NEW DELHI: What could be more terrifying than losing your passport in a foreign country? An unfortunate couple witnessed the same incident when they were traveling to Florence to present the research papers and attend the lecture.
Jothydev Kesavadev, a physician and diabetes researcher, shared his horrifying experience on his social media account, X, and said that they lost their passports, credit cards, and cash to pickpockets in Milan, Italy. This incident occurred on March 5 at 6:20 pm while entering Milan Central railway station in Italy to take a train to Florence, they bumped into “a tall, lean African-American man.”
“His large trolley bag hit my right knee and I almost fell down. My wife, out of shock forgot the surroundings and bent down to help me out. When I looked back I saw a woman passing by her and then the woman and the man disappeared instantly. Since we were getting late for the train, we went upstairs to the platform. My wife 10 minutes later opened her handbag and then with a shock realised that her wallet containing the passports, credit and debit cards and cash was missing.”
After discovering that pickpockets looted them, the couple went to Italian Police office to report about the same.
“After a long wait (police were attending to other cases), we were called inside. Police officer on duty was very kind and considerate, and prepared a very detailed FIR. He asked us to contact Indian Consulate at Milan. We were still hoping that we will get the passport back.”
Quoting the police official, Kesavadev said that according to him, such incident were very common in Italy but seldom gets it back. He further said that within 30 minutes the thieves tried to debit the money through his cards as the physician got notification on his phone.
” Fortunately lost only 28 euros. With plenty of CCTV cameras around and exact time and location provided, isn’t it easy to catch the thieves? Meanwhile, our friends had already reached Florence. I called upon Dr. Banshi Saboo and informed I may not be able to make it to ATTD. He was spellbound and in utter shock. Dr. Banshi Saboo, Dr.Rakesh Parikh, Dr.Shashank Joshi, Dr. BM Makkar, Dr.Manoj Chawla, Dr. Purvi Chawla, Dr. Amit Gupta, all of them called us and gave confidence, support and directions. We somehow managed to stay overnight in a hotel in Milan.”
The next morning, they reached out to their family friend and MP Shashi Tharoor.
“His response was quick and powerful. Immense gratitude to SC. He immediately informed the Indian consulate in Italy and by 9 AM I received a call from there. Consulate General Atul Chawhan, consoled us and promised emergency passport for both of us. This sort of robbery is very common in Italy and directions are given in the Indian Consulate of Italy website itself, he said. We were shaken to the core and somewhere felt guilty. Probably due to repeated travels over several decades we were so careless and this is a lesson to learn from! Upon arrival at the Consul, the officers were very courteous and offered us a warm welcome,” he said.
“Within an hour they provided us with two emergency passports and gave us the confidence to go back to India only after the meetings and presentations in Florence. Dear friends let me tell you, losing the passport and money in a foreign country is very very scary and a fearful experience! I am sharing this experience in the social media; whether you are a traveller or not, inexperienced or experienced, could be of some help,” he added.
Jothydev Kesavadev, a physician and diabetes researcher, shared his horrifying experience on his social media account, X, and said that they lost their passports, credit cards, and cash to pickpockets in Milan, Italy. This incident occurred on March 5 at 6:20 pm while entering Milan Central railway station in Italy to take a train to Florence, they bumped into “a tall, lean African-American man.”
“His large trolley bag hit my right knee and I almost fell down. My wife, out of shock forgot the surroundings and bent down to help me out. When I looked back I saw a woman passing by her and then the woman and the man disappeared instantly. Since we were getting late for the train, we went upstairs to the platform. My wife 10 minutes later opened her handbag and then with a shock realised that her wallet containing the passports, credit and debit cards and cash was missing.”
After discovering that pickpockets looted them, the couple went to Italian Police office to report about the same.
“After a long wait (police were attending to other cases), we were called inside. Police officer on duty was very kind and considerate, and prepared a very detailed FIR. He asked us to contact Indian Consulate at Milan. We were still hoping that we will get the passport back.”
Quoting the police official, Kesavadev said that according to him, such incident were very common in Italy but seldom gets it back. He further said that within 30 minutes the thieves tried to debit the money through his cards as the physician got notification on his phone.
” Fortunately lost only 28 euros. With plenty of CCTV cameras around and exact time and location provided, isn’t it easy to catch the thieves? Meanwhile, our friends had already reached Florence. I called upon Dr. Banshi Saboo and informed I may not be able to make it to ATTD. He was spellbound and in utter shock. Dr. Banshi Saboo, Dr.Rakesh Parikh, Dr.Shashank Joshi, Dr. BM Makkar, Dr.Manoj Chawla, Dr. Purvi Chawla, Dr. Amit Gupta, all of them called us and gave confidence, support and directions. We somehow managed to stay overnight in a hotel in Milan.”
The next morning, they reached out to their family friend and MP Shashi Tharoor.
“His response was quick and powerful. Immense gratitude to SC. He immediately informed the Indian consulate in Italy and by 9 AM I received a call from there. Consulate General Atul Chawhan, consoled us and promised emergency passport for both of us. This sort of robbery is very common in Italy and directions are given in the Indian Consulate of Italy website itself, he said. We were shaken to the core and somewhere felt guilty. Probably due to repeated travels over several decades we were so careless and this is a lesson to learn from! Upon arrival at the Consul, the officers were very courteous and offered us a warm welcome,” he said.
“Within an hour they provided us with two emergency passports and gave us the confidence to go back to India only after the meetings and presentations in Florence. Dear friends let me tell you, losing the passport and money in a foreign country is very very scary and a fearful experience! I am sharing this experience in the social media; whether you are a traveller or not, inexperienced or experienced, could be of some help,” he added.