When the Delhi Railway Police came to my rescue

Writing on behalf of my Father, Duraiswamy C

Addressed to The Commissioner of Police, South Delhi
Credits to HC Sanjay Nagar, HC Rajiv Chander and HC Beejpal

Many of us face few challenges while travelling from South India to North and vice versa. The languages we speak are totally different and that does have an impact on the way we look at each other. I want to narrate a trivial incident which made me believe these barriers are only self-constructed. They can be broken if we want to.

On the 26th of Jan, 2019 - A friend and I were travelling to attend a wedding in Fatehabad. Not wanting to carry a heavy luggage, we deposited our bags in the Nizamuddin railway station cloak room and collected a receipt, which we promptly missed soon afterwards [and didn’t realise, of course].

During our return journey, we had to take a train to Bangalore at 8:45 PM, 28-Jan-2019. While attempting to collect our baggage at 7:30 PM, we realized the receipt was no more with us. We tried to explain the same to the cloak room in-charge, but he simply refused to accept our case - which is understandable since he was only playing his duty. He said the only way we could get our luggage back is by getting a letter signed by the RPF on duty - We learnt HC Sanjay Nagar and HC Rajiv Chander were the people we need to meet.

When we did, they listened to our problem and quickly gave us a signed letter. Our hopes that the problem has been solved, were quickly thrashed when we returned to the cloak room. Upon receiving the letter, the staff gave us another form which would need a witness and a surety. With time running out, we feared the worst about being able to board the train in time, with our luggage collected.

We rushed back to the policemen-in-charge again, as we truly believed they can find a way out for us. On hearing what was requested from us, the officer called up the cloak-room-in-charge. He explained the need to help people from South [especially Tamilnadu], who didn’t understand the language, in addition to being senior citizens. However, we got a confirmation that without a surety, there is no way our bags are going to be returned.

To counter this, Mr Sanjay and Mr Rajiv directed me to another colleague of theirs - HC Beejpal, who very kindly offered to provide the surety for us. The fact that Mr Beejpal didn't contemplate even for a moment, made us realize how well they trust people and how much they want to extend a helping hand. He committed to offering us a surety to us, with the cloakroom staff as promised and helped us get our luggage back. We boarded the train with some time to spare, thanks to the wonderfully helpful guards at the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station.

Though I did convey my wholehearted thanks to all the officers who helped us, I really felt the need to showcase this to others - just to indicate help is always around. People are always willing to listen, trust and provide assistance.

Thank you, Mr Sanjay Nagar, Mr Rajiv Chander and Mr Beejpal. People like you make us feel safe when we travel from one end of the country to another!

PS: Not proud about not being able to speak Hindi. Not proud about not being able to keep the receipt safe.