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When disaster strikes
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When a natural disaster strikes, it destroys practically everything. But to some it may prove to be a boon...
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THE TRAGEDY of January 26, when Mother Earth shook the Kutch region in Gujarat is part of history. Mother Earth suddenly engulfed the people and their belongings of the area and overnight even the richest were on the streets. But the spirited Kutchi people faced the disaster bravely and are still fighting to restore normalcy to their lives.
Thanks to the media and excellent communication, the very hour the tragedy struck, newspapers and television channels were busy broadcasting it across the world. Along with India, the rest of the world came forward to help the unfortunate people. After the TV crew and reporters, several NGOs and Government officials too arrived in Kutch. Slowly, people started picking up the threads of life, and life returned to normal at a slow pace.
I wanted to visit these areas after the dust of propaganda had settled down, so that one can get the real picture. Several small villages had been badly affected by the earthquake, in Kutch and outside, away from the main road, connecting Ahmedabad and Bhuj. I visited many unknown, interior places by road.
Gujarat in general and Kutch in particular, is considered to be a very safe State, especially for women.
One day, the jeep I was travelling in had a flat tyre and I was stuck for some time. The driver went in search of a mechanic towards the main road. It looked like getting the tyre fixed would take some time. I was alone and bored. I saw a few tents nearby. They were temporary sheds covered with blue plastic sheets, which were being used as temporary homes, schools and health centres for the people residing in that area. Later I heard that there were tent hotels also.
Life was going on as usual and people were busy. As it was monsoon time, men and women were busy in the fields. It was very strange. For the last many years, the area had not received much rain, but that year, it had rained very heavily in Kutch and farmers were having a bumper crop. Probably Nature has her own methods of justice. On one hand, she takes away something and on the other, she gives something else. Small children were playing in the dust happily.
I walked up to the tent nearby and peeped in. A young girl of 14 was cleaning grains and preparing to cook a meal. When she saw me, she smiled and invited me in, "Please come and sit down."
As I wanted to observe their way of living, I entered the shed. She gave me a charpoi to sit on. Inside the tent, it was clean. There was a thin partition made of old sari. From their conversation, I knew they were not from Kutch.
The girl came out with a glass of water. Though it was monsoon time, it was hot. But I was a little hesitant to drink the water. Many doubts arose in my mind. If the water was not clean and I drank it, then I was susceptible to diseases like dysentery, hepatitis B and jaundice. I could not say `no' to her as well, because it would hurt her. So I look the glass but did not drink the water.
There were two girls of 14 and 12. There was a little boy sleeping in a home-made cradle. Outside, there was an open kitchen where the sabji was being cooked. The elder girl was making a dough from wheat flour. Curious, I asked them, "It seems from your language that you are not a Gujarati? Where are you from?" Smiling, the second girl answered, "We are not from Gujarat. We are from Mumbai."
"Have you come here to visit your relatives?"
"No, we don't have any relatives here. This is our house. We have come here with our parents."
I was surprised as normally people desert such areas in times of calamities, where as these people had moved in.
"What is your father doing here?"
The elder one was keen to talk to me. It seemed like there was a competition between the two girls to provide me with more information. "My father used to beg at Mahim Cross, near the church, in Mumbai. My mother used to sell candles at the church entrance."
"What made you come here?"
"One day, we learnt that there was an earthquake here, while watching TV. It was shown every hour on TV, in a shop. My father decided to move here and that's how we came here."
"Who paid for your tickets?"
"Nobody. We came here without tickets. The train was full of people, and there are many like us who have come. The station was very crowded. There was no ticket collector."
"How did you come to this area?"
"We did not know anyone here. But there were plenty of buses plying between the station and Bhuj, which were jam-packed. We got into one of the buses and came to the main road." I felt that it was a strange but true story.
"How did you arrive at this particular area?"
"There were many jeeps plying from the main roads to the interior villages. On the main road, there were truckloads of relief material, which were offloaded on either side of the road. People who did not have anything, would pick up whatever they wanted from the roadside. We also picked up some things."
"What were the materials?"
"There were apples, biscuit packets, clothes, kambals and other items. My father told each one of us to pick up something and we collected a lot. We have never seen so much in our entire life in Mumbai. Everything was in plenty."
Children are innocent and always tell the truth until they become adults. One lies to boast, to prove what he is not. But children are so confident. They never pretend something they are not. Naturally the Mumbai beggar's daughters described the whole scenario as if it was a bountiful wedding stage. The elder one said much more than that. There were people crying, some in pain. Some of them had lost their children or parents. It was a very sad sight.
But there were plenty of people to help too. There were doctors working overnight. There were swamijis distributing medicines. There were Army people digging the houses. There was no difference between day and night, the rich and the poor.
"Our position was better. We did not lose anybody or anything, because we never had any. People who have something have the fear of losing. What can people who do not have anything, lose? My mother and father lent a helping hand too. Someone told us that in the village, there was nobody to help the affected. There were jeeps constantly travelling from villages to the main road. So we got into one of the jeeps and came to this village. Some organisation was giving away bamboo and camping materials like tents and roofing materials, free to all those who had lost their homes. Since we did not have one, we got all the materials. Sometimes, we got double as my mother was in one queue and my father in another."
"What did you get?"
"Plenty of food. We have been eating stomachs-full everyday and we have also been feeding those who were unable to stand in the queue. We know what it is to be hungry."
"Why did you settle down here then?"
"My father had asthma in Mumbai. He was unable to breathe and for several days, we would starve. Someone said it was due to the pollution. After we came here, he has been normal. Anyway we had also built our own house. So we decided to settle down here."
"What does you father do here? Does he continue to beg?"
"No. We are self-sufficient now. He is working as a coolie in a nearby field. He earns Rs. 100 a day. Our mother also does the same thing, so the income is doubled. We are comfortable. The earthquake has come like a boon to us."
The girl asked her sister to get some tea and biscuits. Though she did not ask for tea of my choice, she asked, "Which biscuit would you like to have?"
"Do you have many varieties?" I asked.
She pulled the curtain and I was amazed to see the variety of biscuit packets, cartons of Bisleri water, vessels, steel trunks and other things piled up.
"Ever since the earthquake, most of us have been drinking only Bisleri water. It seems some foreign country sent a shipful of it. What I gave you too is Bisleri."
I drank the water with content.
(This is the second article of a five-part series. The author is chairperson of Infosys Foundation.)
SUDHA MURTHY
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