Source: Ashish Sharma

“Yesterday I was travelling in this bus from Delhi to Jaipur. Driver had stopped the bus on the highway at a hotel called ‘Khushboo hotel” for refreshments. There I saw an old man, who looked very poor, ordered aloo ka paratha worth Rs.20. After few minutes a waiter came with 2 Paratha and some Raita in a plate. Seeing 2 parathas the old man said “mujhe ek hi chahiye” ( that he needed just one) to which the waiter replied -“20 me 2 milta hai” (we serve two for Rs.20). After this the waiter brought Chhole and kept it near his plate. The old man said “Bhai nahi chahiye” (I don’t want this) and the waiter said “parathe k sath free hai” (it comes free with paratha). The old man did not eat the chole.

After finishing his food he went to the counter to pay the bill. He was surprised to see the bill amount. They were charging him Rs.140. Upon enquiry, the owner at the counter said 40 for 2 paratha, 20 for raita and 80 for chhole. When the old man objected, they threatened to beat him. Bus conductor was sitting beside the hotel owner and he was laughing at this (I have posted his photo too). The old man then complained to the conductor that why did he stop the bus at this fraud hotel. Bus conductor said -“yahan to aisa hi hoga, tune khaya hai to chukana hi hoga nahi to hum tujhe yahan chod jayenge” (it will happen this way only, you have eaten and now you will have to pay otherwise we will leave you here and go). The old man paid 140 with the wet eyes and told to pack the chhole which he had not eaten. The waiter took the chole to the kitchen and mixed it with the chole kept in the bucket. He told the old man that he threw it in the dustbin. Staffs, owner and the conductor all started laughing. This happened to almost all the passengers and all had to pay unnecessary amount amongst this chaos.

Upon boarding the bus I told the conductor that I will complain against him. To which he replied – “Jo ban sake kar lo” (do whatever you have to). I tried calling the numbers which was displayed for registering a complaint, but as you can see in the pics below that numbers are not visible. They have deleted few numbers from all the phone numbers so that no one can complain.

Friends, this is just an example. There are thousands of stories like these all over the country. These are carried out with the collaboration between hotel owners and roadways staffs. We think of this as a small incident and don’t care but friends think Rs 140 can be the entire day earning for a poor rickshaw puller who has to feed his entire family. This incident may be small for some people but I was shaken to my core.

I am Ashish Kumar Sharma, a resident of Ratangarh, Rajasthan. I humbly request all respected citizens to share this and help change the heart of even one roadways staff or hotel owner.”

The Logical Indian appeal to the local police to take a look into this matter seriously. Such cases tend to happen quite often, but none of them are reported.