Glad God gave me the chance to save a life: Auto driver

They seemed to be discussing which hospital to go to. Moments later, they asked me to take them to Lilavati Hospital. I drove via Chapel Road and we arrived in 6-8 minutes. I drove straight inside. BHAJAN SINGH RANA, autorickshaw driver

- Shashank Rao

MUMBAI: Until 3 am on Thursday, Bhajan Singh Rana, 48, was like any other autorickshaw driver in Mumbai - nameless, faceless and working the night shift on the streets of a city that is full of surprises. On Friday, Rana felt like a hero as his bastiwalas cheered for him in a narrow slum-facing bylane on Pipeline Road, near the Western Express Highway in Khar East, as he gave media interviews.

Rana had become a celebrity, literally overnight, after driving an injured Saif Ali Khan to Lilavati Hospital minutes after the home invasion at the A-lister's apartment in Bandra West.

Still reeling from the brief and intense encounter in the early hours of Thursday, Rana says he had no idea who his passenger was until he pulled up at the hospital and someone shouted Saif's name.

"I had dropped a passenger on Linking Road in Bandra and was driving around before I stopped at the junction near Satguru building (on St Theresa Road). I had planned to rest for a bit, and then head to my usual eatery, around the corner, for a bite," recalled Rana.

"There were a few people on the road but the Satguru building gate was shut. Suddenly, I heard a shriek. A woman was shouting aggressively, asking me to stop."

He remembers two men and a child rushing towards him.