When Shobha started experiencing pains at 5 am on Sunday, her husband, Shivaji, decided to take her to his mother's house at Vikhroli. The couple live in a tent on a footpath at Charkop in Kandivli along with Shivaji's aunt and sister. They roam around Mumbai with a cow sprinkled with vermillion and dressed in golden-coloured cloth, begging for alms. Given the nature of their profession, they do not have a permanent home in Mumbai.

``The only pukka kholi

we have is my mother-in-law's place in the Suryanagar slums at Vikhroli,'' Shobha told Express Newsline

at the Savitribai Phule Municipal Maternity Hospital at Bhandup. Shivaji, along with his wife and aunt, boarded bus no 460 from Gorai which would drop them at Bhandup on its way to Mulund. ``Seeing my state, theconductor asked me to take a seat in the middle,'' recounted Shobha.

As the bus made its way to its destination, Shobha's labour pains, increased, causing concern among her co-passengers, including five men. As the bus reached Filterpada check naka, the driver pulled up near a hotel and asked the male passengers to get off. ``I felt that this was the moment and just lay down on the seat'' said Shobha. Soon enough, a healthy-pink baby boy let out his first bawl, sprawled on the seat of the bus.

Not so fresh, towels and a steady supply of warm water from the hotel kept the surroundings as clean as possible.

After the arrival of the baby, the drivewr took the bus with the baby and uit's family and rushed to the nearest Savitribai hospital, the nearest maternity home iun Bhandup.

Sitting on her cot on the 3rd floor of the hospital this evening, Shobha seems bewildered by the interest shown in her baby. ``though tired, i was kept awake till 3 pm last evening as various BEST officials took down my account,she says.

Shobha feels that the bus was one of the better places for giving birth to a son. ``My first son, Sagar, was born on the footpath at Bandra,'' revealed the mother shyly. Atleast this time, they could cut of the umbilical cord with a clean knife borrowed from the hotel.last time, it was a blade which my husband found nearby,'' she added matter-of-factly.