Indian Railways staff go extra mile to cook oats for toddler, mother shares sweet post

A mother travelling from Bihar to Bengaluru shared how the pantry staff of Indian Railways quickly prepared oats for her two-year-old son during the journey. Her Instagram post has gone viral.A video of praise shared by a mother travelling with her toddler in a train has gone viral. (Photos: dakshnmom/instagram)New Delhi,Oct 4, 2026 15:01 ISTFor a mother travelling across the country with a two-year-old child, even the smallest act of kindness can make a long journey considerably easier. For one woman travelling from Bihar to Bengaluru, that kindness came from an unexpected place; the pantry staff on her train.The woman, who uses the Instagram handle Dakshnmom, shared her experience on social media, praising the railway staff for going out of their way to prepare food for her young son during the two-night journey.Travelling with a toddler, she wanted to give her son oats for dinner during the journey rather than depend entirely on outside food.“I was travelling with my 2-year-old baby from Bihar to Bangalore, and with a little one, you always have to plan everything in advance,” she wrote. One evening, she approached the train’s pantry staff and asked if they could prepare the oats she had brought for her son. She said she expected the request might be difficult, but the staff readily agreed.“I was so pleasantly surprised! They took my oats packet, prepared it for me, and within just 5 minutes, they handed it back to me — freshly made and ready for my little one,” she recalled. For the mother, however, it was not simply about getting a meal prepared. It was the willingness of the staff to help a parent travelling with a young child that stayed with her.“What touched me even more was not just the food, but the genuine helpfulness and kindness of the staff,” she wrote.She added that the pantry workers were “cooperative and welcoming” and helped her without any hesitation.Watch the video here:Travelling long distances with a toddler can involve considerable planning, from carrying essentials to ensuring the child has suitable food throughout the journey. In that context, the simple gesture meant much more to the mother than a freshly prepared bowl of oats.Her post has gained a lot of attention on social media, with several people appreciating the pantry staff for their gesture. Some users also shared similar experiences of receiving help from railway staff during their own journeys.For the mother, what could have been just another exhausting leg of a two-night train journey instead became a memorable reminder that sometimes, a little help from a stranger can make travelling with a child feel a whole lot easier.- Ends