THE MAN WITH THE CRUTCH - THE TRUE STORY OF MY BROTHER RALF
The Life of a Young Man Who Believed in Karma
This is the second volume in the book series "Stations".
Frankfurt Airport, spring 1985
A young man with a crutch walks towards the Green Channel at Frankfurt Airport customs. On his back is a large trekking rucksack with a Nepalese carpet strapped to the top. In the side pockets: four kilograms of hashish from Nepal.
Not exactly hand luggage.
For years, Ralf travels back and forth between Germany, India and Nepal. A serious accident has left him with a badly damaged hip and a crutch that will accompany him for the rest of his life.
It does not, however, make him particularly cautious.
He lives in tiny hotel rooms in Jaipur, trades with jewellers, crosses India, builds contacts in Nepal – and repeatedly walks through Frankfurt customs with considerably more than souvenirs in his luggage.
Later, back in Germany, he builds his own company in Freiburg. He develops machines, wins major clients and achieves more than he once thought possible. But standing still was never one of Ralf’s talents.
There was always another idea, another project, another opportunity. And eventually, one opportunity appears bigger than all the others.
When international business connections suddenly open unexpected doors, Ralf seems closer than ever to achieving his greatest ambition.
Which, as it turns out, is not necessarily the safest place to be.
Just when everything finally seems to be falling into place, life decides to rearrange the furniture.
In this deeply personal book, Bernhard Christoph Lichtinger tells the true story of his brother Ralf – a man who believed in karma, travelled halfway around the world with a crutch, smuggled hashish through Frankfurt Airport, built a successful company and stubbornly refused to let an accident decide what his life should look like.
It is a journey through India, Nepal and Germany, through freedom and family, success and failure, ambition and loss – told with warmth, honesty and black humour. The kind that sometimes makes you laugh when, strictly speaking, there has long been nothing left to laugh about.
And karma?
Apparently, it has a sense of humour too.
Bernhard Christoph Lichtinger writes from lived experience – from setbacks, detours, new beginnings and encounters that do not need embellishment. His stories come from the places where real life leaves its mark.
If you haven’t read any of the books in the STATIONS series yet, you can start with any of the following titles. Each volume tells a self-contained story, but read in order, they reveal a much bigger story together.
Volume 1: WHAT SHE SAW – A TRUE STORY
Volume 2: THE MAN WITH THE CRUTCH
Volume 3: TRANSIT – THE LAST DAYS OF FREEDOM
Volume 4: DEPARTURE INTO THE UNKNOWN
VOLUME 5: IN THE TIGER CAGE – SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN THE BASEMENT OF RUMMELSBURG
Volume 6: FRIDAY THE 13TH (IN PROGRESS)