Kinjal Parmar does MSU proud with her golden integrity

VADODARA: Her calculation of the odds of the valuable item falling in wrong hands outweighed her initial hesitancy and her integrity shone brighter than the gold chain that Kinjal Parmar, a final year student of MSc mathematics of Faculty of Science at MS University when she took care to restore the lost item to its rightful owner.
Kinjal had noticed a gold chain lying outside the main entrance gate of Halls of Residence (the girls hostel campus) when she was returning to her hostel on May 14.
At first, Kinjal was hesitant but later she picked up the gold chain so that it does not fall into wrong hands. Her efforts to contact the original owner, fructified when another student from the girls hostel matched the details of the chain in her claim.
“When I saw the gold chain, I was hesitant but I knew that there was also a risk of the original owner of never getting it too,” Kinjal, a resident of Kasturba Gandhi Hall of Halls of Residence, told TOI.
After taking advice from her immediate teachers, hostel warden and dean of Faculty of Science professor Haribhai Kataria, Kinjal got the gold chain weighed. “She told me that she wanted to ensure that it reaches the rightful owner,” said Kataria.
“It weighed 6.249gm. The next day when our warden had a word with warden of another hall, I was informed that a hostel student, Khushi Patel, residing in Pandita Gargi Hall, had lost her gold chain. The bill that she presented mentioned the gold chain was weighing 6.250, a marginal error and the manufacturer’s name was matching. I along with hostel authorities cross-verified all the details,” said Kinjal, a native of Kosamba town.
Her father Mahendrasinh works with an Ankleshwar-based pharmaceutical firm.
In appreciation of her honesty, officiating chief warden of Halls of Residence Vijay Parmar felicitated her with a wooden framed certificate of honesty on Tuesday.
“In today’s time, one rarely comes across such instances when a person finds a gold chain and makes efforts to ensure that it is returned to the original owner after verifying the bill, weight and manufacturers name,” said Parmar, in whose presence Kinjal had handed over the chain to Khushi, a resident of Valsad on May 15.