The disaster

Vidhya was getting ready for the parade in her school. She was wearing her tiny little shoes when her mother came running with some milk in a Mickey Mouse cup.

“The bus would arrive any moment. Drink fast” she said and offered the cup to Vidhya

Vidhya grabbed the cup and drained it within a few seconds.

“Mama, you know… I will be leading the parade in my school today” she said proudly, wiping her lips with her left hand.

Her mother bent down, pecked her check and said “Very nice dear, so proud of you”.

Vidhya’s mother, like any other mother, was so proud of her, especially as she was very good in academics and sports in her school, even though she was only in her third standard.

Vidhya gave the cup back to her mother, hugged her, grabbed her bag and said “Love you mom, see you” and waved her tiny hand towards her mother.

She waved Vidhya good bye, watched her go down the elevator from her flat in the fifth floor. The elevator stopped in the fourth floor, picked her best friend and class mate Sowmya and continued its journey towards ground floor.

It was 8:03 AM then!

Inside the school bus, Vidhya and Sowmya chatted about numerous issues. From the new pencil box Vidhya bought to how Sowmya managed to polish her shoes all by herself.

Back home, Vidhya’s family and Sowmya’s family were planning for a get together. As the country was celebrating its 51st Republic day, and since it was a national holiday, the two families decided to meet for lunch.

Vidhya’s parents would host the lunch and hence they were getting ready to prepare the meal.

“Don’t forget to bring Rohit with you, Rahul loves to play with him” Vidhya’s dad told Sowmya’s parents over the phone. Rahul and Rohit were Vidhya and Sowmya’s little brothers, both a little over four years old.

The school bus reached the school in nearly twenty minutes. Vidhya and Sowmya got down from the bus and were getting ready for the Republic day parade.

The school clock showed 8:23 AM!

“Request all students to assemble in the designated lines” barked the principal of the school from the stage over the microphone.

All the students were scrambling to find their designated area to start their march. Vidhya took the role of the ‘Flag bearer’ for her section and was standing in the front row with a flag in hand.

The school clock showed 8:34 AM!

The chief guest arrived at 8:40 AM and was swiftly moved towards the main stage, where he had to hoist the flag. He hoisted the flag, everyone clapped when the tri color flag opened up beautifully on top of the pole. The national anthem was then sung.

The school clock showed 8:44 AM!

When the national anthem was over, it was time for the march. Every section in the school would march one full round of the school ground while passing the chief guest, who was standing near the flag pole.

The band was getting ready. The drummer took the drum with both his hands and strapped the leather rope around his shoulder.

The school clock showed 8:46 AM!

When the drummer hit the drum for the first time, the entire stage started shaking. Another hit, and the stage was moving wildly. Everyone gathered in the line were in a state of panic. No one had a clue about what was happening around them.

The students were scurrying inside the ground in panic. Someone in the middle of the crowd was shouting “Its an earthquake, all run towards open ground in the middle”

Almost all the students were running for safety. Instinctively all of them were running towards the open ground. Vidhya was clutching Sowmya’s hand as they both ran together.

Thirty seconds passed. The entire school building was shaking violently. The stage was not moving anymore, as the stage got reduced into rubbles ten seconds earlier. Another thirty seconds passed. The school building was still shaking, but more violently then before.

Small cracks started appearing on the ground. When one of the students spotted it, panic stuck the entire mass. Some feared that everyone would be buried alive within seconds.

Another ten seconds passed. Everyone heard a thunderous noise. To everyone’s horror, they found the big school building collapse right in front of their eyes. Dust from debris engulfed the air near them.

Another twenty seconds passed. The shaking stopped. The entire city of Bhuj got reduced to rubbles as it succumbed to ninety seconds of cruelty.

When it all became silent again, the air was full of dust from the debris. Both Vidhya and Sowmya were covered with dust all over their body. The sweat due to panic made the debris stuck to their face. Both were just eight years old and both were in trauma. There was no one around to console these two kids since everyone around needed to be consoled.

It took some time for the principal to find his feet and to understand what just happened. Two minutes back, he saw a hundred smiling kids in front of him. Within two minutes, all the smiles vanished, along with the school building and assembly stage.

Gathering all his courage, the principal gathered all the kids in one place and tried to console them. He had to ensure that the kids were back with their parents.

That is, if they survived!

The principal had no idea about the damage until he took all the children in the school bus back to their respective home. There was no road back home. Every road was damaged beyond immediate redemption. The bus driver, who was already in a state of shock after the way events unfolded right in front of everyone’s eyes, was very careful and took whichever route was drivable, to get the children back home.

The way back home was horrible. The children inside the bus did not even speak a word. Only three things were prominent outside. Blood, dust and debris. The principal asked everyone not to look outside and urged them to close their eyes all the way.

Vidhya was still clutching Sowmya’s hand as both were trembling with fear. To principal’s relief, more than eighty percent of the children’s parents were alive.

Alive but homeless; a proposition anyone was ready to take that day.

At the end of the day, the principal was able to identify either a parent or a guardian for all the children but for Sowmya and Vidhya. Both were still sick with fear. They both had no idea whether their parents were still alive.

Relief workers started pouring in. As many as 185 NGOs started working on the area immediately. Both the state and the central government were swift in starting the aid services. Heavy drilling machines worked day and night so as to rescue anyone trapped inside the rubbles.

The principal took the girls to their apartment hoping to find their parents. It had five floors a day back. Now, it had none. No one could actually count the floors in the heap created by the collapse. Looking at the rubbish, the principal was certain that all the inmates of that apartment would have perished.

He felt for the poor little children, who didn’t do a thing wrong to have deserved such a punishment. He took the kids back to his relief camp. He lost his house too. Along with his family. Just like the two girls.

Two days passed. The drilling into rubbles with heavy machinery continued. Nonstop. A lot of bodies soaked in blood were recovered. A lot of body parts were recovered too. Most of them beyond recognition. The principal viewed all the bodies himself, and ensured that the kids didn’t go through another trauma.

One trauma of this magnitude was enough for their entire life!

Three days passed. The drilling stopped. The drillers declared that the possibility of finding anyone alive would be remote.

From the second day, the local municipality started cremating hundreds of unidentified bodies. No one could ever say whether any parts of the kids’ parents had gone into the fire.

All hopes were lost! Like a puff of smoke!

Before the heavy machinery was moved off-site, the diggers wanted to have one more go at the big heap. After thirty minutes of digging, they heard a slight moaning sound from deep inside.



The digger started sweating. Were they in for some miracle?

“Some one is alive” he shouted on top of his voice.

A couple of more drillers came in within a minute and all started working simultaneously.

Within thirty minutes, the diggers found a large room beneath the heap of rubbles. Excited by the prospect of finding someone alive, they all gave one last push.

An hour passed. Suddenly, they made enough opening to squeeze one person down the rubble inside the room. In exactly three seconds, he came running towards the opening

“There are three alive, but unconscious” he cried.

The rescue workers started expanding the opening they made and within an hour, they pulled out all three. Ambulance was waiting outside for medical aid.

The principal, Vidhya and Sowmya, along with half of the town, gathered near the rescue operators to find out who was alive. Anxiously. As the heap belonged to the children’s apartment.

When the three were pulled out, Sowmya started screaming. The three were her parents and her little brother Rohit.

She had found her family! It was a miracle!

Tears were rolling on Sowmya’s cheeks that she had found her family. At the same time tears were rolling on Vidhya’s cheeks as she could not.

Vidhya ran away from the other two, towards the heap.

“Rahul” she cried on top of her voice, anticipating that she would hear her brother’s voice back from the heap; anticipating that she would find him alive; anticipating that a miracle would hit her too.

“Rahul” she shouted again.

No response!

“Mama” she shouted and waited for a second.

No response!

“Papa” she shouted and then cried.

No response again!

She sat down near the heap, covered her face and cried as long as she could cry; as long as she had the energy to cry; as long as she had tears inside her. Inbetween her cries, she shouted the three names again and again.

But, there was no reply!

All her hopes started evaporating.

The principal was initially happy to find Sowmya’s parents, but was completely disheartened to see Vidhya. “What did she do to deserve this? Why did god give her slightest of hope only to disappoint her again bitterly?” he thought

Amazed by recovering three guys alive, the rescue operators decided to drill down the same heap further for one more day. The same heap where Vidhya’s family lived.

Or living still!

Will she find her parents? Will she reunite with her little brother?

God help her!