As their daughter turns 6, parents recall their desperate attempts to reach the hospital and the mystery auto driver who helped take them there, as city drowned on July 26, 2005
As their daughter turns 6, parents recall their desperate attempts to reach the hospital and the mystery auto driver who helped take them there, as city drowned on July 26, 2005
u00a0
Yesterday marked six years since the July 26 floods brought Mumbai to a standstill.
The day the water levels rose to claim several lives in Mumbai, was actually a day that brought joy for Andheri couple Sanjay and Rachana Sawant who were blessed with a baby girl, but not before a long and arduous day.
Sanjay and Rachana named their child Chaitanya
Narrating the incident, Sanjay said, "I was afraid as my wife went into labour and all I could see around me was water.
u00a0
I was in tears. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an auto rickshaw driver came to me and asked if I wanted to take my wife to a hospital.
He drove us to the Holy Spirit hospital in Andheri. In the confusion, I did not pay him the fare, which I still owe him."
The couple named their daughter Chaitanya (consciousness). They say her birth was a miracle.
Today, Chaitanya is in Std I at Cannosa High School and her father wants her to become an IAS officer and render services to the city as she was born when the entire city was drowning.
Sanjay recalled that morning (26/7) when he had taken Rachana to the nearby Phadke nursing home, as she wasu00a0 9 months and 7 days into her pregnancy, the gynaecologist advised her to wait for two days, before they decide to perform Caesarean.
At around 5.30 pm when Sanjay managed to reach home from work, he was informed about Rachana's pain.
He took Rachana to the nearby Phadke nursing home, but the entire hospital was dark due to the power cut.
The water level continued to rise and Rachana's condition worsened.
The nurse on duty informed that no doctors were expected due to heavy rains. Sanjay and his father Bhaskar left Rachana at the nursing home, in search of a bigger hospital.
"The roads were submerged under 3-4 feet of water, somehow we reached Holy Spirit hospital," Sanjay said.
A tearful Rachana said, "I was scared and feared the worst.
I spent over three hours walking in the ward, with a single candle and no doctors around.
It was around 10 pm when my husband returned and told me that we are shifting to Holy Spirit, it was raining heavily and as a god sent messenger, an auto rickshaw driver came to us and agreed to take me to the hospital.
u00a0
Even today, we don't know where he came from. At 3.03 am, I delivered Chaitanya. It was a natural delivery."
ADVERTISEMENT
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
