This case is from the year 1967-68, when I was on the duty of Junior Engineer at Jodhpur Thermal Power Station. When I used to go to meet my Pehar or my in-laws in the village, I used to have food in a hotel. Later on, there was a family relationship with the hotel owner. One day he said that my sister’s wedding is in Delhi and father has asked you to accompany me to attend the wedding. To see Delhi, I obeyed him and went to Delhi. After seeing Delhi for three or four days, I wanted to see Agra, so I told my hotel mate that now I will go to Agra from here and reach Jodhpur from there.
My colleague above said that in those days Agra was dominated by pickpockets, so he told me to beware of pockets, they behave like decent citizens in good dress. and cross the pocket as soon as they get a chance
On reaching Agra, I contacted another colleague, Raju, who was a junior engineer in the Jodhpur Telephone Exchange, by telephone and said that if there is any acquaintance in Agra, then call me back, so that if the pocket is cut, he will come to Jodhpur. I can borrow ticket money for. After half an hour, he got a telephonic reply that I have called Mr. Gupta, my acquaintance at the Agra Telephone Exchange, and you call him on this number immediately.
It was evening, he told the address of the telephone exchange and asked to meet him immediately. As soon as I met him he was very happy and took me to his house. In the evening I started going out to have dinner at the hotel, they stopped and made arrangements for the food at their home. There was a share in a two-room rented house. He and his wife were in one room and arranged for me to sleep in the other room. At night his wife spoke softly to the junior engineer I was listening to. He asked who this gentleman was. He said that I got a call from Jodhpur, Raju Junior Engineer, that I was with you in training in Buland city.
Although I have forgotten his face in four-five years, this gentleman is a junior engineer in the electricity department in Jodhpur and a special friend of the state. On the second day, he had to go to Meerut along with his family for his brother-in-law’s wedding, so he said that you should stay comfortably for two-three days in this room and while leaving the house key to the staff on duty, in the telephone exchange.
How much did that Agra engineer believed in me?
The next morning I went to visit the Red Fort of Agra. From there I left to see the Taj Mahal by bus. Two strangers sat near me and started talking. After getting off the bus, I went to see the Taj Mahal alone, then I realized that these people could be pickpockets. They asked me to come to the Taj Mahal with them. I thought, let’s see how they pick pockets? When I was returning after seeing the Taj Mahal, I said – I will now go to the restaurant to have some food.
They said that you should go with us and have food in the hotel. We had the food and then I expressed my interest about paying the bills, then they said this food is from our side today.
After having dinner, I asked them to go to Fatehpur Sikri with a view to get rid of them, then they also took a taxi with me to Fatehpur Sikri, then I came to know that one of the gentleman is a medical officer in railway service in Akola (Maharashtra) And his in-laws are in Agra and the other person is his brother-in-law. My initial guess turned out to be wrong. When I reached the station to catch the train back from Jodhpur Agra Cantt in the evening, the gentleman was standing at the station to bid me farewell. Later correspondence went on for a year and he wished that they along with their family would come to Mount Abu in Rajasthan in March next year and I too should meet them there with my family. After that his transfer probably happened to Bhusaval and then we got separated. I still don’t understand why the doctor had to spend so much and support me when I was a complete stranger.
Readers, you must have felt the joy of seeing the old-fashioned faith and love.
Look, that old era, the things of that era, the change of time, that too was an era.
-Er. Tarachand
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