Life goes on

It was January 26^th, 2004. On the previous night I had got back from a voyage cum holy dip at the ‘’Kumbh” in Allahabad and was narrating my experiences to the family at home in Haryana. Suddenly we notice that the ceiling fan starts moving and in no time the movement became vigorous. All of us reached out in the open for it was an Earthquake. The radio confirmed in the next few minutes and the news of its intensity and related destruction started pouring in with the death toll from two digits to three digits and more. By the evening, the TV was showing pictures of devastation in Kutch, Gujarat.

My town in Haryana is inhabited by people that are sensitive to the need of the hour and take no time to contribute in terms of money, goods and service. By the evening a Committee of well-meaning Samaritans got formed and a call for contribution swelled the donation boxes as also the collection centres for essentials and medicines etc. In a couple of days there were six Truck Trawlers arranged free of charge by a local Transport Company to carry the material to Bhuj in Kutch along with a team of doctors, paramedical staff and volunteers consisting of 36 people.

Two days of continuous driving with a night halt made us reach Bhuj sometime in the evening. The devastation that we saw on the way was horrifying. Multistoried structures had caved into the Earth. The stories of death and loss were on everyone’s tongue. People had moved out of homes to live on roadside in the open and were horrified to think of venturing respective homes. Having reached Bhuj, we looked for an open space where the trucks could be parked, material unloaded for safe distribution and we could pitch tents. Eventually we pitched tents, cooked Khichdi for a meal and retired by midnight.

Despite the long treacherous drive during the day and late-night retirement, all the volunteers were awake, ready to work after the breakfast of Poha and tea. Teams of volunteers were directed to go to different localities and villages for distribution of essentials and medicines while the Doctors set up a camp to attend to the patients. Men, women and children thronged the place and some local people were engaged as translators to communicate for Hindi speaking doctors to Gujarati speaking patients.

The people from neighbouring colonies looked up at us as saviors and with much respect for having come all the way from North to the bordering district of Bhuj in Gujarat.

Our group leader, a senior well-respected person under whose directions and guidance the collections were made was called ‘’Pandit jee’’ by the associates. He would stay at the main store wherefrom the goods would be sent for distribution.

Some local ladies offered to help us with cooking the rations that we had got for ourselves. There was this muslim lady Zahira that was quite touched by the service of the volunteers and would spend her time doing anything for them.

Zahira lived close to the Mandir campus where we had pitched our tents and stationed ourselves for the volunteer work. There were small two room apartments that were occupied by low middle-class families. Zahira with the family of four children and husband occupied one while she had Gloria, a Christian lady with her north Indian Bansal husband staying in the next one room tenement. Bansal had been a casualty of Earthquake while his full-term pregnant wife Gloria with apparent minor injuries was admitted by neighbours to the Government hospital. Gloria gave birth to a baby boy on the 28^th, two days after the quake with a premonition that she would not live. She knew that Bansal had been shunted out with all relations snapped by the family in the North. The only loving relationship that she had was with this Muslim neighbor who would give emotional security to the child. She sought her word that she would bring up the child as her fifth. Zahira in an emotional mood gave Gloria this assurance giving scant regard to the financial difficulty that she and her Mumbai based taxi driver husband faced in running a house with family of four children.

Gloria’s premonition turned true. She died of no serious medical issue. The neighbourhood community with the Government help buried her in a simple manner. The child was simply handed over to Zahira by the hospital without raising issues of custody, parenthood etc. So much death and destruction had been seen by everyone that they had become humane and not too strict with the legal formalities.

It had been a fortnight since the day we came to Bhuj, Kutch. The aid was evenly distributed and we were not left with enough material to keep us purposefully occupied for more than two days. It was then that at evening meal time Zahira shared information about the child as also about the financial limitations that she and her would face rearing him up. It was just two days back that she had got the child from the hospital and a long life ahead realized her of the associate problems. A subtle hint if someone would be interested in having the child made Pandit jee call a childless couple in Haryana. The couple sounded very keen and offered to start immediately for Bhuj.

All this while Zahira had got to know that Pandit jee and team were well meaning people and her intuition told her that the child would be safe and secure for life. She confirmed and in the next 48 hours catching buses and multiple mode of transport the young couple from Haryana arrived. We were all packed to leave when the couple entered the campus of the Mandir. A small ‘Puja’ was performed hen the Muslim neighbor on behalf of a Christian mother handed over the child for adoption to a thousand miles distant Hindu couple. Pandit jee named the child ‘Sanjog’ meaning coalition.

Today this 15-year-old is a young forward-looking lad knowing least about the Earthquake that moved him to different longitude and latitude.