In troubled times,often a Samaritan emerges in the form of an angel who guides you to safe waters providing you the reassurance of better days ahead. Looking at the past instances,Punjabis have always come forward to help the masses in the hour of need. With violence gripping the state over the last few days,several stories of heroism and saviours have come to light. The help extended by Amarvir Singh,owner of Hotel Aakash located near Clock Tower,is kind and thoughtful. Amarvir has allocated 10 rooms of his hotel for passengers who were stranded at the railway station due to the ongoing tension. Travellers are being given free food and stay,along with everything they need. I had gone to the railway station yesterday and found a number of women with small kids with nowhere to go. So,I got them over. I also left my hotel cards at the railway station and have told people to send passengers to my hotel till the time they dont find an alternative, Amarvir said. Meanwhile,a group of students of Bharatiya Vidya Mandir School,who had gone to Wonderland in Jalandhar on a school trip,had a tough time on Sunday evening when protests broke out there. Their vehicle reached Phillaur where they were asked not to move ahead. Deepak Garg,a student relives the nightmare,We went to ESI Hospital first and from there a Phillaur-based resident took all of us to his home. The family took good care of us and we reached back safely on Wednesday evening. We had informed our parents from there and they were relieved to know we were safe in someones house. Residents of Model Gram,Rajesh Chugh and his wife,were also caught in the crossfire on their way to Hoshairpur on Sunday evening. They had to halt in a dharamshala in Phagwara where over a hundred people were seeking shelter from various parts of the state. Chugh said,We were surprised to see so many residents in the dharamshala who had come to help stranded people like us. They offered us food,milk and fruits apart from moral support,which was the need of the hour. Despite tension in their city,Phagwara residents came out in full force to help others. I must salute the Punjabi spirit. Apart from this,the Newsline team also spotted langars and chabeels organised at the railway station,bus stand and Transport Nagar. A group of volunteers were also seen guiding people on the CMC Chowk on routes to avoid. Though rail traffic was normal on Thursday,a lot of passengers were yet to book their trains and hence timely help from city residents came as great relief to them.
