A Texan with roots in Calcutta has transferred Rs 35,000 to the bank account of a Calcuttan who was spotted waiting for a bus in Hazra, with two units of blood for his daughter, for 40 minutes on June 2.

An equal amount is set to come soon.

Sanchali Ganguly read about the plight of Biplab Banerjee in The Telegraph ( in a report headlined “Why they wait & how they are let down” on June 3), tracked him down, got his bank account number and transferred the amount within a day.

Banerjee’s 15-year-old daughter is undergoing dialysis. Her father considers the help a godsend.

The resident of Bonhooghly, near Dunlop, who earns a living working as a cook at a catering agency, has been without any income for two months because of the lockdown.

Ganguly’s help would make a world of difference to his daughter’s treatment, he said.

“Aamar meyeta hoyto ebar bechey jaabey (My daughter will probably survive now),” Banerjee said. “I have neither met this woman nor heard about her. But whatever she has done, I will always fall short of expressing my gratitude.”

The Telegraph's report on June 3

On Thursday, soon after the amount reached his account, Banerjee went out to buy costly antibiotics that his daughter’s doctor had prescribed to lessen her chest pain.

A chest infection had come in the way of the teenager completing her dialysis on June 2. On Friday, she could undergo the full course of the procedure because of the antibiotics.

This newspaper had reported about Banerjee’s plight while he was waiting to a catch a bus to reach Bagbazar, where his daughter was admitted to a nursing home for dialysis. He was holding a plastic bag containing two units of blood that his daughter would need.

In Texas, it was 1.30am on June 3 when Ganguly was reading the report. Her daughter Avilasha, a medical student at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, was busy with her studies.

“I was devastated seeing his picture and knowing about how he was struggling to reach his daughter. I broke down and my daughter got worried,” Ganguly recounted.

She reached out to Banerjee and by 8.30am on June 4 (IST), Biplab had given his bank account details to her. She said she wanted to transfer Rs 70,000 but rules related to transfer of American money came in the way.

“I had that amount (Rs 35,000) in my Calcutta bank and so transferred it immediately. The rest would reach him in some time.”

Banerjee said his daughter’s dialysis costs between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000.

“Before every dialysis, she has to take an injection of haemoglobin that costs around Rs 1,200,” he said.

Doctors have prescribed another round of antibiotics for his daughter. The patch in the chest has not yet cured. “A pack of 10 antibiotics costs Rs 936. So you can understand how difficult it is for me. I am trying. Let the best wishes from all of you be with her,” Banerjee said.