Which is precisely what made Madhav Sambhaji Waghmare, a rickshaw driver who earns less than one hundred rupees a day, return a bagful of money to the tune of one lakh rupees, found in his autorickshaw, to the rightful owner- without a moment's hesitation.

It was just another ordinary day when Waghmare, driving his autorickshaw for the past 20 years, picked up a couple of passengers near the Sonya Maruti Chowk, in Raviwar Peth, around 5.30 p.m. on November 11. Dropping them off to their destination, a car parked in the vicinity of the Sakal Press near the Shaniwar Wada, Waghmare pocketed the Rs 5.50 fare and proceeded to the Vasant Talkies in Budhwar Peth, to wait for his next passenger. Ten minutes later a young boy hailed the rickshaw to go to Saibaba temple on Pune-Satara road. The boy spotted a black airbag on the seat and asked Waghmare about it. ``I immediately realised that it had been forgotten by my earlier passengers. However I calmly told the boy that it was mine and kept it with me.''

After dropping the boy till the Sai Baba temple Waghmare began thinking about the bag in hand. Deciding to open it he was taken aback to find it full of currency notes with denominations ranging from Rs 50 to 500.

``I immediately turned my vehicle and dashed back to Sakal Press where I had left the duo. As I approached the Sakal Press, place I saw a lot of crowd gathered around and some screaming going on and I knew I had reached the correct venue,'' he smiles. ``The two passengers I had dropped, saw me and I could clearly see the anxiety in their faces turn into relief and they thanked me profusely." Handing over the bag, Waghmare insisted that they count the money before him. ``I didn't want anyone saying I had quietly sneaked off with a bundle,'' he explains. The amount counted-approximately one lakh - and tallied, there was a resounding round of applause for Waghmare from the people gathered around.

As for the business man in question, Prakash Lalwani of Lonavala, Waghmare was no less than a life saver. Lalwani handed him Rs. 3000 as reward. ``He scribbled his Lonavala address and phone number on a card and said that if ever I needed his help I could call him up even in the middle of the night and he would not disappoint me,'' recounts Waghmare, a father of five, who supplements his meagre earnings as a rickshaw driver with a paan shop that he and his wife jointly run near their modest home in Bhavani Peth. With the Rickshaw Panchayat also planning to felicitate him, for Waghmare the accolades he is receiving are reward enough. For, as he puts it,``The Police would have traced the money anyway. But for me all that money would have still not bought me a clear conscience''.

Here's to honesty and faith in the rickshaw driver!