One summer evening, my sister planned to visit me home with her hubby. Since it was a last minute decision, we decided to go and shop for some poultry products. We took the car and went to a nearby sabzi market . As we were returning home, it started raining. My brother in law was driving. Next to him was my hubby and behind were my sis and me. As the market was crowded we drove slowly. Alongside us drove another car, few bikes and bicycles. In front of us was an auto rickshaw. As we looked ahead, we saw a small little head popping out of the rickshaw. With a little hand up in the air. I did not give it much of a thought thinking that the baby was obviously with someone and they were aware of it. And hence would pull her/him back in.
Suddenly my husband who was in the front seat said – “Slow down immediately. The baby is about to fall”. As he blurted out those words, the baby fell off the auto on the ground and my brother in law immediately braked. Next to us another car braked and it was a spiraling effect as cars rickshaws bikes cycles etc screeched to a halt. The baby had fallen in the middle of the road right in front of our vehicle. Had we been a little faster I shudder to think that we would have run over the baby. Of course had it not been for my husband’s strong intuition or his prediction we would have been in deep trouble. The baby must have been a year old.
I was shocked and rushed out of the car to pick up the baby in my arms. To my horror the auto rickshaw drove off. I picked up the baby and didn’t know how to console her as she was crying loudly. People ran after the rickshaw but the rick guy drove off. Luckily there was a police station nearby and we took the baby there.
As I my brother in law told the story to the cops, suddenly there were zillions of thoughts that rushed within that 1 hour that I was holding this tiny little baby in my arms at the cop station. - she was a girl child, maybe the owners did not want her and so got rid of her.. Had I done the right thing by picking up the baby? There were so many other people around, yet nobody had picked up the baby so why did I do it? What if those guys didn’t return? What would we do? I would be stuck with the baby. The cops sure wouldn’t keep the baby and knowing the cops they would harass us. It was then that I started praying like crazy for the baby’s owners to come back. As I rocked the baby she stopped howling and crying a little less.
The cops helped us by giving orders to stop all rickshaws in the nearby locality at the few signals ahead, assuming that the rickshaw would have not gone too far. We were still waiting, wondering, praying, what to do next as we had to go home and this was going to be a burden now. I have never prayed so hard and never felt so scared. I think all four of us were thinking the same and we looked tense and troubled at the same time.
But to my relief the cops came shoving in two drunken men, hitting them really hard. Their eyes were blood red and they were returning from some wedding party. One of the guys grabbed the baby from my arms and started crying. I don’t know whether it was real tears or an act, as it was a cop station. Well whatever it was, we quietly rushed out amidst the commotion and drove away.
Apparently both the guys were so drunk that they did not know the baby had slipped and fallen down from their arms. And one of them was the father of the baby. Moreover they had 2 more little girls with them. Jeez..Can you beat it? Even now when I narrate the story I grow cold. Why do parents give birth to babies when they can’t handle them or can’t take their responsibility. I failed to understand it. But sometimes I think they might have wanted to get rid of the baby as they were poor people.
Well whatever be the reason, drunk or getting rid of the baby, it was still about a little helpless baby lying in the middle of the road with rain pouring down on her.
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