Mumbai woman recalls heartfelt encounter with stranger on father's death anniversary

India Today

15 hours ago

A woman from Mumbai shared a heartfelt post about a stranger who paid her auto fare, refused to take it back, and told her she was like his daughter, an incident that took place on her father's death anniversary. The post left the internet thinking about the rare tenderness this city occasionally offers.The post, titled 'Today a stranger paid for my auto,' was shared on the subreddit 'r/Mumbai'.advertisement'Today, I again hailed the same sharing auto I take every day, from the same stop to the same station,' she said in her post, adding, 'It was July 26, exactly seven years since I lost my dad. I didn't have cash, so I asked the co-passenger if he had extra. I said I'd Google Pay him'.
She asked for his number, but he waved it off. 'Chill, don't stress. Pay me later,' the man told her.'Twenty minutes later, he gently nudged me - 'Station aa gaya hai.' I asked again for his number. He refused. I kept insisting because it felt wrong not to repay a stranger. He wouldn't budge. 'It's okay, don't worry, you're like a daughter to me. You must be getting late for work, go fast.' All I could do was say thank you and walk away.'The woman admitted that city life often wears her down. 'I am so, so tired from this city sometimes. The endless traffic, the potholes, the rains that start and stop when you least want them to. Sometimes, it feels like this city hates me,' she wrote.'A girl so much an outsider, it might as well be stamped on my forehead. This so-called city of dreams. Just when I feel like Mumbai might swallow me whole and I'd disappear like I never existed, it holds me again,' the woman said in her now-viral post. She recalled others who've stepped in when she needed them most. The old woman at the station who smiles at her every day. The ladies in the train who took her to the doctor when she fainted. The woman who shared her umbrella. The bus driver who held up traffic just so she could board.And today, the man who told her she reminded him of his daughter.'This is what Mumbai is. Not its financial district or overpriced cafs or homes that cost a kidney. It's the people who hold your hand when you're falling apart. It's the people who treat you like family and make you believe in life again,' the woman said. advertisement'God knows I'm an outsider in this city. I still can't speak Marathi. But sometimes, God shows up in the faces of the people walking fast on Mumbai's streets,' she said while concluding her post. Take a look at the post below:Social media users shared their own experiences in the comments section of the post. 'Our people are what make this city. Some bad apples exist, sure, but most will help without blinking. That's just how we are,' a user said. Another user said, 'This is what Mumbai feels like if you can look beyond the broken roads and high rent. We may not speak the same languages, but we always understand each other.''He didn't help you just because you're a girl. He likely sensed you were genuine. You asking again and again to repay him proved your heart was in the right place,' one of the users said. A user said, 'The same thing happened to me in Mumbai. It was raining, autos were scarce, and a woman with her son gave me a ride in theirs without asking for money. That's what I love about this place.'advertisementMumbai, a city often painted as indifferent, sometimes does more than move; it reaches out. Stories like this quietly prove it.- Ends