9 Days in Rubble.

9 Days in Rubble.

Prologue

The spider was now within my sight, it was black and big, I felt this was my end. There were 236 species of spiders whose bite meant death. The odds of me getting out alive out of this, was very thin. I tried to move my ankle and hurt it. The spider was now on my chest, I could feel its eight legs through my chest hair, the eight legged bastard had no mercy on me, he moved slowly over my neck and entered straight into my moustache. The air I breathed out seemed to disturb its tempo. That was it! I had to breathe out hard. Huff! Huff! I breathed real hard. The spider held his legs strong but he could not fight me after some time. He gave up. He got down my neck and I was relieved to see his back. Huff!

Part – I

It was 7’o clock in the morning when I got up. Lord Ganapati looked at me from 16 different pictures. I folded my hands, said “Jai Ganapati!” and got up.

“Savitri, Tea?” I shouted as I closed the door to take bath.

My work didn’t interest me much; I was very reluctant towards life in general. I earned just enough for my family which consisted of my wife Savitri and me.

“Tea is on the table” said Savitri as she tried to tie her hair which smelt of coconut oil, with a hairpin. The morning news echoed through the street thanks to Sharma’s over loud TV. I did not own one although it was Savitri’s dream since 6 months. I had my dad’s small radio whose batteries died as soon as my father’s did. Anyway, I wore my pants, shirt and took my helmet.

Savitri had tried a lot to make my house a home after our marriage while all I did was nothing. I was married to Savitri three years back thanks to the concept of arranged marriage. I kick started my moped looked at Savitri who tried to acknowledge my departure. I sighed & went away.

I reached the place after half an hour, parked my moped and walked towards my workplace. I was standing right in front of a board which read “This building is being built by Ratnakar Builders.” I was working here for the last 4 years.

“Santhosh!” said Anand as I wore my yellow worker helmet. “Site No 2 today! Be careful!” Shouted Anand, as he handed me the paper.

“Ok!” I said and took the paper.

I walked towards the site I was assigned and asked Ganesh to get me a glass of water. He was the only person who worked below me.

The site where I was supposed to work was a building with 3 floors which was partially built. My job was to go to the top of the building and make sure enough water had been used to make the building better. I reached the terrace, looked around and stood at a place waiting for Ganesh to quench my thirst. It was after a couple of minutes later that I saw Ganesh running with a Bisleri bottle in his hand. That was the last time I saw him.

35 seconds later

The site no 2 at Ratnakar Buildings had been converted to a heap of rocks. I was stuck below it, still thirsty, very thirsty.

I opened my eyes; I could not move myself which made me think I was dead. I tried to breathe and I could, I was still alive. I tried to shout blowing off some dust on my shirt; I was not able to move an inch. Suddenly all I could think was about my Savitri. I missed her tremendously, I was expecting the rescue operations to start in a couple of hours but nothing happened. I was anyway just a worker there. I was not able to feel my leg. It was dark all around as the thought of Savitri still lingered on.

I tried to reach my pockets and found a comb, a Gutkha packet, thirty one rupees and a photo of Ganapati. I started feeling hungry as I realized that the damn Gutkha packet was my only option to satisfy my hunger. I tried to look if I still had the wristwatch my father in law gave, but it was broken. Obviously I dint know what time it was. To my rescue there was a thin passage of light and I felt fresh air come in. I was beneath a 30 feet high building and all I had was a packet of Gutkha and mud to eat. My legs started hurting; it had been a long time since I was stuck, motionless. Cool air blew through the air gap which meant it was night time. It was completely dark inside and I could not see a thing. I was in tremendous pain; I ate a couple of pieces of arecanut from the packet of Gutkha. I was in tears, and I realized I could drink my tears, so I had to direct my tears to my tongue as my hands could not move. I did it; I drank the water, took a look at Lord Ganapati and prayed. Gutkha and a couple of tears were my dinner that night as I thought of Savitri, Amma, Pappa and slept.

Day 2 and day 3 I had already realized that I had lost my right leg and half of my Gutkha packet was over. There was a mixed smell of sweat, dust, blood and urine in there. I took my comb, held it within my fingers and tried to move some mud from my hip area so that I could make more space for myself. I could occasionally hear noises coming out of my stomach. On the night of the 3^rd day I realized I had crapped in my pants, the extra space I had created with the comb was useful now. It gave me all the space I needed. My “compartment” now smelt of sweat, dust, blood, urine and my crap. I kept the packet of Gutkha near my nose to avoid the stink, had my “dinner” and went to sleep.

The next day I woke up realizing that I had an open wound and I was lying motionless. The wound was open for them to feast on. I wished I had Savitri’s mosquito repelling spray. She had always kept it in the corner of the bathroom but it was away, far far away. Meanwhile a couple of flies were already on my wound. I tried to move my legs and kicked a rock out of frustration hurting my leg badly. I shouted and I cried a lot that day which meant I drank a lot of water. I thought of something, unzipped my pants and let them down to cover my wound. It worked. I cried out “Savitri!” and closed my eyes.

It was four and a half days since I was stuck there and I could hear a lot of people shouting somewhere far which meant that help had arrived. I realized it might be Ganesh who might have told the rest I was in there, stuck. I was happy, I smiled. That smile was a short-lived one as I could feel something moving near my groin area. I tried to bend and see. What I saw was a spider, a big spider.

The spider was now within my sight, it was black and big, I felt this was my end. There were 236 species of spiders whose bite meant death. The odds of me getting out alive out of this, was very thin. I tried to move my ankle and hurt it. The spider was now on my chest, I could feel its eight legs through my chest hair, the eight legged bastard had no mercy on me, he moved slowly over my neck and entered straight into my moustache. The air I breathed out seemed to disturb its tempo. That was it! I had to breathe out hard. Huff! Huff! I breathed real hard. The spider held his legs strong but he could not fight me after some time. He gave up. He got down my neck and I was relieved to see his back. Huff!

That moment I felt the urge to live, I didn’t want to die. I wanted to get out there and ride my moped, sleep on my bed, smell Savitri’s hair, eat the dal roti she makes and listen to Sharma’s TV. I started crying. I held Lord Ganapati in my hands and cried. I did not drink that water. I was in there for 6 days, 6 long days. I closed my eyes and slept.