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sa国际传媒楢 blast from the pastsa国际传媒: Lost wallet returns to B.C. man after 33 years

Nick Chowdhury was in his early twenties when he lost his wallet while fishing in 1991

Nick Chowdhury was in his early 20s when he lost his wallet at the Comox Marina while fishing in 1991.

Unbeknownst to him, a young man would return his wallet, more than 30 years later, after finding it at roughly the same location where it was last seen.

Born and raised in the Comox Valley, Chowdhury recalled how everything unfolded on that fateful day.

sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 pretty unbelievable,sa国际传媒 he said. sa国际传媒淥ne summer day, I grabbed my fishing rod and went out to the Comox Marina when the tide was low. I hopped over the edge of the dock onto the breakwater rocks. As I started walking my wallet, which was in my front pocket, was sticking out of my shorts. So I looked at a spot and I remember holding my wallet and gently putting it down thinking sa国际传媒楾his is the spot, I gotta remember this.sa国际传媒 sa国际传媒

Yet, hours later, following a long fishing session, Chowdhury realized his wallet was nowhere to be found.

sa国际传媒(When I came) back, of course, no rock looked familiar,sa国际传媒 he said. sa国际传媒淚 probably walked around for an hour trying to retrace my wallet. I knew that if I didnsa国际传媒檛 get it, the tide would come upsa国际传媒 and Isa国际传媒檇 probably never see it again. After a while, I gave up.sa国际传媒

As a young man, Chowdhury explained that this incident ended up being a major headache.

sa国际传媒淓verything I had was in there: my birth certificate, my status card, my SIN (social insurance) card, my care cardssa国际传媒 everything,sa国际传媒 said Chowdhury. sa国际传媒淚t was (such a) hassle to replace all of (my) IDs because you need some IDs to be able to prove who you are and get new ones.

sa国际传媒淚 didnsa国际传媒檛 have a lot back then and that was the last thing I needed.sa国际传媒

Frustrated and feeling defeated, the fisherman hopped on his bicycle and rode home empty-handed. A few weeks later, Chowdhury bought an identical wallet, stating that it was his favourite model.

Fast forward 33 years - cue Comox teen Jamie Lee, 14.

sa国际传媒淚 was fishing on the rocks with a bunch of my friends by the marina and one of my friends was going to go up to the dollar store to get us some snacks,sa国际传媒 Lee said. sa国际传媒淗e took my other friendsa国际传媒檚 electric skateboard and started running over but he dropped the (board) controller (among the rocks) and lost it.sa国际传媒

As the teenager and his friends began combing through the boulders, on May 10, Lee stumbled upon a peculiar sight.

sa国际传媒淚 just started digging and digging andsa国际传媒 I removed a rock and saw this super old wallet,sa国际传媒 Lee said. sa国际传媒淚 told my friends sa国际传媒楪uys, I just found someonesa国际传媒檚 wallet.sa国际传媒 I picked it up, opened it and it was super crusty. There were holes in it and it was hard to open.sa国际传媒

Trying to make sense of what he just found, Lee brought the wallet to a safer place and started looking at its contents.

sa国际传媒淚 slowly started pulling out all the cards I saw (Chowdhurysa国际传媒檚) IDs,sa国际传媒 Lee recalled. sa国际传媒淚 was shocked (so) I called my dad because this guy must have lost his wallet forever ago and I just wanted to get it back to him.sa国际传媒

Shortly after, Jamiesa国际传媒檚 dad, Bill Lee, slid into Chowdhurysa国际传媒檚 Facebook direct messages, informing him that his son had found his wallet.

Astounded, Chowdhury didnsa国际传媒檛 know how to react at first.

sa国际传媒淚 almost didnsa国际传媒檛 even reply to him,sa国际传媒 he said. sa国际传媒淚t felt like somebody was trying to scam me because we didnsa国际传媒檛 know each other. (But then they) started sending me pictures (of my old IDs.)sa国际传媒

After noticing both he and Lee had a few friends in common, Chowdhury eventually replied.

sa国际传媒(Lee) happened to be coming into town. I gave him my address and 15 minutes later, there was a knock on the door and he said sa国际传媒楾his is yours,sa国际传媒 and he held out my old wallet.sa国际传媒

Despite sustaining some damage, Chowdhury noted that everything in his wallet was still in its rightful place and in relatively good condition, more than three decades later.

Reflecting on this event, what was once an unfortunate incident has transformed into a unique story to share with friends and family around a fire pit.

sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 like a blast from the past,sa国际传媒 said Chowdhury. sa国际传媒淚n fact, I was recently thinking of going (fishing) again and bringing my kids. Back then I wasnsa国际传媒檛 driving, so I rode my bike and everything was in my pockets. But now Isa国际传媒檓 going to drive out and leave anything thatsa国际传媒檚 valuable, like wallets, in the car.sa国际传媒

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In the end, Jamie and his friends successfully found the electric skateboardsa国际传媒檚 controller.

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Olivier Laurin

About the Author: Olivier Laurin

Isa国际传媒檓 a bilingual multimedia journalist from Montr茅al who began my journalistic journey on Vancouver Island in 2023.
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