25th January 2001:
It was evening, and I was coming back towards my uncle’s appartment. As I passed through the open field just before our appartments began, I wondered if there would ever be any other appartments that would be constructed in this field. Just across the road on the other side of our appartment lay a half constructed building – almost 17 storeys tall; the groundwork had been done and pillars erected – what remained was now building walls on the sides of this building. As I drove home, I wondered how long would it take for this building to ever be built. It was almost a year it was under construction already.
25th was a cold night. After the usual dinner and TV watching, I decided to sleep inside the second bedroom instead of living room with my grandma; the reason being – inspite of the cold, I wanted to turn on the fan. The second bedroom was down the hallway, and served more like a storage room rather than bedroom, housing a variety of cupboards, gaddis, extra clothes, the fridge and a single metal cot, which had a very comfortable mattress on it. I don’t even know when I fell asleep that night…
26th January 2001:
Morning. I really dont recall the time. Wouldnt want to either. Something rattled under my bed. My first instinct – “I am dreaming”. The rattling didnt stop – “Perhaps its the fridge making this noise” I thought. I opened my eyes – sure enough, the fridge was rattling and vibrating. It took another second to realize that I too was rattling. Before my brain could even comprehend what was going on, the rattling got strong. Still my brain hadn’t registerd what was going on – my body was shaking and I was being tossed up and down the bed rather rudely. I turned around towards the wall to hold on to something, but froze; a crack appeared on the wall with a sound so loud I had to jump off the bed. The crack grew wider and the noise increased – it was clear something was wrong. It was then I ran outside into the living room towards the door.
Uncle. He was in the gallery attaching living room, booming – “Bhaago Bhaago Bhukamp. Bhaago Bhukamp”. It was at that instant it stuck me – Yes, this was an earthquake. My aunty yelled from inside – “Run with your niece!” – my neice was already walking running out with me that I grabbed her hand. With her hand held tight, I ran out the door, down the stairs, out the building. Once outside, I turned out of the appartments, and ran wildly towards the open field. Without the slightest bother about my niece – all I knew was I had pulled her with me and she had coped up somehow with my speed.
In the field. I held my niece tight as I began to make sense of what was happening around me. At that point, I began to hear the fury of earth to which I was so far oblivous. The sound. It was as if the earth was mouthing something in fury. It was the single most terrifying noise I have heard in life. Honestly, there isn’t a sound as terrifying as hearing the earth break up. In the field, I looked around; scores of people were running towards the field. A herd of cows had gathered together, with complete sense of fear and shock in their faces. I looked towards the half constructed tower – it was swinging left and right, sending a chill down my spine. My neice was shouting for her mom, crying by this time. It was about then I realized – that nobody from my family had still come out of the building. Those nervous few seconds gave me the creeps.
And then it stopped. Calm. It was kind of calm that happens after a storm. Everyone, everything had shaken up completely. I and my neice slowl started walking back towards our appartment complex. We met our aunt down the road; she was looking for my uncle who still wasn’t anywhere out of the building. After a good two minutes, my uncle walked calmly with my grandmother of 65+ years, who was quite shaken up, and when the earthquake struck was actually in bathroom. She hadn’t even made it half the stairs down when the shaking stopped.
January 26th 2001 : Afternoon.
As expected the electricity and phone all got conked out within minutes. Everyone in our society had gathered up downstairs, each one looking for answers – What happened? Did appartments get damaged? What other areas were affected? Was somebody able to make contact? Somebody’s appartment had caved in, did they make it out? The situation though grim, was not completely out of control at that point. People had recovered back reasonably, and one could see many of them passing smiles and assuring others that nothing serious had happened – after all, all appartments and buildings in our area were still in one piece.
Sometime that afternoon, electricity came back. We actually went back to the appartment to investigate the appartment. There were cracks all over, and in the bedroom I slept, the wall had a big crack. My aunt made tea and breakfast, and we were generally not that psyched up. We were generally just thinking about the day gone by yet. Sometime late afternoon, the cable started working again – it was then the news sunk in.
January 26th 2001 : Evening.
Cable TV operators from all over the world had only 1 thing to talk about – that was the quake. The grimness of the situation then began to sink in – it was a massive earthquake somewhere in Bhuj whose effects were felt as far as middle east. Rescue teams were still not able to reach Bhuj. Media had already gone on an overdrive with images of earth shaking and buildings rumbling. Around 100 buildings in Ahmedabad had collapsed. Rescue teams were everywhere. By the time night had fallen in, one thing was clear : nobody would sleep in the appartment that night.
That night, we and a million others were truly homeless. Gathering our belongings, few rugs and coats, we decided to spend the night on road. People formed groups and made campfires where possible. It was a terribly cold that night in Ahmedabad – and yet a town slept on roads that night. People kept vigil, so as to warn people if there were any more aftershocks. I spent half the night trying to sleep and the other half imagining every possible worst thing. Yes, before that evening, thanks to TV and images, I was completely shaken up.
January 27th 2001:
Next day morning, people still on roads. RSS (Yes, RSS) and a few other organizations had already sprung in full force. People were already offering help. Charities had already started planning about supplying goods to Bhuj. While NDTV crooned about being the first people to reach Bhuj (and they did repeat that same line 100 times that day), my uncle was down the streets asking people for used clothes and any other thing that could be sent to Bhuj. Yes, that was several hours after the quake. In the society itself, people helped each other – people living on ground floor let others use their restrooms to people who had flats on higher floors (nobody dared climb stairs that day). We had more or less made part of the road ours.
In the afternoon I and my uncle went on a drive to see around ahmedabad. Yes, I did many buildings had collapsed completely – some in the near vicinity where I lived. Businesses around the collapsed buildings were thriving – people from nearby were thronging the area to help the rescue efforts – and if they werent, they were atleast helping the stand-up restaurant make money by getting fafda and tea.
By that night, the media had successfuly achieved their goals – to instill a deep sense of fear and chaos in public mind. At 7.30 pm we heard someone say – “BBC says there will be a quake at 8.00 Pm – run towards the field!“. I am a computer engineer, but logic at that moment was not my strong point. If it was 8.00, it was going to happen at eight – our whole family ran towards the field including my grandmother who was barely able to walk properly. 8.00 pm came and went – nothing happened – yet another man shouted – “NDTV says it will happen at 8.30!“. So we waited. With fear about what was going to come next.
8.30, nothing much happened. By that time public had started to realize it was a false alarm; but we were all scared. That night we spent the night at my uncle’s friend’s house who offered to let us sleep in his already over crowded bungalow.
28th January 2001:
Morning 6.30 ish, there was another aftershock and we again ran out. Though this one didnt last long, this was enough to get even the most sleepy out of his bed. The rest of the day was spent in anticipation of another rumble. Several times during the day we ran out with rumours about quake again going to strike at 1.00 pm, then 4.00pm then 8.00 pm and so on.
That night, we left our grandmother at uncle’s friends house and came back to our society since we wanted to keep a watch on the appartment. That night, we again slept on the roads. I was still scared as hell to enter our flat.
29th January 2001:
My phuee and aunt joined the women in the society who were making puris for people in Bhuj. The whole society had forgotten about what had happened to them personally, but were actively involved in preparing food packets and getting stuff for Bhuj. Women toiled the whole day behind my building making Puris, Undhiyus and stuff, while male brethern got clothes and needed supplies to send to Bhuj.
By night, yet another group had set up tents all over the society. The tents contained beds for as many people as possible, and it was decided that all people in society would sleep together and help out each other. That same night, I was with my uncle when 2 trucks left for Bhuj. 2 of the thousands that left that night for Bhuj.
29th was another cold night, spent in tent, but still on the road. The fear still remained. Some of the brave and who lived on ground floor ventured to stay in their appartments; but most of them were not. Old, and people with kids were given preference in tents.
30th January 2001:
My birthday. That day I roamed around Ahmedabad with my uncle who had gone full ballistic about helping people in Bhuj. That day we roamed several areas – and everywhere it was the same. Each society had built their tents – women were making food either to be sent for relief or for the society members themselves. Old people were cutting vegetables, while the others were making adjustments to the tent. It felt as if the whole population had come together.
In the heart of the city, the communaly tense Hindu and Muslim brothers had come together for a common cause. It was all about helping each other out of this crisis. More relief work was being sent to Bhuj that day – we had more or less shut down the TV as it was freaking us out. The media couldnt get over their melodramatic over done terrible coverage. It was not as bad as they made it out on TV – and it wouldnt have been as scary as they wanted us to believe as well. And yet, during that time, everything and anything we heard was enough to run a chill down the spine.
It was the most quiet birthday I had ever had – but in a sense complete. It was redeeming to watch the whole community come together so nicely to help each other out. I know it sounds like a cliche, but it was a triumph of human spirit looking at the way people were coming out to reach out to others. In way it reminded everyone of who they were.
During the next week, my second uncle who had a government job was transferred to Bhuj for relief work. His trunk calls every night to us and reminding us of the destruction in Bhuj gave us a different perspective than what News media had wanted us to believe. It is best left unsaid.
I didnt stay there much longer as I had to go back to Bangalore. However that one week on the roads had changed a lot about my perspective about life. My folks spent the next 15 days on road after that. Eventually they did make it back to their appartments, slowly, unsurely and rather vary. Eventually they left the appartment and moved to a safer home, months later.
That earthquake has still not left my mind. Even now, a simple rattling sound of winds on my window are enough to shake me up. Even now the slightest vibration in a building or room brings about a fear in me. The next one month after the quake, I was not able to sleep properly, even after going to Bangalore. It took a long while for me to come out of the shock of the earthquake for sure.
Around 100 odd children were walking down a road in Bhuj, during a march past ceremony for their school on republic day, when the quake struck. Buildings on both sides of the road caved in and the children were lost in the rubble. Around 200 villages disappeared from the maps around Bhuj. Godonlyknows how many people died that day. Or in the coming days. It was impossible even in Ahmedabad to run accross someone who had not lost someone in the quake during that week.
This republic day, as we all celberate India’s progress, lets take a moment too and remember those days in 2001, and salute the spirit of the people.
This post was inspired by my friend nirwa’s post recollecting the same fateful day.
