Ramu bhaiyya - A big-hearted Autowala
I was in Mumbai for almost a month, and that was the last day of my official trip. I had some onsite tracking activities to do. The daily trips from the center of the city, where I stayed in the company's guesthouse, to Borivali, a distant suburb, on crowded city trains, especially for a first-time visitor like me from a small town like Bellary, were very hectic and had left me exhausted. It was only then that I realized how busy a man can be in such a metropolitan city.
Well, that last evening was even more adventurous as were those four weeks. I reached Dadar station to board the Dadar-Chennai Express train. I was terrified by the enormous amount of people that stood waiting there for various trains! I couldn't find a way through that crowd but somehow managed to drag my luggage and stand near a water dispenser. Not surprising though, as I had heard that Dadar is one of the busiest stations in Mumbai. My friends had warned me about pickpockets, so I stood very cautiously guarding my luggage and my pockets.
The train stood on the platform but would be opened for boarding only half an hour later. It was the sixth of December, and it still wasn't cool. I was sweating top to bottom, the cold water I collected from the adjacent vendor gave no respite from the perspiration.
Finally, it was five minutes before boarding. I spotted the Ticket Collector far away on the platform and decided to slowly move towards him and get any confirmation of the seat for the ticket I had paid for. If not a berth to sleep, I thought I can at least manage to get a seat to sit comfortably. Magically though, the TC disappeared before I could reach anywhere near him. I turned around and spotted him at the next pillar. Now I hasted and tried to reach him, only to realize a heavy hand on my shoulders.
"aapka luggage kuch zyada hee bhaari lag raha hai. side me aajao bhaijaan", the muscular cop hustled me towards the pillar holding my collars and started frisking me. He was suspicious about the huge and heavy luggage I was dragging around on the platform. I tried to convince him that it is only full of clothes I had brought for a month-long stay and that they had to be packed in a hurry. The cop lent no ears to my pleading and demanded that I showed what was in it and why was it so heavy. I had no reason to argue with the cop and no choice but to open the luggage. The cop did not find anything in it, so he left me. But in all these, I missed my train!
A double-trouble now! Someone had picked my pockets too! With just thirty rupees left in my secret pocket, I knew I can manage get back to the guest house safely. But the first Autowala in the queue demanded double fare that I couldn't afford.
Walking back to the guest house seemed to be the only option. I am used to walk for five to six kilometers. As i walked back a hundred feet, around the corner, "arey sahab, aap wapis? gaye nahin?" I heard a familiar voice enquiring me. That was Ramu bhaiyya, who had dropped me at Dadar station that evening, and he used to drop me at a nearby city train station every day and had become friends with me. Good that he recognized me! On the way back to the guest house, he heard my story with patience, and kindly enough, did not demand his fare. "kal de dena sahab" he put it off to the next day.
The next morning this noble Autowala stood at the gate waiting for me. He took me to the office. I got some travel cash from the desk and paid him. "Sahab, khulla paisa nahin hai" he insisted that I give him exactly one hundred and thirty-three rupees and that he had no loose money to give me seventeen rupees back. I had to convince him to keep the change.
It is very difficult to think why or how he displayed such a friendly and warm attitude to a stranger like me, whom he knew for just a couple of weeks. Could his empathy be honored by paying tips? Can any amount of money be equal to the friendly gesture he showed? In the last twenty years, I have narrated this incident to many of my friends. Every time I recollect this incident, I feel very thankful and humble, and wish the world is filled with more such good people. I guess this blog is a tribute to such good people as Ramu bhaiyya.