I was pretty pissed off with the day-long journey...and things were going worse with the train running late by 3 hours.I was coming home for Diwali.
At the Tata station, a small, dirty boy in tattered clothes boarded the train to sweep the floor and earn a few pennies.He did his job and then went about begging the passengers to give him a rupee or two.When he approached me, I looked into my purse to find that a five rupee note was the least I had.I gave that to him.However, he didn't move.His hand was still extended towards me.
"Could you give me a little more money?I haven't eaten the entire day" , he said, gesturing towards his mouth.Obviously, it's very difficult to refuse anything to such a small boy...I took back the 5 rupee note and gave him a 20 rupee note.It would be very bad if he had to stay hungry in Diwali.
As he was going, I suddenly remembered that I had an entire packet of Jhalmuri left which I hadn't eaten at all. "Are suno!!", I called out to him.He approached me with beseeching eyes. I gave him the packet and he left.
The train was gradually leaving the platform.Suddenly, I heard somebody knock vigorously on the window against which I was leaning.I was startled...and then I saw that small boy.He was running with the train and waving at me."Thank You so much.Happy Diwali!!!" he shouted.A genuine smile lit up his face.
His smile made my day...
P.S.:I found the pic on the net.It is not the actually boy in the story.
