Apropos of nothing, this story really appealed to me. I admire cranky guys like Chaturvedi who just resist being pushed around no matter how small the stakes are. The story doesn’t make clear his motivation but I’d guess it’s less principle than a desire not to suffer what he feels was an injustice.
For Westerners like me who don’t have such facts at their fingertips, 20 rupees is approximately 25 cents (US). That means he worked 22 years at a yearly rate of about a penny just to prove he was right.
The whole story is weird but the weirdest part is why Indian Railways didn’t pay Chaturvedi his quarter and make the whole thing go away years ago.
Update : principal → principle