It was mid February of 2014 when my class 12th board exams were near and I had to visit my school on frequent turns as the practicals were going on.My school was forty kilometers from my place so I used to board a local bus to go there. Since the journey was not too long so the bus conductors just collected the fare from each passenger, no ticket system was there.
One day when I was in the bus, I saw the conductor collecting fares. He was quite old in his 70s and he was a Muslim as he was wearing the cap they use to wear on Fridays and the day was it. Few college students were sitting in front of my seat.As the conductor arrived to collect the fares from them, they handed him with only the one third of the total fare and when the old man insisted them to pay the full Fare they started fighting with him. He accepted those one third fares saying that from the last few days he was able to save only a little from the total fare he used to collect and his business will surely collapse if people like those students continue doing that. I took out the money from my purse for the fare and started waiting for the conductor to collect from me. It was a tiring day for me so I accidentally fell asleep. I was awaken by the driver who shouted at me that it was the last station. I looked around me. There was none in the bus. I saw the fare in my hand and suddenly realised that the bus conductor had forget to collect the fare from me. I searched for him and asked people around there for him. He was standing at a tea shop and was counting the fare he just collected. I went near him and handed him my fare saying ”Baba! Aap yeh mujhse lena bhul gye the ” He at once stared at me for few seconds and then patted my back saying ” beta, aaj 10 saal me pehli baar kisine kiraya laakar diya hai.Kitna achcha hota agr sabhi log aapki trah hi hote ”. He offered me for a cup of tea but I was in a hurry so i just said ” nahi baba, der ho rahi hai ” and left for my school.
That day I realised that we keep on blaming our politicians that they are corrupt and not honest but had we ever asked ourselves how much good and honestly are we doing our part. Ask yourself and think of such situations if there had any happened to you and how honestly you played your role. Think!!
Submitted By – Shubham Shukla
