Stranded at Midnight With No Money, Kerala Man Finds Saviour in KSRTC Conductor!
Imagine being stranded in a deserted bus stand at the middle of the night and realising that you don’t have money to even buy a ticket. What could be the odds of someone coming to your aid and buying you a ticket?
At a time where one person’s predicament is another one’s entertainment and would hardly elicit any public sympathy, you could say that one’s chances of receiving help are quite bleak.
But as always has been the silver lining in the worst of situations, sometimes help comes from the most unlikely quarters, and this can further be testified with the midnight episode of a young man from Kerala, who was caught in a similar dilemma.
A resident of Vakathanam in Kottayam, Tinu John realised that he was stranded at the Perumbavoor KSRTC bus stand in the midst of a heavy downpour on late on July 11 and that he was short on funds to purchase a ticket.
Tinu had been in Ernakulam on account of work, finishing which, his friend had dropped him at the bus stand from where he intended to reach home. Upon finding that he didn’t have any money, he went about the town looking for an ATM, only to be disappointed thrice, with all the machines being short of cash.
As a dejected Tinu returned to the stand, he noticed a Coimbatore–Kottayam super fast about to leave the Kottayam depot and immediately approached the bus conductor, Madhuraj.
When Tinu explained his situation, Madhuraj listened patiently and handed over the ticket worth Rs 72 without asking any questions. In fact, when the former reached his hometown the next morning, Madhuraj walked to his office, without even glancing back at Tinu or asking him for money.
But Tinu hadn’t been one who would bank on someone’s kindness and conveniently wriggle out without paying it back. When he had started his journey, Tinu had already called a friend in Kottayam to pick him up and come with the money to pay back Madhuraj.
Finally, Tinu had to personally collect Madhuraj’s mobile number from the depot to pay him.
While his act of kindness is greatly appreciated, Tinu hadn’t been the first person that Madhuraj had helped in his years of working as a conductor. Speaking to Manorama, a local Malayalam daily, he mentioned often coming across passengers in situations similar to that of Tinu’s and helping them. “About 5 per cent may be cheats; but the remaining 95 per cent of the travellers I helped, have returned the money,” he concluded.
(Edited by Shruti Singhal)
