Around 220 km from Kolkata, is Narayangarh, where Rumpa is a student at a school.
Rumpa Pramanik is a student of Class 11, at the Sarisha Kunapur Anchal High School, at Narayangarh, which is 220 km from Kolkata.
Tuesday was just another school day for the young girl. Her English class was in progress, and she happened to glance out of the window, when she noticed a toddler waddling towards a pond, without any adult supervision. Rumpa was slightly puzzled, but within seconds, the child fell into the pond, and without thinking twice, she bolted out of class, reported The Telegraph.
By the time her teacher had stepped out to see what had happened, Rumpa had covered the 50-metre distance to the pond. She dived in, grabbed the child’s arm and slowly swam towards the bank, to safety.
Describing the incident, she told The Telegraph that she was in her school uniform, a white sari, which made it difficult to run. However, she somehow managed to reach the pond’s edge, saw two little hands flailing above the water and jumped right in,
Later, she was surprised to see that the little one was Rahul, her neighbour’s son. By this time, teachers from the school and some residents had reached the area.
Rahul was barely conscious, but Sushanta Ojha, the assistant headmaster of the school, and his colleagues, applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in an attempt to revive him fully. He was eventually taken to a state-run healthcare unit, and as per reports, he is currently stable.
The boy’s father, Bidesh Singh, is a day labourer, who said that his son had strayed out of the house while his mother was busy heating water to bathe him.
Rumpa is the daughter of a poor farmer who also runs a telebhaja (fritters) shop, and has received immense praise. School authorities have expressed their pride, and Manik Singh Mahapatra, Narayangarh’s Block Development Officer, applauded her for her brave act and said that she has set an example for all her fellow students in the school.
Saving someone from drowning means putting an immense risk on yourself, as drowning people flail their limbs, and hold with a vice-like grip, which can pull a rescuer underwater.
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This isn’t the first time that a youngster has taken the initiative to save a life. In July 2017, this Mumbai-based lad had also helped a girl who was drowning in the presence of onlookers.
Well, thanks to Rumpa’s selflessness, the 3-year old child in the village near Kolkata has a new lease of life.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
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