Amitabh Shah was travelling from Delhi to Kanpur via flight when he came across an elderly couple who seemed lost and confused inside the airport. They hailed from a remote village in UP and travelled for 8 hours on a bus to reach the airport.
In a LinkedIn post that’s gone viral, Amitabh shared that he found the couple in the boarding area. They too were travelling to Kanpur, but since they didn’t understand English, they were visibly in need of help.
“I saw them in the boarding area completely clue less and could tell it’s there first time & they didn’t understand English. I walked upto them with a smile and asked them to simply follow me. They thought I worked for the airline,” Amitabh wrote.
Once they boarded the flight, Amitabh found that the elderly couple was seated right in front of him. The woman asked him if he could take a picture of the two and WhatsApp it to her daughter so she knows they are okay. And so he did.
“Inside the flight they were seated just in front of me. The aunty asked me – ‘Can you pls take our picture and send it to our daughter who has a phone w Whatsap – so she knows we are safe?’ I took this pic & sent,” he wrote.
What came next was a kind gesture from Amitabh’s side. When the air hostess offered them food, they declined. But Amitabh understood that they were tired and hungry. So, he paid for their meals and asked the air hostess to not mention it to them and instead say that the food was complimentary.
“When the Airhostess came to serve food, they declined but clearly seemed hungry and thirsty for hours. I told the airhostess to give them paneer sandwiches and juices & to tell them it was complimentary as they were lucky customers to win a free meal. Ofcourse, I paid for it when, they were not seeing,” he wrote.
He further went on to add, “We should always be kind at every opportunity we get, & trust me opportunities to be kind are all around YOU, aren’t they?”
Have a look at his full post here:
Several people online were delighted on hearing this story and wished him well. Some were left inspired to do the same for others. His post now has over 23K likes and 900 comments.
What a commendable gesture! 🙂