"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
18 Jan 2019
Army man Upesh Rai from Colaba, along with his wife, a small daughter of 7 years old and few friends from his home town Darjeeling made a short vacation weekend plan. Their destination was Matheran. They started from Colaba and reached at Dadar to catch another train from Dadar. To reach Matheran they wanted to go to Neral first. So somebody on the Dadar platform told them that the train on platform number four will take them to Neral. The entire group rushed towards the platform in order to fetch the train. As the train arrived the passengers started getting in. Upesh Rai's wife Marina and daughter Saisha boarded the train in the general coach and the train started. Marina turned around to see others but saw that her husband and their other friends were left behind and was not able to get inside the train. The train started moving and she could see her family and friends were left behind, didn't know what to do, she got panicked and jumped out of the train. As told to TOI, Upesh says, "My wife and daughter are new to the city and not well versed with train travel. When Marina saw the rest of us hadn't got in, she panicked but she did not keep the speed of the train in mind when she jumped. As I saw her fall on the platform, I started to run after the train because my daughter was alone inside. But the train gathered speed and I too fell down on the platform."
Their small daughter was now left all alone inside the train. She saw her mother jumping out of the train, she was scared, crying a lot and wanted to get out of the train.... She moved towards the door to follow her mother. While she was about to jump the two angels, the two school going teenager boys Ismail Shaikh and Mohammad Toufiq Shaikh firmly caught hold of her and stopped her from jumping out of the moving train. "Both the boys are from Kalwa and were heading back from the school. They were dressed in their uniforms and were carrying their bags," said a police officer to TOI. Babulal Ingole, an RPF constable who was on the platform yelled to the passengers of Saisha's coach to pull the alarm chain of the train. The train then stopped at Matunga Railway station and the passengers called the police.
Inbetween the Rais approached Dadar GRP, "We made calls to our counterparts at Matunga and Kurla. As soon as Saisha got down the train, she and the two teens were bought to Dadar. Watching Saisha run into her parents' arms was an emotional moment for us. We felicitated the teens and instructed the Rais to be careful while boarding and alighting from the trains in the future." as told by Senior Police inspector Prasad Pandhare, Dadar GRP to TOI.
A presence of mind and a quick action can save someone's life. The Rais were very happy and thankful to the two teen superheroes.