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Gem of a man

NEW YORK: She gave him just a 30-cent (about Rs. 13) tip, but a New York taxi driver who is a Bangladeshi, did not hesitate before tracking down a passenger to return 31 diamond rings she had left behind. "I'm not going to take someone else's money or property to make me rich. I don't want it that way," said Osman Chowdhury. He was even reluctant to accept the $100 the passenger offered as a reward, but eventually accepted it to cover the fares he lost while trying to locate her. But the 41-year-old 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 about 15 blocks away. Hours later, at about 10 p.m., three other passengers with luggage discovered the woman's suitcase when Mr. Chowdhury popped the trunk open for them. He took the suitcase to the office of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a drivers' advocacy group to which he belongs. The woman, who said she was a jeweller, got the gems back when she arrived at the alliance office — incredulous at her luck. — AP

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