The woman was motionless, her child matted with vomit and dust. A few feet away, people cheered as a street magician performed.

Abhijit checked the woman's pulse and found a weak beat while Supriyo picked up the baby.

The two then sought the help of a passing policeman, but it wasn't any use. Apparently Park Street wasn't in his jurisdiction. So he sped away.

Supriyo and Abhijit then tried to hail a taxi but the cabbie, after one look at the sick woman and child, refused pointblank. "Everyone was curious about what two well-dressed men in ties were doing with a beggar-woman and her child. But none ventured forward to help," Abhijit said.

Supriyo then forced a taxi to stop, put the near-unconscious woman and her baby in the back seat and went to NRS Medical College & Hospital.

"Our priority was to ensure that the two survived. The two were so weak that we were afraid they would die any moment," Supriyo said.

If they thought the worst was over, they were wrong. At the NRS emergency ward, the junior doctors on duty cast a glance and shied away. "Why have you brought the two here?" a doctor asked. "Take them to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beliaghata. We don't see patients with infections," another said without even checking the patients' condition.

"The doctors then asked what business we had with the two. They were dying but no one seemed bothered," said Abhijit.

But the two executives didn't give up. They approached the hospital deputy superintendent, pleading for immediate help. Something in their earnestness perhaps touched a chord and the official ordered that the mother and child be immediately admitted to the paediatric ward.

Things suddenly started moving. The lady doctor in charge of the section took the initiative and arranged for a bed.

In the meantime, the executives had called NGO CINI-Asha, which notified ChildLine at Loreto Sealdah. Within minutes, assistant director Abhijit Majumdar sent two colleagues Agatha and Mehtab with clothes, fruits and feeding bottle. "Once they're cured, we'll try to take them into our night shelter," he said.

In the evening, Abhijit and Supriyo's colleagues arrived, eager to help. "We just hope the two are taken care of tonight. We'll be back in the morning to check their condition," said Supriyo and Abhijit's boss Jayanta Sinha.

Touched by the warmth of strangers, the relatives of other patients in the ward rallied around. "Don't worry. We'll look after the two," offered Lakkhi Das.

By evening Sumitra had revived enough to talk. The strong medicines had brought her fever down. Beside her, Rajni sucked hungrily at an ORS feeding bottle.