A man bought me train ticket who did not had money
Day 13 | 24th August 2014 – Part 1
After spending night at Palanpur Circuit House, I started walking towards my hometown – Jalore (Rajasthan) – to meet my family. Jalore was not in my route but I realised that I might not able to visit them during Diwali (One of the biggest festivals in India) so it is best for me visit them now. I walked for around 5 kilometers and I managed to get lift in a truck on Palanpur Highway. I had never sat in truck before so it took me little longer to adjust in truck. The generous truck driver’s name that gave me lift is Mr Suresh Kumar and he was as curious as others whom I met in the journey about I being a penniless young boy. He started asking me questions and was of course shocked to hear about I started from Mumbai and my plans to reach New Delhi. As we were around 30 kilometers away from Mount Abu, I thought to experiment the journey with the Indian Railways. I asked Mr Suresh if there is any railway station nearby from where I can travel to Mount Abu. (Rajasthan) & he mentioned Iqbalgadh (Gujarat) and dropped me near to the railway station. We said goodbye to each other and I approached a local fast food shop in Iqbalgadh as I was hungry. I did the same drill as usual and Mr Mukesh was generous enough to let me have breakfast at his shop.
Post breakfast I walked towards the station. I could only see a small room, which reads, as “Station Master”. From the room door, I could see a woman and a man taking. They saw me and asked me what’s up? I smiled and said, “I wish to travel to Mount Abu by train but I do not have money for the ticket. Can you please help?” Both of them together, “Do not worry, let the ticket window open and we will get you a ticket.” I thanked the woman – Mrs Vijayaben Hiragarh and the man – Mr Prabhulal Meena. After 5 minutes, Mr Prabhulal took me to a local village market, which was right behind the train station. He took me a gentleman and told him that this boy needs to travel to Mount Abu and do not have money for train ticket so it will be great if he could help. And I was like wait a second; “Mr Prabhulal is the man who promised me to get me a train ticket without having money in his pocket. This is incredible and I am sure he got unbelievable faith in his words.” After two minutes of discussion with the gentleman he took me to, I was told that the cost of the train ticket for Mount Abu is just 10 Indian Rupees. And the gentleman forced me to have 100 Indian Rupees from him for my ticket and food during the journey. As this was Day 13 as a penniless traveller and I have not touched any kind of currency since I started this journey, I was stubborn and requested the gentleman to handover just 10 Indian Rupees to Mr Prabhu. The gentleman started insisting and I had to run towards railway station. Finally, Mr Prabhu got me a train ticket for Mount Abu and I travelled 25 kilometers successful just on the generosity of the people.
In a meanwhile, in train I met Mr Ramesh – who cleans train compartments without begging money. His philosophy is that you can give him money or anything you think will be useful for him if you find his work good. I gave him a energy bar which was given to by Mrs Priti Doshi and her son Vinay in Ahmedabad.