I had always wanted to pen down this phase of my life, surviving
the earthquake of ’01 Gujarat, have had varied experiences from being practically
homeless to traveling nights and days in a truck on the shattered highways of
Gujarat, the lows they say, in a span of say about a week .If I say nothing
changed much, it would surely be an understatement considering the impact the
event had on millions living there and on the land.
I never thought of putting this on a blog someday but then – Why not? So, here I am with another of my unforgettable memories, my
life before the event and how it all changed since.
Chapter One-The Life Prior to Jan 26, 2001
Gujarat, land of the legends as we call it, we had come to
Bhuj from Assam in ’94 or later, I am not sure of the year though and Madhapura
was the first place my father arranged for a rented house where we would be spending
the next 25-30 months.Well, I must tell you Madhapura has been the richest Asian
village where every person supposedly had a minimum of INR 1.8 million in his
bank balance, that was in a news report I happened to read sometime back.
Wikipedia also has it. My dad was an Army personnel back then and he preferred
having his family staying with him. So, we had to shift to a new place (field
or peace, it varied) every 3-4 years. I had the luxury to study in various
schools across the country, at the same time it was not very easy to acclimate
to the new place every new time.
My father got me admitted in another of the Army Schools, Bhuj this time, in UKG,it was the
class of 1994.First few days were very hard for my parents, specially my mom. I
faintly remember, my dad used to leave by 5 am on most of the occasions, my mom
used to prepare my lunch box, prepare me for the school which I really hated
attending and she used to go with me to my school, we would be there by 7:00 am,
she would be there till the recess and make sure I had my lunch and then leave
for the house. I think she continued this practice for about 10-15 days. And
then I was used to the drill, I did quite well I would judge.
Madhapura or simply Madhapar,the place - our locality was lively,
we had a huge ground in front of the house, a Mandir, lots of neighbours and
I remember a girl, she used to bully me every time she spotted me, she maybe
a 5-6 years elder to me. Days passed and I
never knew when I learnt Gujarati, I could very well speak and understand the
dialect back then but now I have only little understanding of it. Same was the
case with Bengali and Assamese, had to move (Army thing) just when I had the
grip on them.
Let me take a leap, we now had shifted to a new house in the
Cantt area, the township was called Karam Singh Lines or simply the K.S.Lines
named after the military war hero Lance Naik Karam Singh who is the recipient
of second Param Vir Chakra. I was in 3rd grade. I was also
experimented upon a bit, admitted to Kendriya Vidyalaya in the 2nd grade, but alarmed at my degrading academics I was put back to Army School, so
here was I back to my original school, I had started liking it by then. My
sister also in the same school with me, she is two years younger to me.
The township, mostly double storied, had modern day architecture
had separate quarters for every regiment, a park for the kids,playground,hospital,a
library, bus service to outside in the weekends. Kids rushing for schools were
a normal weekday scenario. In school we had a rotation policy for seating, come
Monday and we had to shift to the next
bench in front, so this way everyone was supposedly given chance to sit
at the last bench. 15th
Aug,each year was celebrated as the “Raising Day” for our regiment and it was big.
Local event management companies would be usually hired for the grand celebrations;
feast, fireworks, fun, party, dance – FAUJI way. It was their style of celebrating
the life. The company (regiment) would also arrange for the 2-3 day family trip
to tourist places in Gujarat every year.
The Activity (Tectonic) Day 26th Jan, 2001
Round about 8.30 am, Gujarat was hit by a magnitude 7 above earthquake.
The scale of damages to life and property was immense. Many say, because it were a
26th Jan, devastation was even more. It was a national holiday and
many were still in their homes when it all happened. My dad at that time was on
his fire fighting training in Pune, I was in school, my sister decided to
attend the function at one of her friend’s school, so she was not with me and
my mom was back at home. All four people at different locations and none had
the clue of the rest which at that time was really scary. Dad got to know about
the tragic happening a little late; he immediately flew home in some army
helicopter carrying medical aid to the place. Mom was horrified, stayed where
she was; I think she was pulled out of the house by the couple living upstairs.
It was the Republic Day, so we were supposed to be properly
dressed in whites for the celebrations at school. The school had planned full
length cultural events to mark the auspicious day. Assembly began at usual time
and immediately after that cultural events were supposed to commence. We had only began
the patriotic song and barely sung the first two lines-
saare jahaan
se accha Hindustan hamaara
ham
bulbulain hai is ki, yeh gulsitaan hamaara !!!
At first I
thought it was a surprise, 26th Jan was supposed to have something special and
so this is it. But then, I hear shouts, cries as everyone (mostly children) was
running helter skelter.Now I strongly feel, it was a real lucky decision that
the program was scheduled outdoors, had it been an indoor event the story
surely would have been different. We were already in open space and just had to
avoid the trees (the neem tree which was in the middle of the ground looked terrible
after the shock and could fall any moment but luckily that didn’t happen) and electricity
cables decided to take the swing.
“Koi neem ke
ped k paas nhi jaaega, sab open ground mai rahenge”, commanded one of the teachers.
The others trying to control the whole mass of school children which was in
total chaos and panicked like hell instigated by the major tectonic activity.
After a few minutes when it settled down a bit, we were asked to leave for home,
strict advice-head straight for your home, don’t go anywhere else, your parents
are waiting for you. Didn’t really get to the seriousness of those words that
time. I left for my home and why on world I don’t know till date I decided to
take the road, I was sure scenes would be different from usual.
We had this
theatre named “FLAMINGO” just outside our school campus; we used to have our
annual functions, cultural events and other celebrations there. I saw my first
Hollywood movie there “THE TITANIC”. It was simply exquisite, an open air theatre,
comfortable seating, deafening sound system and a nice small canteen. The
ticket for every show was a nominal amount of Rs.5 per person. It had a huge
screen which was reduced to half and I could see the rest lay on the ground .I
stood for a few moments to confirm what I had just seen. A few metres further
we had our AWWA centre, it had everything, a CSD, a stationery shop, a grocery store,
a restaurant, and almost anything could be bought from there. I don’t much
remember what happened to the centre; I just hope and wish it were not
demolished like the FLAMINGO.
I was picked
on my way back by my uncle who lived upstairs; he took me home which was not
the same I left in the morning. He came looking for me. And what do I see while
returning; buildings brought down like they were made from nothing more than the
playing cards, those which could manage not to go down were damaged severely.
Return home, I see my mother weeping; she was waiting for me and my sister. She
had still not returned from her friend’s school but no worries she came a few
minutes later, all safe.
The Ordeal
Initially I
did not understand the depth of the situation. I thought of it another calamity,
like the yester year cyclones which hit the whole of Gujarat. But as the day progressed,
situation sank into me, had a clear thought something bad has happened.
Day 1
By afternoon,
everyone had returned to the locality, no matter where they have been. But then,
all feared to enter the homes, buildings looked in real bad shape and could
collapse any moment, given the situation was very much possible where
aftershocks were frequent. One of the homes which I saw had its kitchen brought
outside and placed almost 4 feet away from where it had been. Army had taken
control of everything. It provided for medical aid, the Unit Mess had taken
care of the food. I feel we have been really lucky we were based in the cantt
area while the situation outside was a total breakdown of the system, people
did not had food, no shelter, no aid of any sort immediately. Whereas inside it
wasn’t that bad. We had doctors available for any emergency, tents were
stretched out as make shift shelter which was much safer, every possible help
was provided.
Day 2
My dad
returned from Pune the next day, 27th Jan, and again mom broke into tears. I
was like mummy stop it, I did not know how to respond, embarrassed, yes I was! Come
next day, I got to know that various schools have decided not to conduct this
year final examination and instead all the students would be given a general
promotion to the next class, which is pretty wise considering there were no
schools left for, except for the board classes and thus I have never written my
6th grade paper. The various boards had their board examination in
make shift schools, either in open or inside temporary structures.
A senior
leader from the Central Govt. was rushed to inspect the loss, George Fernandes,
the then defence minister, visited the K.S.Lines.Compensation was announced for
the deceased and severely injured. Relief work and aid started to pour in.
Day 3 and 4
It would
take another year or so to get life back to normal so my parents decided to
move our native place Jabalpur. The big question - how do we shift? Railway tracks
uprooted at many sites so trains weren’t an option, highways badly damaged but
a road journey was manageable.So, roads was it! We hired a truck for moving
and I think there were a total of 6 families who moved with us including the
saviour couple that lived upstairs. It was already dark by the time we were
leaving on the 29th evening, dad and one of his friend played the
GPS as roads were not in the best of the shape. They had a map on what route to
follow.
We
reached our destination after a 3 day long journey. It was a relief; finally we
were out from the plight. We can now again have new starts after the blip. We
got new house in the Jabalpur Cantt area, were we lived for the next 42 or so months.
I got admitted into the Army School here in the new session 2001-02 for the 7th
grade. The first day in school, I was asked about my previous school by my new
class teacher, she taught us geography. And when I answered Bhuj, everyone gave
a How lucky is this chap look, I told
them the whole experience.
I feel lucky
to have again come in contact with some of my friends from ASB.I am sure I
would be visiting the place again very soon and recollecting some of the best memories.
It might have a lot but the old Bhuj is still afresh in my mind.
