Thread by @sharrmasumann

Hathras in Western UP,currently in news for dubious reasons,has 4 railway stations (City, Jn, Kila, Road)
Hathras can be recalled as being remembered for other reasons, quite opposite of what it’s today, when people are calling it a rape city,was actually once a city of Saints

Tulsi Sahib (1763-1843),heir to the throne of Poona (Pune), renounced his royal heritage to seek mystic reality, moved to Hathras,attracting a devoted following.Initiated many followers who later themselves became big Saints starting their own sects-one being the Radhasoami Sect

More than 130 years back, a wandering peniless monk was sitting on a bench of Hathras Jn station. He was traveling partly on foot, partly by train, partly by bullock cart.Suddenly, the ASM of the station spotted this sanyasi with striking features.

He went up to him and struck up a conversation. Impressed by his knowledge and disposition, the ASM requested the monk to be his guest that night and took him to his quarters behind the station.

After spending a day or two the monk wished to bid goodbye but the ASM decided to submit his resignation and leave with the monk as his first  disciple. The monk was none other than Narendranath Dutta who later became Swami Vivekananda.

And the ASM of Hathras Jn was Sharat Chandra Gupta, a Bengali gentleman, who, after getting his sanyas vows, was called Swami Sadananda of the Ramakrishna Mission. Before accepting him as his disciple, Vivekananda gave his a begging bowl to Sarat

to beg food from the porters and khalasis of the station. Sharat went to the station and begged for food as a part of his induction into monkhood. 
Hathras is, today, a shame of India’s manhood.