"I Lost My iPhone, Someone Could Have Lost Life": Man Seen Sobbing In Jaipur Viral Video

NDTV

11-07-2025

Jaipur:
It's a video that has gone viral on social media - a young man lost his iPhone after his two-wheeler hit a pothole on a waterlogged street in Jaipur and skidded. The man is seen looking for the phone desperately in the water and then sobbing uncontrollably.
For Bonnie Haldar, however, the newfound fame doesn't matter; the problems caused by the loss of the phone do. He had saved up to buy the iPhone on instalments to help expand the costume jewellery business he and his father run in Jaipur's Chameli Market area. From putting costume jewellery photos online to carrying out billing and creating a database of clients, Mr Haldar said the new phone helped him immensely in his business.
Mr Haldar had bought the phone on 24 instalments of Rs 3,000 per month and he would have paid off the loan in just two more months. He gave up on finding the phone after looking for two hours, putting his hands in the water and desperately hoping that he would pull it up each time he tried.
It turned up, coincidentally, when he was helping someone else, but it was damaged beyond repair.
"I took it to a phone repair shop. Just see how damaged it is. There is no hope, and I don't think I can afford to buy another phone now," Mr Haldar told NDTV at Ramniwas Bagh, where he had lost the phone. He said he was returning to his father's costume jewellery unit at Mirza Ismail Road when the accident happened.
Saw Many Skidding, Falling
With a new parking lot constructed opposite Ramniwas Bagh theatre, the drains have been clogged and the road has been waterlogged. Little did Mr Haldar know when he took his Activa through the waterlogged road that he would drive right into a massive pothole, the size of a crater, right in the middle of the street. The two-wheeler skidded and he almost fell into the water. When he regained his balance, he realised that his iPhone had fallen out.
सड़क पर पानी में गिरा फोन, ढूंढता रह गया युवक
राजधानी जयपुर के रामनिवास बाग़ में हलधर नाम का युवक बारिश में सड़क पर भरे पानी में अपना मोबाइल गिर जाने के बाद फूट-फूट कर रोने लगा. युवक की एक्टिवा फिसल गई और मोबाइल पानी में गिर गया, जिसे वह काफी देर तक ढूंढता रहा. जब मोबाइल नहीं… pic.twitter.com/DpEmGPQsT4
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"As I sat here," he said, "I saw many people almost skidding or falling, or their cars getting stuck due to that huge crater in the middle of the road. I am glad the government has repaired it. I only lost my phone, someone could have lost their life."
Mr Haldar recalled seeing a car with an elderly driver getting stuck in the same pothole. He got into the car to help the driver when he suddenly saw his phone floating by and reached out and grabbed it.
Many people have offered to help Mr Haldar online by buying a cellphone for him, but since he cannot access his phone, he says he hasn't been able to accept.
"Sometimes there is hope in the world, and sometimes you feel overwhelmed," he said with a smile.
'I Got Stuck Too'
Jaipur is a UNESCO World Heritage City, but waterlogging has been a major problem, exacerbated by the fact that it has rained much more than normal this year.
Local resident Jaideep Sharma, who saw the NDTV team speaking to Haldar, stopped to tell us about what he went through at the exact same spot. "This is where I got stuck too, in this big pothole. The axle of my car was damaged and the alignment went awry. It took me a long time to get the car out of the flooded road. The government should immediately take action and repair potholes."
After Bonnie Haldar's video went viral, the pothole has been filled with gravel and sand, and some sandbags have been used to line the road so that water from the parking lot and ground does not flow onto it and cause waterlogging. The bigger problem, though, needs to be addressed.
The Urban Development Department had come up with a Rs 400-crore plan to renovate the city's drainage system, but budget constraints came in the way of its implementation.