Babu stays spirited even after his efforts to save little Prithviraj turned nought

Aluva: Autorickashaw driver Babu Verghese’s vehicle name is philosophical, Tatwamasi.’ (It means ‘you are the spirit or you are god).

Babu was the good Samaritan who helped the three-year-old Prithviraj and his mother and grandmother reach the hospital after the child swallowed a coin.

Prithviraj’s mother Nandini and his grandmother were hassled and distressed as they waited for a vehicle to be taken to the hospital. (After shuttling between the district hospital and the Medical College Hospital, Alappuzha, the child died allegedly due to medical negligence on Saturday).

Babu took the trio to the district hospital for free. Babu gave them Rs. 500 in spite of his own difficulties and send them off in an ambulance to the Medical College Hospital, Alappuzha.

At night, when a distress call from Nandini came again, Babu drove all the way to Alappuzha and took the family back home and took no money.

Babu, of Mattammel House, Choornikara panchayat, has his own share of difficulties. His elder son Sebin, 19, is bedridden. Sebin is paralyzed hip down after he was hit by a train while crossing the tracks. Sebin’s shoe got caught in the rail line and he could not cross over.

Sebin was till then an office boy in a private firm. Sebin’s friends took him to a private hospital but they were returned saying there was no doctor. They rushed him to another hospital which sought an upfront deposit of Rs 6 lakh. He was then admitted to the Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, where he underwent three surgeries to sustain life. Babu and his second son also have breathing difficulties and carry an inhaler with them always.

Babu's efforts could not save the child’s life. But that does not stop this good Samaritan from believing in the goodness of life. No wonder, he chose to name his ride ‘Tatwamasi.’