Seventeen nursery students of Byculla were beginning to get distraught on Tuesday morning as their teacher and her two assistants helplessly tried to hail taxis The children were headed for a classmate’s home nearby, as part of the nursery school’s visita-friend programme that teaches them about sharing toys and playing together. But the BEST workers’ strike threw a spoke in the wheels.Their teacher, Namrata Tiwari Pinto, was just about to give up hope of getting taxis when a van of the Byculla police spotted the group and pulled over.“I asked the police for help since no taxi was halting. They readily offered to drop us at our destination,” says a grateful Pinto.She said the children, who had begun to get restless, happily climbed aboard the van. “If not for the police, we would have had to cancel our programme for the day,” said Pinto.Dinesh Kadam, senior inspector of Byculla police station, said Sub-Inspector Bhole and a few constables who were in the van realised that the group looked distressed and eagerly offered help.