Riding on a mission statement

And often Sheikh goes beyond the subsidised rickshaw rides, he offers monetary help to people in dire need of it. Like he did in the case of a neighbourhood woman last year. It was at 12.30 am when a boy came looking for Sheikh, who was asleep in his small hut at Mahatma Phulenagar, Gorai, Borivli (west). A lady with her three-month-old baby in arms, was vomiting blood and needed urgent medical attention. With no other mode of transport available, her husband requested Sheikh to help. The next moment Sheikh was in hisseat, the woman and her husband in their’s and a few minutes later, they were at a hospital some kilometres away. Not only was the auto bill reduced by Rs 15, Sheikh lent the woman’s husband Rs 500 to take care of other expenses. A life was saved.

But the incident that inspired Abdul to take up this mission did not have such a happy ending. It was on the night of August 14, 1996 when Abdul’s father – a heart patient suffered a kidney failure. “I was not at home and my old mother had to run around in search of a rickshaw. She managed to find one and took my father to a hospital. However, she was short of money and could not pay the bill. The driver badly abused her. Paisa nahi hai to rickshaw mein kyo baithi?’ he asked her and went on arguing for a long time. Precious minutes were lost before his father could be admitted. He passed away early the next morning. “That day I decided I would never refuse anybody help,” says Abdul.

Ever since, Sheikh has helped several seriously ill people reach hospitals;has been always on the lookout for handicapped people whom he could offer a concessional ride; and has given up arguing over chutta paisa with passengers.

Always dressed in spotless white clothes and chappals, Abdul never sits at home even when autorikshaw unions announce a strike. “The leaders, especially from the Shiv Sena unions know that I take patients to hospitals, they never stop my rickshaw,” he explains.

There are some problems. Like the blind not being able to read the message. But these are solved by Sheikh’s overwhelming desire to help them. “Whenever I see one on the road, I offer him/her a ride on my own.”