Gold biscuit, hair wig, hawan kund: Bizarre items Uber customers left behind in 2024, Mumbai most forgetful of all

A gold biscuit, a wedding saree, and 25 kg of cow ghee—these aren’t items from a wedding registry but just a few of the bizarre belongings forgotten by Uber riders in Mumbai over the past year. The city has now officially dethroned Delhi to become India’s most forgetful city, according to Uber’s 9th Annual Lost & Found Index.

The index, based on ride data from 2024, tracks how often and what kinds of items passengers leave behind in Uber cabs. While the list includes everyday items like bags, phones, wallets, and keys, it also features some truly unexpected entries—a bansuri, wheelchair, telescope, and even a hawan kund (sacred fire altar).

“We’ve all been there—that facepalm moment when we realised we forgot a cherished belonging in a cab,” said Shiva Shailendran, director of consumer and growth at Uber India South Asia. “At Uber, we've made it easy to retrieve lost items with just a few steps in our app.”

The Top 5 Most Forgetful Cities are:

1. Mumbai

2. Delhi NCR

3. Pune

4. Bangalore

5. Kolkata

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Hyderabad, meanwhile, stood out as the most mindful city, with the lowest percentage of items left behind.

The report highlights that Saturdays are the most forgetful day of the week, followed by Sundays and Fridays—a trend that aligns with weekend plans, parties, and festive outings. Days like August 3 (Shivratri), September 28, and May 10 (Akshay Tritiya) also saw a spike in forgotten belongings.

Here’s what riders are most likely to forget:

• Backpacks and bags

• Earphones and speakers

• Phones

• Wallets or purses

• Spectacles and sunglasses

• Laptops

• Water bottles

• Passports

And here’s what stood out for its oddity:

• Hair wig

• Gas burner stove

• Ultrasonic dog bark control device

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• Gold biscuit

• Wedding saree

To address this growing forgetfulness, Uber is promoting its in-app lost item retrieval feature, allowing riders to reconnect with their driver and report lost belongings easily.

The company advises passengers to consolidate their items into one bag and make it a habit to double-check the seat before exiting the cab.