RG Kar hospital: Neha was born in a busy subway connecting two railway stations. But her parents dream of making her an airhostess.
Neha - her maternal uncle Abhishek gave the name - was born in the Dum Dum subway on Thursday. She is now in the intensive care unit for newborns at RG Kar hospital.
Her mother Chandni Shaw, 23, a resident of Naihati in North 24-Parganas, had got off a local train at Dum Dum and was headed for RG Kar hospital for delivery when she went into labour.
On Friday, she narrated the experience to Metro from her hospital bed. Unable to bear the abdominal pain while getting down the the stairs of the subway, along with her husband Ranjan, she said she collapsed on the floor.
"The last thing I remember was a woman GRP officer holding me tight.... I opened my eyes to something like a cat's meow... the officer wrapped my child in her dupatta and handed her over to me. It was the first time I heard my daughter's voice," she said.
The mother and daughter were taken to RG Kar on a vehicle arranged by the GRP. Neha was admitted to the hospital's NICU because her condition was critical.
At 2kg, she had infection and respiratory problems that prompted doctors to put her on ventilation support.
Her condition improved on Friday, a hospital official said. "She is still on a ventilator but her parameters are improving," the official said.
Neha's father Ranjan Shaw is a contractual worker at a press. "It doesn't matter to me she is a girl. We are happy Lakshmi arrived at our home on a Thursday.... The first thought that came to my mind after seeing her beautiful face was she will become an airhostess some day," he said, waiting outside the hospital's gynaecology emergency ward.