Pahalgam: No legacy is so rich as honesty. A poor girl from Pahalgam belonging to a tribal community proved it by returning the golden ring costing about Rs two lakhs to a tourist from Rajasthan.
Rubeena, known as the ‘rabbit girl’ of Pahalgam earned all appreciations and praises on social media for her honesty. Besides the girl’s honesty also earned her Rs 5000 reward from the Pahalgam Development Authority (PDA).
On Saturday, according to locals and tourist officials, a tourist from Rajasthan lost his golden ring at the picturesque Baisaran meadow. The tourist and some local guides looked all around the green pasture but failed to locate the same.
Left hopeless and disappointed, the tourist decided to cut short his tour and started preparations to return to his native place.
As the girl came to know about the tourist losing a costly golden ring she also started looking for it. Rubeena after a lot of search for the ring finally found it.
She went home and informed her ailing father, Abdul Majid Awan about it and expressed willingness to return the ring to the tourist.
Proud of her daughter, Awan managed to contact the officials with the help of some locals who located the tourist immediately. The girl finally returned the ring to the tourist who gave Rs 500 to her as reward.
The poor girl earned the praise from not only from the tourist but also the social media users.
Chief Executive Officer, PDA, Mushtaq Ahmad Simnani said, impressed by the honesty of the girl, also announced the reward of Rs 5000 for the girl.
Rubeena struggles to ensure the survival of her family. With her ailing father unable to work, she leaves her house early in the morning with her rabbit in her lap and goes to different spots witnessing the tourist rush. Rubeena convinces tourists to take photo with her rabbit for which she charges Rs 10 to Rs 20.
“This rabbit is the source of our livelihood,” the girl said.
