Recent train journey to Udaipur

I took a trip to Udaipur for a day. This time after many years I took a long train journey. I was unsure about the traffic to Nizamuddin station where I had to board the train from and cautiously left a little early. I reached station half an hour before scheduled departure and got some time to see the life on the station platform. It was less crowded than what I had thought based on my earlier experiences many years ago. I boarded the coach which was half 1^st AC and the other half was 2 tier AC. I got a nice berth and settled myself. I could see a family of four (husband, wife and two kids) that was sitting diagonally across. This gentleman was an employee of the railways, probably in the department that awarded the pantry contracts etc. There was a swarm of vendors that started coming by to sell chocolates, chewing gums, tea and toys. This gentleman called the vendors and asked them only one question about why they were coming in the train so frequently. Each vendor had the same response “Sir, people keep boarding at different times and someone may need some tea / coffee (or whatever they were selling)”. One vendor after a brief phone call to someone (probably the vendor’s boss) took two chocolates and gave it to the two kids traveling with this gentleman and walked away. There was no exchange of greetings or acknowledgements. After a brief silence, the younger kid asks his father (this gentleman), “Why did this man give us these chocolates? We never paid him any money.” This gentleman had no answer and told them to just “enjoy”. I kept thinking about this incident throughout the journey and wandered what kind of lessons are we providing to children today. We send them to big schools and ask the teachers to teach them manners and morals while we do not even blink an eyelid before doing anything that is contrary in front of them and not even bother to provide a reasonable excuse for what is done. I wonder if the vendor (who was just a poor sales boy of the contracted vendor) could have ever afforded to take home a chocolate (costs Rs. 85/- a bar) for his children.