NRS Counsellor Helps 28-Year-Old Deliver Child On Canning Train
Times of India | 22 August 2026
Kolkata: In a bustling, overcrowded compartment of the Canning local train on Wednesday morning, what began as an ordinary daily commute quickly transformed into an extraordinary story of quick thinking, courage, and unexpected new life.
Aarti Bain, a compassionate counsellor with NGO Cankids for children with leukemia at the haematology department of NRS Medical College & Hospital since the past 15 years, boarded the train at Gourah to head to work.
She had taken up the profession to support her son’s treatment, who is a college student and suffers from leukemia.
As the train chugged into Champahati, Mursida Ali, a 28-year-old expectant mother from Taldi in South 24-Parganas, collapsed from her seat in unbearable labour pain.
Expecting her second child, Ali had boarded the train with a neighbor to visit NRSMCH after feeling unwell. Her doctors had initially scheduled the delivery for the first week of Sept, but severe abdominal distress prompted her to head to the state govt hospital earlier than planned.
Ali was overwhelmed by intense pain. She began drifting in and out of consciousness. Bain navigated through the crowd. Fellow female commuters swiftly cleared a berth. This allowed Ali to lie down.
Bain immediately coordinated a makeshift delivery room. By the time the train reached Baghajatin, labour was well underway.
She carefully manoeuvred the baby free with the help of traditional wisdom. Bain took the infant in her lap. She tapped specific points on the baby’s back and feet. A healthy cry filled the train compartment. Bain transported the mother and the newborn to NRS as the train reached Sealdah.