NEW DELHI: Komal will never forget two Army lady officers who came to her aid. Little did she know that her train journey on December 27 will be a life-changing one. The 21-year-old pregnant woman started having labour pains around 4 am on board the Amritsar-Howrah Express.
News of the labour pain had set the compartment into commotion, and soon it reached Captain Lalitha. She and Captain Amandeep from the Military Nursing Service were on their way to attend a training course at Army’s Central Command in Lucknow. “I heard people shouting ‘delivery-delivery’. I went to the cabin and saw that a woman was under labour pain,” Captain Lalitha said.
Captain Amandeep remembers the episode vividly. “When I heard the people shouting, I initially thought I was in hospital ... But when I heard the word ‘delivery’ for the third time, I woke up and rushed to find Lalitha ma’am sitting next to the (pregnant) woman.”
While Lalitha helped Komal to have a safe delivery, Amandeep used her medical expertise to do the remaining work. Cheers rang out when the two officers declared that Komal was blessed with a baby girl. “It was so nice to see the child crying immediately after birth as it was a sign that she is fine,” said Captain Lalitha.
The duo was happy as both mother and child went home without any medical complication. “I told ma’am (Lalitha) that the day has begun well and our training will go well,” said Amandeep. “People named the infant as Gamini taking from the Sanskrit term used to describe train, Loh Path Gamini, as she was born in train.”