It was December 16 and young Vishnu Nair (pictured) was heading home after work. It was like any other evening, and as he reached Mahim station in central Mumbai, the usual crowds were there, commuters like him rushing home.

A newcomer to Mumbai, Vishnu, in his five months in the city, has always been amazed at the robotic life he saw all around him, especially at railway stations where people would rush through platforms to make into or out of the trains. Local trains pulling in every three minutes, belching out commuters, filling up once again and pulling out, the push and pull, the crowds on trains, everything seemed so new to him.

Still, nothing in these five months had prepared him for what he saw as he made his way through the platforms to take a train to Wadala, central Mumbai, from where he was to take another train to Khargar, Navi Mumbai. As he approached the harbour line platform No. 6, he could see the 7.28pm local pulling out and the next one was due at 7.32 pm.  Platform No 6 has a single railway track, with an under-construction platform on the other side.

As Vishnu made his way to where the first class compartment halts, he saw a young boy lying on the tracks. When he pointed out the boy to other commuters, one of them said he would go and tell the station master to halt the incoming train before it crushed the boy, and disappeared from the scene.

With barely a minute left for the next train to pull in, Vishnu suddenly noticed that he was showing signs of life and was moving a little. Seeing this, and unmindful of the danger to himself, Vishnu jumped on to the tracks, picked up the boy, put him back on the platform and climbed up -- just in time as the next train was pulling into the station.

While no one bothered about the boy earlier, suddenly everyone was gathered around him. Vishnu noticed that the boy had lost a leg and was bleeding profusely, and had injuries on his forehead and shoulder. Most likely, he had fallen off the previous train, slipped between the train and platform and was run over.

Being new to the city, Vishnu had no clue about helpline numbers or any other service and yelled for  the police. Someone said there were no policeman around. Realising there was little time to lose, Vishnu ran to the station master, narrated the incident and pleaded for someone to assist the bleeding boy, to provide him medical help.

By the time Vishnu got back, some Good Samaritan had tied a kerchief around his bleeding forehead and another was trying to tie a piece of cloth on his leg. Soon the station master brought some men with a stretcher to take the boy to hospital, and Vishnu headed home. 

Vishnu's presence of mind, courage and helpful nature saved a 12-year-old boy from being run over by a train and adding to Mumbai's sorry statistic of death on train tracks.

A day later, what remains with Vishnu is not the thought that he saved a life, but the negligent and indifferent attitude of the people around him, who even after seeing the boy in distress did not bother to either help him or to stop the incoming train.