Who is a Superhero?

Who is a Superhero?

A superhero is somebody who saves lives

 

Does superhero require a cape and a mask?

Honestly, no!

 

What we need to do?

Don’t waste time Complaining /instead take the initiative to solve problems

Ordinary people can also become superheroes, what they require is will and courage to do the impossible. Let’s look at somebody who has done it by himself.

 

Who Is Ambulance Dada?

KarimulHaque, 57, was the third of his parents' six children and was born in Dhalabari. His mother and father were agricultural laborers, so he dropped out of school early to work odd jobs at a local tea garden. According to BiswajitJha, a former journalist who authored a biography of Haque two years ago, "He, perhaps, studied until Class III." Jha's book, Bike Ambulance Dada: The Inspiring Story of KarimulHaque (Penguin India, 2021), chronicled Hak's journey as a humanitarian driven to aid the underprivileged and destitute. The book received its first Malayalam translation last year.

Haque is a resident of Rajadanga in Malbazar. He lives with his wife Anjuya Begum, his two sons Rajesh and Raju and their wives. His sons' betel leaf shop and cellphone repair shop in Rajadanga support the family. Most of Haque's income goes into buying fuel and medicines.

And despite suffering from idiopathic choroidalneovascular membrane, an abnormal proliferation of blood vessels in his retina leading to bleeding and severe swelling in the retina of his eye since 2019. His commitment to his work remains unabated.

 

What it actually means?

Dada in Bengali is a term of endearment and respect that is used when we genuinely appreciate a person or the work that he has done.

 

Belongingness

KarimulHaque takes great pride in the wild surroundings of his locality. Dhalabari is located in close proximity to Lataguri, Gorumara Forest Range. A forest known for its one-horned rhinoceros, which rangers are actively protecting, sits on one side and a lush green tea gardens on the other. In the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, Haque, a formerly employed tea garden worker, is hard at work in his own unique way, providing emergency medical care for people.

He has aided more than 7,000 people in need of medical assistance while operating motorcycle ambulances since 1998 in more than 20 adjacent areas. He not only offers ambulance services but also basic first aid instruction to the locals with the assistance of doctors.

 

How did the journey begin?

KarimulHaque experienced a tragic episode that forever changed his life in 1995 when he could not find an ambulance to transport his ailing mother to the hospital. Finally, his mother suffered a cardiac arrest and died. As a result, he made the decision to help others in the event of a medical emergency.

Haque's motorbike ambulance plan came to him when one of his colleagues collapsed on the field. Four years later, when a colleague fell unconscious on the tea estate where Hak worked, he borrowed his manager’s motorbike and carried his friend to an emergency ward in Jalpaiguri. “As I saw him recover, I had an idea—I could offer the same service to many more people,” says Hak. In the past 20 years, Hak, estimates he has helped close to 6,000 people reach a hospital in their hour of need. After using a second-hand bike for a few years, Hak bought a TVS110 with a loan he had taken: “The money I’d spend on my mother, I started spending on things like petrol, etc. I was doing this for her.”

 

 

 

The Transformation

The free ambulance was once merely a motorcycle pulling a sick-carrier that resembled an iron box when it was first introduced. The bike now features a more modern sidecar for the patient that is equipped with an oxygen tank. Two motorcycles and an equal number of four-wheeler vans are used by the service to transport three to four patients each day. The bikes and ambulances also have a mobile phone number shown. Haque continues to operate his "motorcycle ambulance" 16 years after he transported his first patient to the district hospital in Jalpaiguri.

Since 1998 Haque has been providing ambulance coverage to over 20 villages in and around Dhalabari in the Doars belt where basic amenities such as roads and electricity are not present, and the nearest hospital is 45 kilometres (28 mi) away. In 2016, Bajaj Auto gifted him a bike that came with a hospital-cot-styled sidecar, Hak says he felt relieved. “It became easier for me to transport bodies and pregnant women.”

Besides the ambulance service he also provides basic first aid with training from local doctors to villagers. He also holds periodic health camps in tribal regions.

 

Awards and Milestones

The government of India awarded KarimulHaque the Padma Shri in 2017 for his social services. Star cricketer ViratKohli, well-known wrestler Sakshi Malik, and eminent scientist MadanMadhavGodbole were among the recipients of the award that year.

He has won numerous honors, including the 2012 AnanyaSamaan from the 24 Ghanta News channel of the Zee Group. He learned how to take a selfie from Indian Prime Minister NarendraModi in 2018 at RashtrapatiBhavan on the eve of Republic Day. He was also invited to participate in a special Karamveer episode of "KaunBanegaCrorepati 12" in 2021.

A Bollywood biopic is planned for release after Jha's book on the subject. Haque recently inked a contract with a Mumbai-based producer for a Hindi film about him.

 

For the mostly tribal town of Dhalabari, the ambulance service has expanded to include a hospital, a nurse training facility, and a sewing institute, all on Haque's little family land. In 2017, the Indian PSU major Indian Oil Corporation and the MNC Bajaj Group donated enough money to purchase a generator that will power Haque's hospital and training facilities with electricity. A water tank was donated a year later by the Kolkata-based NGO, Society for Technology with a Human Face, and the Tagore Sengupta Foundation, a non-profit organization in Pennsylvania, the US.

During the pandemic, he was able to feed 200 poor people every day. He is also building a day-care hospital now.” Hak next has his heart set on a ventilator-equipped ambulance. “Nothing is more rewarding than saving a life,” he says.