The Better India · 6 hours ago

How Karimul Haque Became Bengal’s ‘Ambulance Dada’ After Losing His Mother to Delayed Medical Help

When Karimul Haque's mother died waiting for an ambulance that never came, he made a vow that would quietly reshape life across twenty remote villages in West Bengal. With no medical degree and a tea garden worker's wages, he borrowed money, bought a motorcycle, and began riding patients to hospitals - for free, through rain and darkness, across roads no four-wheeled ambulance could navigate. By 2025, he had made that ride more than 6,500 times. The Padma Shri he received in 2017 is a remarkable honor, but it cannot quite measure what his story actually demonstrates: that grief, when it refuses to turn inward, can become a form of devotion to strangers. "One motorcycle, one promise, and one man's grit" - and three decades later, he is still riding.