phone is a photographer and a traveler, and had really amazing pictures on that phone, which he took to all his trips this year. And ofcourse, iPhone 7 is a pricey gadget !

We all wished to get the phone back. As we could find the location, we decided to get down the train in our next station, and go back in search of the lost phone !

Our next station was Solapur. After getting down at Solapur an hour later, we inquired for the train that goes back to Wadi and finally boarded a train in the general compartment. We tried to get some sleep, also checking the phone location status continuously.  We reached our station, Wadi by 6 in the morning. The location still showed Wadi for a while, but after a few minutes, the phone’s location changed to Vikarabad all of a sudden. We were awestruck ! We thought we would find out the phone at Wadi, and make our trip a true adventure!

Now, we defenitely cannot travel back to Hyderabad , as there is no guarantee the phone still stays in the same location, by the time we reach back. So, we decided to call our friends in Hyderabad, to see if they could help us. They were all fast asleep then and hardly did anyone respond. After a while, one of my friend’s friend said he will try to find the phone tracking its location. As there was nothing we could do sitting at the Wadi  station, we decided to continue our trip, hoping to find the phone and keeping an eye on its location all the time. Luckily, the phone wasn’t switched off, and we could still track it.

We took another train to Solapur, from where there are plenty of trains to Lonavala/Pune. In train, we realized the phone was moving around in the same place and the place was somewhat close to the police station. My friend identified the area’s Police station number from Google, and we tried calling them meanwhile.

My friend tried all that he could do to get his phone back, before the phone lost all its charge, which could make tracking impossible. We finally reached Solapur again, and settled in the station for a while describing the phone’s location to the police constable. The police tried all his ways, and investigated everyone there in the location.

After an hour or two’s nail biting, we finally got the news that the phone was with a girl who resides below a flyover and that was the reason we always found the phone’s location changing to both sides of the road. Though a little tired by then, we got so relieved on hearing this. Now, we shall continue our trip !

Excited and relieved now, we decided to rent a car and drive to Mahabaleshwar. It was 2 PM by then already, so we compromised on a nearby small restaurant for lunch and was trying to get the vacation mood back. The police then called us asking to file an FIR immediately, and only then they can take hold of the phone. We explained to him that we were out of station and would not be able to come by end of the day, even if we started then and there. We called all our friends to check if they could file an FIR on behalf of us. But on hearing words like FIR and Police station, no one turned up.

After a lot of discussion and pleasing, finally one friend who helped in searching the phone agreed and went to the station. We again got relieved that we can finally continue our journey. It was already 3PM by then ! We waited in the station, while two of our friends went to rent the car.

We got fresh in the railway station itself, as we were roaming all around since the previous night, and felt tired without sufficient sleep !

In a few minutes, the police called again saying it is not enough if friends come, and the person who lost the phone should come by himself as they now had doubt if the phone really belonged to us !

Even if we started then, we would only reach by the next day. The rest half of the day went in discussion and waiting for the SI to come and solve the issue.

Assured that everything will be alright, we took the cab we booked in the afternoon and headed to Mahabhaleshwar at 7 PM. We continuoulsy checked with the police station if the SI came. We just crossed Solapur, and then stopped at a Dhaba for dinner. Our friend was so worried that he had to make his friend wait there in the police station for so long. We did not understand to move forward or go back. As we would anyhow not be able to reach hyderabad immediately, we decided to go ahead, and if needed, all of us would return to Hyderabad together.

Hardly we had the dinner, and my friend got the call again that we had to come back and file the FIR by ourselves. None of us had the excitement now to conitinue the trip, and so we decided to go back, get the phone and then enjoy a peaceful holiday at home doing something together.

We got a ticket and were back in Hyderabad the next day !

Somehow the trip did not happen ! Every time we decided to move ahead, we were brought back ! And, never really crossed Solapur !

Forgot to mention, while waiting, we also visited the famous Ganesh temple at Sholapur and bought a few Solapur footwear, which are hand made and are one of the most famous footwear styles !

So there goes a trip that never happened, but was nothing less thrilling than a huge roller coaster ride  🙂 It got us friends even close to each other and gave us a story to tell and laugh forever now!

Yes, my friend got his phone and his wonderful photographs back, though he had to fight for a few weeks even after coming back !