Porter Poyyamozhi lives up to his name, returns 5.75 lakhs found on platform

Living up to one’s name is not easy, and that too if the name means a “person who never speaks untruth” and if s/he were poor. But, neither name nor economic status was a problem for this ‘poor’ employee, who proved the he was rich at heart, by holding men above money. 

Poyyamozhi (meaning, a man who never utters lies), a licensed porter at Tambaram, had lived up to his name not only by uttering the truth, but also by acting out its true meaning. So much so that Naveen Gulati, Divisional Railway Manager, Chennai, on Wednesday personally went to Tambaram and presented a memento as a token of appreciation of his honesty and integrity. Poyyamozhi was waiting to collect baggage on platform of number 5 at 3.45am on last Wednesday (November 1), when he found an unclaimed bag, moments after the Egmore bound express train (No: 11064) from Salem left the station. 

A curious Poyyamozhi had casually checked the bag only to find high denomination currency notes stacked in it. A situation which would easily test the integrity of any person, Poyyamozhi, however, wasted no time in reporting it to the duty pointsman and the Station Master. A thorough examination by RPF personnel showed that the bag contained Rs 5,75,720 and some used clothes. 

The rest may be history, but, what impressed the railway divisional headquarters was that the ordinary porter was content with receiving a small model coach from the DRM on Wednesday and even refused a small cash reward from the owner of the bag earlier. 

No wonder his parents named him ‘Poyyamozhi’, a man who never utters untruth. Porter Poyyamozhi had helped reunite some runaway children with their parents in the past as well. It may be recalled that a thief stole Rs 10.75 lakh in the Salem-Chennai express last Wednesday, but left Rs 5. 75 lakh  behind