Shahnawaz Akhtar, a passenger on board the Howrah-Ranchi Shatabdi Express, was pleasantly surprised when iftar was offered to him on the train as he was about to break his Ramzan fast.While the IRCTC serves "Upwas Meals" during Navratri for Hindu passengers, no such service is available during Ramzan, an official said. "Thank you #IndianRailways for the #Iftar. As soon as I boarded Howrah #Shatabdi at Dhanbad, I got my snacks. I requested the pantry man to bring tea little late as I am fasting. He confirmed by asking, aap roza hai? I nodded in yes. Later someone else came with iftar," Mr Akhtar wrote on Twitter and also posted a photograph of the meal served to him on the train.
IRCTC officials said the meal for Akhtar was arranged by the on-board catering manager personally. "The staff was readying to break their fast and the passenger boarded the same coach. He told us he is fasting, so the staff shared their iftar with him. This is basic humanity," Prakash Kumar Behera, On-board Catering Supervisor, IRCTC, told PTI. The holy month of Ramadan is the most important time for all the Muslims in the world as they keep an intense fast or roza. For the uninitiated, people wake up early in the morning to have their first meal sehri and they break their fast in the evening with iftar.