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“Aur aaj raat theek 12 baje se hum 21 din ka lockdown shuru karenge…”.. we heard the PM s address in the background!
We were in the hospital, where our B wing was converted into an isolation wing to primarily admit and treat all suspected patients who presented with fever, cough, cold. All the staff were divided into two teams A and B. Each team would man the hospital for 4 days without any break and then the next team would take over. Obviously, going back home was not feasible and so it was an enforced hospital stay! The thoughts of not being in touch with your family made us sad.. but to keep the morale high , we told ourselves that this is what the Army does at the border, each day, for US! Now, we are called for it and we shall not turn back. This epidemic wont go away.. we have to send it packing!
Done and dusted Jayesh finally retired on that sofa in the doctors room… would you like a coffee Jay? Savni was here ! And took 'over' from him for the next shift!
Savni s been his man Friday, always there when he needed someone the most.. that ear that heard all his troubles , fights,…and crush stories too!
Yeah, get me one Sa.. thank you. How have you been? Loving the same kaali dal and gobi ka sabji in the mess? …asked Jayesh..
Well Jay, u chipmunk, consider yourself lucky that you have something to eat. There are hospitals where the residents have nothing to eat at night, post calls! We re still lucky, you Stupidosaur! And we don’t have a Tata here to gift us the food packets, like they do in Mumbai… Savni retorted back!
Thud ..and the door opened! Komal was here too…
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii everyone.. [ the longest HI in the history of mankind..yes Komal held that record!]
Every since her UG days Komal had been that cheerful gal who would make friends with everyone. Battling her own demons[ read juvenile diabetes], she would still find ways to infuse energy into others.. it was no wonder that she decided to work in the field and practiced public health! While we saved singleton souls, Komal saved them in hundreds and thousands!
Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, sit thoda door door na.. I keep telling people that maintain 3 feet distance[ social distancing!] and look, docs ho tum log aur khud hi nahi follow karte!
Looking at her angry face, Jay said.. sorry Komal, ja raha hun main.. jaate jaate tere liye ek message hai.. roz sham ko 9 baje Ramayan dekhna, is se tum apni krodha pe niyantran rak paoge, Kanya!
Savni burst out laughing… Komal was red hot chilli peppers now… Jay was playing with fire!
Luckily for him, Komal s phone rang… she spoke on the phone and kept it down..
Hey guys Sir s here too.. he will be here in a minute.. lets ask him if he s seen a lockdown like this before!
Well, that s when I met these trio again..the three Musketeers ..as I lovingly called them… always jostling and fighting at each other, ready to pounce ! haha..thats my favourite bunch of people!
So as they asked me about a similar situation before.. my mind went back to those days when I had asked Dad the same question as a child…
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Chap 1- WAR!
It was 1971. We were in Kolkata, said Dad . I was doing my Engineering. On the way back home ,suddenly we saw all the shops shutting down. The army was on the road. We lived next to the Gun And Shell factory at Cossipore, Kolkata. The govt had declared that it would be mandatory to do this for the next few days. We didn’t have a clue as to what was happening.. in the evening all the street lights were dimmed. The radio was on. It told us to switch off the lights in the evening. We were looking at a battle with East Pakistan. We were caught unawares.. there were enough food to last a week, but beyond that what would we do? Soon they declared on radio that shops would be open each day in the morning and supplies could be procured. Do not panic! Is what they said everyday, on the radio!
In those days we didn’t have TVs, Internet or smartphones.. the postal department was the lifeline! Telegrams were the last word.. it meant something serious, usually! We sent a few of them to our relatives stating that we were fine, do not worry for us!
Every night we looked up at the beautiful sky and saw the stars! God had indeed made them pretty! One early morning, at the break of dawn, we were fast asleep and the buzzers sounded! A buzzer meant a continuous siren repeated thrice at intervals of 15 sec.
It implied an impending air attack!!!!!!
Soon we saw 3 enemy planes flying in at a rapid speed..encircling the air and before they could drop their payload, 5 gnats appeared in the horizon. They were the Indian airforce !!! a duel was on the way.. it lasted 20 mins and we could see them hovering in the air.. and soon one had taken a hit, it spiralled out of control and made its way to the ground! Later we heard on the radio that the enemy pilot was caught in Sreerampore! Damn .. that day is something that I would never forget all my life, said Dad as he concluded the story!
Chap 2- RIOTS
It was the winter of 1992. It wasn’t a good time. I distinctly remember the ghastly Hindu-Muslim riots that took place . My colony where we all stayed housed people of different religions , castes and creed! But the aftermath of the Babri masjid demolition led to the ‘ Bombay riots’.
Fuelled by anger, people went on a murderous killing spree. Fires were burning and bodies were being burnt alive. A death of humanity. Still vividly remember the terrified Muslim neighbours being protected by non muslims where they would lock the houses from outside and project that they had left the place. Gradually , it ended ..a lot of lives lost..and it wasn’t a good feeling!
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Chap 3- BLASTS
In retaliation to the riots, Bombay Bombings happened, just a couple of months later in 1993.
I was sitting on the porch, looking at the trains go through the station. Staying close to the station, this was a favourite hobby.
Suddenly ,BOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, a loud noise went through the sky.
I did not understand. I had just returned from college by train. I spoke to dad and mom at home, then changed into my ghar ka kapda and sat on the porch with a cup of tea in my hand. My Ruparel gang were planning a meet up at Santacruz at Dynasty and I thought I would get there too, in a while.
Arvind called up to say that Fahd and Arun were with him. They just came out of the station when they heart that loud sound too. It was from him that I came to know that this was not a mere loud sound..but something more sinister lurked in it! Soon in no time 12 similar blasts rocked Mumbai.. a lot of casualties, a lot of RDx too! Damn! I remember them coming over to my place, we stayed back for the night.
A lot of gory images over the news… it took some time for life to get back , on the tracks!!
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Chap 4- CLOUDBURST
NOTHING can match Natures fury!
We learnt this the hard way on 26th july 2005- the day when Mumbai stopped!!
We were doing our internship, having completed MBBS and having acquired the new title-‘Dr’..
it was raining since morning that day.. we finished our ward duties and then decided to get home asap. The roads outside Sion were perennially flooded during the rains.
We managed to catch a local but it crossed Bandra and stopped in its tracks! The whole of it…the tracks..were submerged! Also the rains were lashing out fiercely.. with great intensity! It didn’t even slowdown for a minute and the downpour continued. We were a group of 5 and I decided that its better we walked to Santacruz , atleast we could get to my home!
Being avid trekkers we loved the idea of walking in the rains, the small stone chips on the tracks resembled the uneven pebbles on the trek to Ratangad! So we jumped in the knee deep water, and waded through it. On entering our colony, the water level was till mid chest.. our bag of books went over the head and it rested der. Things were looking scary now! Somehow we managed to get home! Quickly dried ourselves.
We soon got another distress call from a group of seniors and juniors stranded at the tracks , where we were! They too were directed to my home.. and now we were a group of 14 at my place, sitting in the dark, sipping coffee, having noodles in candlelight and playing antakshari! Since the electricity was out, it took us a while to realize the gravity of the situation.
The whole of Mumbai was underwater..the sea had moved in ..the high tide surge was on its way. It needed a Red alert and the army/navy to save Mumbai that day! we too were roped in to help out people after a week.. we wnt in the army boats, checked on people, distributed food packets.. GODdd that was an experience! Something that we would always remember!
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Chap 5- TERROR ATTACK
I was at KEM hospital on 26/11, we just finished our ward rounds. Pre emerg day was the lightest day and I usually planned to take my juniors out of the campus, either for dinner or a movie! We were making plans when Anup gave me a call. It was his emergency day and I thought he needed some help with his heavy emergency. Maybe that’s why he s calling, I thought!
Arre Bangali, kidhar hai tu? Sob bhalo aache? Khabar khabo? He started off with his broken Bengali catharsis.. tujhe pata hai, abhi kya hua hai?
I said I had no idea, we were just making plans for dinner.
He said- arre terrorist attack hua hai VT station pe.. sabko high alert pe rakha hai..aur tujhe and sab SRs ko bulaya hai emergency mein.
We rushed to the emergency . we were divided into teams. 4 of us were packed into an ambulance and we were on the way to---#crimescene! We reached Cama hospital. But the whole placed looked eerie, no lights, tall trees and the wind blowing by… with gunshots heard in the background!
A policeman came and opened the door and took us all out. He stated that a vehicle can be easily attacked. So, we were crawling on the road in the darkness and making our way to the rear entrance of the hospital. All the other doors were sealed!
Being the closest hospital to the crime scene, they faced a flurry of injured guys.. continuously brought in ! we stayed there for 2 days, tended to them.. did emergency surgeries, took out bullet fragments and shrapnels.. did emergency tracheostomies , managed exsanguinated patients , gave CPRs.. tried to save each one.
This was another incident , we ll forever remember!
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Final Chapter- VIRUS ATTACK!
We have also seen those videos where we see guys gobbling fried bats, locusts, snake blood, alligator meat, rats , fried scorpions.. and oft wondered, is it necessary to screw up the food chain? Are we immune to the diseases that affect these animals> and if it did get into our system, how would we fare?
This winter of 2020,we got a few answers. The virus originating in China shook the world! A new genotype, it was more virulent than its previous counterparts! It killed people in no time and spread with equal speed. Before the countries could enforce regulations, half the globe were already under its wrath!
Hey Jay , hand me a N95 mask.. its my duty now..said Savni. It jolted us back to the present world.
Komal too got up..Damn, we have been through so much, na sir? I wonder aur kya kya dekhne milega?!
Pata nahi… but lets get back to work.. I said..
Stay safe, personal protection is of utmost importance.. you can treat many, only if you are alive! Remember that! Hope this ends soon..
Byeee, we all screamed in unison ..as we walked out………..!!!!!
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leaving you guys with a few pics of Mumbai with no souls around...clear skies once again!!!!!!!!
till next time...Auf Wiedersehen!
