Events are known to leave ever-lasting impact on us .. Few are scary and others inspire us to look back whenever we feel short of courage or need to take some impact-full decisions . I would like to narrate one such incident .
It was very very late in the night or I can say too early for a morning because even newspaper hawkers and milkman who are obviously first to wake up in the world are also 2-3 hours away from hitting the roads. I seemed to be landed in a No-man's Land at 3 am in morning and the surrounding seemed to be a perfect setup for EVIL DEAD version 34.
I work with a Company involved in installation of Wind Turbines and these are generally located at sites far away from residential/commercial area and put up on barren or abandon land parcel. So travelling to these sites is always a logistical challenge. As my work involves pre-site survey, I am generally the first one to venture to these sites before team is given go ahead for further civil work.
During One such assignment, I need to visit a site which is 120 km away from railway station and there was only 1 train going from Delhi and reaching around 9 pm in night. It was month of January, days were short and the density of fog was super high. Due to FOG my train got late and reached at 2 am in morning. Being a broad gauge there was no Pantry attached and I was starving for food for almost 6 hours since dinner time. Also my phone has gone dead; the station was in complete dark due to probable power cut. Only 2 more passengers got down at the station and both seemed to be the Warrior of Dark Forces :). I was shivering with cold and was hungry and was scared to hell and there was no single transport to take me to the hotel 40 km away. With low on energy, even my mind started slowing down. In the darkness, even dog barking seemed to echo like a lion's roar. Although I know it's childish to fear from dark, but yes I was scared as hell. For the first time, I prayed to God to send someone.
To get over my fear, I started singing loud. Although, I was messing up with lyrics of song and my mind was only throwing songs taken from Horror movies like, but I kept singing.
Suddenly I saw a flash of light, probably coming from a torch with increasing intensity coming towards me. It was a 75-80 year old man with “Khaki “ colored uniform who came very close to me and whispered “ Bhai , Kaun ho “ . I was so happy to see a Human Figure and desperately wanted to HUG him but my social sense prevailed and I calm told my entire situation.
He introduced himself as a Hawker for the only newspaper stall on Station; he has lost his memory and got separated from his family 10-12 years ago. He took me to his closed shop , opened it for me and offered Water , some food . I thought He will use this situation to charge high money from me but he totally refused to take any and said “ We are child of One God and instead of Paying it to me , hopefully help someone in future who seeks help from you “ “ It’s our way to keep humanity alive “ .
I was totally moved by his words and courage. He shared his mattress with me and let me sleep inside his shop to prevent from cold. At 7 am, when fog reduced and people started arriving on station, he made some breakfast for me and arranged a taxi to drop me to hotel .
After my site visit, while taking train back to Delhi . I again met him and thanked from bottom of heart.
So every time, when I feel world is getting worse and humanity is vanishing. I recall that night encounter and get re-filled with optimism that there is still a hope. And I will continue to pass on this hope to everyone surrounding me.
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