THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the prime minister shared his interaction on board Kerala's first Vande Bharat train, it was a 23-year-old differently-abled man from Sree Chitra Poor Home in Thiruvananthapuram that became a star.

Rahul, who is unable to hear or speak by birth, held out a color picture of the Vande Bharat train that he had drawn to the Prime Minister who had come to meet the students on board the train. Without any hesitation, Rahul started speaking in sign language to the Prime Minister, who looked at the picture with great interest. Rahul's confidence and the quality of the drawing impressed Prime Minister and he held Rahul close. 'I drew it myself. So glad you came to see it", Rahul said. Modi asked whether he can place the picture inside the train and later posted the interaction on Twitter.

The Prime Minister inquired about the details of Rahul, who is an orphan, and took the picture to his own collection. "I want to become a painter in the future", Rahul said. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and MP Shashi Tharoor also praised Rahul.

Rahul is an art student at Different Art Centre at Magic Planet, Kazhakootam, where Gopinath Muthukad is the executive director. Akhila and Sanal, teachers at Magic Planet, helped hone Rahul's innate drawing skills.