Loud beeps pierce the air. Groans rise and fall in a steady rhythm. While the beeps continue, the groans die and are replaced by a piercing wail.
And then, there is relief, followed by a seeping sense of the unreal.
Parents of impatient babies that arrive in cars have a story that can engage any audience. However, no matter how pleasant the experience looks, when viewed from the distance of time, these parents would not desire to have it again.
Delivering a baby in the car that is screeching away to the hospital is fraught with risks. The unsterile environment of a car may make mother and newborn more vulnerable to catching an infection. There are post-birth essentials that cannot be carried out in a car. There are so many other things that can cause trouble.
And therefore, a flush of happiness comes over us when we’re greeted with a story of a safe childbirth in a car. Last month, the photo of a radiantly happy Darren Helm, a professional ice hockey player who plays for Detroit Red Wings, was in wide circulation because he had joined the club of parents who heard their children let out their first wail in a moving car.
A week later, the New York Post reported the screaming arrival of a new life in an Uber cab. Even those with the stiffest of upper lips could not have helped going all gooey over the newborn who was wearing a special loose-fitting garment. Reportedly, Uber gifts this loose-fitting dress — customised with a description, ‘Uber Rider Onesie’ — to every baby that turns its driver’s car into a makeshift maternity ward. The driver is assured of a free wash for his car and a small reward.
In almost all parts of the world, drivers of vehicles on hire show kindness to pregnant women. In India, most cab and autorickshaw operators drive at a cautious speed when a pregnant woman is among the passengers. Situations involving pregnant women who have gone into labour and cannot afford the hire of a private vehicle bring the best out of many cab and auto drivers. The practice of offering such women and their families a free ride is widespread. In many cases, the baby arrives on the way. Film songs enshrine the idea of such service-mindedness: the song ‘Naan autokaran’ from Basha is an example readily springing to mind.
Unlike in the United States, such acts of kindness and births en route to hospitals don’t get reported, because, in my opinion, they are more common here, especially in the rural sections, where cases of pregnant women being rushed from their places of work to hospitals by mini trucks are frequent.
Another reason is the reluctance of parents to announce such extraordinary deliveries. In India, they are accompanied by an element of embarrassment and are therefore swept under the carpet.
In the West, such unusual arrivals are celebrated. On YouTube, one finds cases of fathers videographing the birth of a baby in a moving car. There, it is almost always a story that has to be extensively shared, in great detail.
