I had got in to a cab at 12:55 pm, on Park Street to head out to Futnani Mansions to meet a supplier. I called the person and told him I’d be there in 15 minutes. The cab reached Free School Street in two minutes and turned left. Hardly 500 metres into Free School Street we were in the middle of absolute chaos. Traffic had come to a stand-still and the cab was along side one of the two huge Volvo buses that occupied most of the street.
After about 10 odd minutes sweating it out in the cab, I realised the problem that had hit this particular street. At 1 pm, the traffic on this street turns the other way. We had entered just a little before 1 pm while it was going towards New Market and now it had become a one way coming from New Market. The cops hadn’t cut of the traffic in time, so now the inflow of vehicles into the narrow crowded street had converged somewhere further down and had brought traffic to a grinding halt.
On realising this, I paid the cab driver 21 bucks (being short of Re. 1) which he was OK with and popped out and decided to walk in the hot sweltering sun. I had already been baked in the cab for the past 10 odd minutes so being out on the sidewalk was quite a relief. I walked briskly and in a few minutes came to the intersection where traffic had knotted up. Cars in all directions with a Sergeant on his Red Bullet 350 cc POLICE Motorcycle right in the midst of it shouting at cars in all directions. The moment he managed to get one car to back up another squeezed its way in from another direction. I stood and watched the commotion for a couple of minutes and found it quite hilarious. Soon some people also joined in trying to wriggle cars out of the mess, and all I was looking at was those two huge buses several hundred feet behind and kept wondering how they were going to get past this jigsaw.
Amused I walked on doubling my pace having already lost a lot of time in that traffic snarl. I took a left at street, came in front of new market and then took a right along side the market and finally came to S.N. Banerjee Road.
While I waited in front of the Bata Entrance opposite Elite Cinema, the poster of the film that was playing caught my eye. I read the name of the film twice and then just had to whip out my camera and capture this “AADMI AUR AURAT, ADAM AND EVE”. What made it funnier was the entire LUX COZI branding below the poster.
It was just too hilarious and I forgot all about that walk I had taken in the hot afternoon sun on the crowded streets of Kolkata.
Last night on my way back home from office while waiting at a traffic signal on the E.M. Bypass, this strange scene caught my eye. Actually stared me in the face is more like it, as I was parked right next to this man sleeping in the Traffic Police Man’s Pedestal in peak hour traffic. I don’t know what was more hilarious; the use he had put the pedestal to or the fact that he was fast a sleep in the midst of that cacophony.
As I clicked this picture on my mobile and drove off, several thoughts started to go through my mind; is this the state of our Police Department, sleeping while crimes go unabated, or is this how callous they are with the resources provided to them, is this the reason citizens have lost faith in those that have the responsibility to serve and protect…
As the mounting thoughts about the apathy of the Police Department started making me dizzy, I changed the train of thought to things more exciting and meaningful. I thought of reaching home in a couple of minutes to my wife and then about what I was going to build next.
I’m sure a lot of you have been wondering what’s been cooking as I haven’t put up any of the pictures of my new builds. Well I’ve decided to do that after things started shaping up on the mini city that I have images of in my head.
Our office and I guess every other office in Kolkata is still buzzing with opinions and debates about the fire at Stephen Court on Park Street; finger pointing et al. I say it's a tragedy and let’s accept it. What could have been and should have been is all left to speculation. Let’s just accept that this is the tragedy that has occurred and how such tragedies can be averted in the future.
I say while everyone is pointing fingers at the Administration, what do us citizens do to avoid such tragedies. We are the one's trying to bend the rules to suit our own selfish needs; flouting building norms; saving every penny by not installing even basic firefighting equipment; so scared for our lives that we lock our selves into our little pigeon hole apartments, that when disaster does strike, we're locked in our own fiery graves; no basic knowledge of do’s and don’ts when caught in disaster situation.
When I look back in retrospect, imagining the thoughts going through the minds of the victims and for the few fortunate who survived from up on that ledge, I'd have jumped to my death too in all probability. Imagine having a raging fire in the room behind the wall you are backed up against standing on a narrow ledge nearly 100 feet high and looking down at a street filled with thousands of spectators, and a few brave people risking their own lives, who are making attempts to reach up to you by any and all means possible.
Well the thoughts going through your head at that point would make you believe that you are in immediate and grave danger and any second longer spent up there on the ledge would mean a certain fiery death. You’d also probably take your chances with gravity rather than fire.
So the first point of action in such situations would be crowd management. I’m not requesting the Administration or the Police for their abilities in crowd management, but conscientious CITIZENS to stand back, if they’re not going to be part of the rescue operations and let those trying to save lives get on with their business. Also by not being mere spectators and multiplying the fears of those trapped in these situations, trying to be resourceful and think of ways and means to be part of the rescue.
Oh the wishlist is quite utopian, but this is the real world and we have to live with some things, but I would like people to ponder on what I've said and see how they can change the way they react to situations and make the world a better place.
I had gone down the road from my office to an ATM to draw money. As I approached the ATM, I noticed black smoke billowing out from the adjacent street into the sky above Park Street just above Music World.
I quickly rushed to the corner and saw a sea of people gathering around witnessing smoke engulf the top three floors of Stephen Court.
What followed was simply tragic and inspiring.
The entire crossroads of Park Street, Free School Street and Middleton Row was like a sea of humanity, each witnessing the fire spreading through the top floors of the building. Policemen were at a complete loss trying to control the public which also hindered movement of Fire tenders, well at least the 2-3 of which had arrived at the scene.
The tenders could only be put to use, once the people, several of whom were out on the ledge of the building were rescued. Witnessing the rescue operations commence just made me realise how selfless people in Kolkata are. What we call lowly street people were the first to arrange ropes and ladders and even went to the extent of climbing up pipes to reach those people stuck up there.
The firemen had no equipment save their short ladders which were more than inadequate for the mammoth task ahead. The monolithic façade of this historic building would require more than those puny ladders if they wanted this operation to succeed. Not withstanding the challenges and obstacles in their path a couple of young men tied together a couple of ladders and managed to scale the side wall up to an external AC several feet below where the people were stranded. Then started the task of putting together rope and throwing it up to the ledge just above. They did manage to get a lady and a young man who in sheer desperation jumped down but luckily landed on the ladder and slid the rest of the way down into the hands of the people below.
The drama took a turn for the worse and flames leapt out of both windows on either side of the middle aged man in a blue shirt who was the last one up on the ledge on this side of the building. Three others had managed to flee to the Park Street side but were still stuck up there. All eyes were on the man in blue. As the young man below threw up the rope the first time, the crowd below held their breath and heaved in disappointment as he missed it. The crowd were now getting eager and the man in blue getting more engulfed in black and grey smoke. People urged the man below to throw the rope up quicker and he did for the second time. And again the man in blue missed it.
By this time people’s hopes were beginning to shake as the man in blue kept disappearing behind the clouds of smoke. And then in complete disbelief, as the smoke cleared we all witnessed the unbelievable. In sheer desperation, the man held on to the grill and turned around and lowered himself over the ledge, the young man below looked and tried his best to get a grip and then the unthinkable happened. The man in blue lost his grip and fell. Though I was recording all this on my mobile phone, I couldn’t believe what I just witnessed and lowered the phone in disbelief as the man plummeted down to the floor. I could see firemen below racing and trying to get under where he was falling, but with no cushion or net, I would believe the worst had occurred. In the split second that I had realised that I was also recording all this and I had lowered my phone and pulled it back into position, the worst had occurred right before my eyes.
There after, the crowd got even more agitated and rescue operations went into feverish pace for the remaining three stranded on the safer side of the burning building. Ladders were commandeered off fire tenders and young men started climbing up pipes to reach these three men above. Again, tragedy could have struck when the first man in sheer desperation, made an attempt to climb down the make shift arrangements. Some nylon ropes put together and a ladder half way up to them. He just went for it and gripped the rope with all his might and came sliding down and was somehow caught by the people below. His palms had the skin burnt off.
The next lad waited a bit longer and as the ladders reached closer, he decided to climb down gripping the rope till he reached the ladders and then climbed down to safety. The third fellow was now standing up there nervously. The young man in the red vest had managed to climb up just below him and beckoned him to make the effort and use the rope to climb down to the ladder just a couple of feet below but he seemed to nervous to attempt this.
Finally as though god had heard his prayers, from opposite sides of Park Street with lights flashing came two of the hi-tech rescue Vehicles with the crane arm. So as one went down to Middleton Row, the other positioned itself squarely in front of Flury’s in the middle of Park Street and then the arm started extending towards the young man up there on the ledge. Once the fireman reached up there and the man stepped into the pod safely beside him, there was a loud cheer from the crowd below. As the arm came down and the young man was back on the ground, the cheering crowd greeted him.
Meanwhile Firefighting Operations were underway on the burning side of the building.
I finally switched off my recorder and nearly broke into tears after witnessing the drama that had unfolded on the Kolkata’s Capital Street of Entertainment.
As I walked down the middle of Park Street back towards my office, I kept looking back and seeing how a tragedy could just take lives and yet bring a city together in the face of such trying circumstances. Common people rose above the adverse circumstances and performed uncommon acts of bravery.
This is why I LOVE KOLKATA. Truly a City that gives you Joy even in the most tragic situations.
Over the past couple of days some strange and rather amusing occurrences have been noticed by me. Like the other day I noticed one of my friends had his Facebook status reading as “is nursing a broken leg & recovering from an accident”. So before I ventured to ask him how he broke his leg, images of him playing some sport, or a fall down some steps were the first to come to mind. I completely eliminated a fall from a bike, because to my knowledge he wasn’t a biker. So when I did finally catch him online and asked him how he happened to fracture his leg, I was shocked to read his answer which was thus: “arre i was in an auto, its brake failed, flipped over & my leg got squashed under it - so now got a fracture, but am recovering :)”.
So now you tell me, is that shocking? With my experience with Delhi Autowallahs, it didn’t surprise me that much.
Another funny thing happened yesterday while I was walking back to office from Theatre Road. I turned to the corner and just entered Loudon Street towards Park Street. I had just about walked 20 feet down the pavement when A Tata Sumo pulled up to the curb and a person from the back seat enquired where the Theatre Road Police Station was. I replied back with a slightly confused look that I didn’t know where the Theatre Road Police Station was specifically, but there was a big Police Station just as you crossed Theatre Road on the opposite side. Infact I turned around and pointed it out to the now several persons sitting in the Tata Sumo. They immediately acknowledged and sped off.
Now you’re wondering why I was confused, right. Well I just gave Directions of the POLCE STATION to a POLICEMAN sitting in a POLICE TATA SUMO. How about that?
A couple of days ago I was on my way to FORUM and came upon this sight. I wouldn’t really care about such stuff otherwise because every one is entitled to a break, but this cop just made me lower the window and use my phone camera to click a couple of pictures while he enjoyed his smoke. Well it was like peak hour traffic at 5.30 pm in the evening and the busiest intersection of Minto Park with the lights not working. In the midst of the melee was a lone policeman with a walkie-talkie trying to manage the chaos. Our friend was at the side of the road with his helmet planted on the railing and standing stylishly watching the lone cop while puffing away. So while I indulged in the photographs a couple of other motorists were quite amused with what I was doing, knowing fully well that these pictures were bound to get circulated or published somewhere.
Just when I thought there was nothing exciting happening around me. Voila!! A few minutes before end of day, suddenly there was a flurry of activity in our office. The commotion was stirred up by a communique from the Parking lot below to remove all cars. There was a Bomb threat in the building diagonally opposite us. So I rushed out to the stairway window and clicked a couple of pics of the Fire Tenders, Police Vans and the fairly large accumulation of people around the site of the threat.
Amazing, isn't it. One would think people would be running away from the place but then this is Kolkata, anything intrigues people and they want to know what's going on.
Since there is nothing interesting happening around me, I thought this one would put things in perspective.
This morning as usual on my way to office, I was crossing the road (Park Street) at the zebra crossing in front of my office building. There’s always a traffic constable there who assists in the way of stopping the traffic when he sees a sizeable number of pedestrians trying to crass the road. He manages this in between collecting fees from bikers who keep their bikes in “his” parking lot. Today as usual I came to the zebra crossing and it was bumper to bumper traffic as usually and then his walkie-talkie goes into a dizzying buzz. He whistles at a couple of cabs parked on the side. The last of the traffic had disappeared and merrily crossed the road without hesitation. Only then did I realize why there was absolute silence in the usually deafening street at this time of the morning. Some VIP was going to pass.
Sure enough sirens wailing I caught a glimpse of the first Maruti Gypsy all red and white and with its lights flashing while I dived into my pocket to pull out my Nokia 6630. It was a bit too late to pull out my camera from my backpack and I would just have to make do with my mobile phone camera. The Gypsy loaded with Commandos whizzed past followed closely by several white Ambassadors. By the time I managed to click picture number 2, I caught the tail end of the motorcade, a white Maruti Gypsy also loaded with Commandoes and a blue Mahindra Commander Jeep of the Kolkata Traffic Police.
It was silent for several minutes thereafter. Then again I saw the onslaught of traffic and the sheer mayhem of honking.
I just wonder how the Kolkata Traffic Police manage to sanitize a road and clear it in minutes for the Chief Minister to pass and yet can’t manage the utter chaos that engulfs the streets of Kolkata.
After spending a week in what was near paradise, last evening I got caught up in a traffic jam created by a procession that held up traffic from Park Street upto the No. 4 Bridge and which had its repercussions all the way to the E.M. Bypass. I sat in my car for a good hour and a half from 7 pm upto 8.30 pm. The Traffic Police could only look on in dismay and cordon off roads and divert traffic in despair.
On my way back home last night, I stopped at a tea stall opposite CMRI (Calcutta Medical Research Institute). I had been driving past the stall for several days now, but maybe a bit too late at night and never found it open. So last night the moment I drove past it and found a few night birds (probably medical students who have to study all night) around the stall I stopped a bit past the stall and pulled over. I think the tea at that hour was completely worth it, in the chilly winter air. I would've ventured so far as to have the anda (eggs) bread, but I had already had my fill for the day.
Further down the road and along it at regular intervals I found young men in groups of 4-5 each group pulling a cow down the road with a longish leash. I stopped to click some pictures and even got questioned by some Policemen in a Police Patrol Jeep what I was doing. I told them I was clicking pictures of the cows for a story in the Press. Always works. They pulled away and left me there happily clicking away.
Later while driving on the AJC Bose Flyover, I noticed a transaction between a truck and a Police van, but I'm not going into that now, because it's common knowledge in Kolkata that at certain locations such transactions happen.
After Dinner when I headed back home, I had to cross the 7 Point Crossing and as mentioned it had now been taken over by the Army. Several Trucks and a command jeep had been deployed. I actually came into close range and noticed that the troops didn't seem to be happy about the fact that they had been called into the streets and relegated into a policing force. They had the look of disdain and seemed eager to get back to the barracks.
Once back home I noticed that they kept patrolling the area between the "Command Centre" and Topsia which is across the No. 4 Bridge a bit past my house. This continued all night.
Early in the evening I had made a trip to Dalhousie and life carried on as usual. Infact people there didn't even understand the extent of the violence that had engulfed pockets of Kolkata. I drove past the Eden Gardens and one of the flood light towers was lit. Maybe full swing day-night work must be in full swing to prepare the ground for the upcoming India-Pakistan Test match here.
So the day after the organised rioting as termed by the "failed intelligence" of the Police department, the affected parts of Kolkata limped back to life with a shadow of fear and a huge police force looming over them. Shutters were up and roadside markets and shops were open for business. Whether they did brisk business is doubtful.
As I walked back home along Park Street towards Park Circus, I inquired with several Policemen whether the curfew would continue today too post 10pm. Their answers seemed quite non-committal till I reached the main post at the 7 Point Crossing at Park Circus where I was informed that there would not be any curfew. The 7 Point Crossing which has now by default become the command centre for police, the army and the media is the central point to access all the affected areas. Anyway once I got the green signal from one of the policemen at the 'command center' I immediately made plans with friends and we went out to Park Street, well the unaffected part which is the hub of the nightlife. We had dinner at One Step Up and I'm not getting into what was ordered. Lets just say it was a yummy meal and lots of fun.
It so happens, as you must have already realised, that the epicenter of the conflagration lies in the path to my office and that I walk through the 7 Point Crossing at Park Circus every day. So yesterday morning when I was walking to work and saw a huge build up of Police forces, I knew there was some trouble boiling up. That it would lead to such proportions wherein the Army had to be called out was beyond anyone's foresight.
So knowing fully well that The 7 Point Crossing would be fortified, I headed back home last evening and came up the Army Contingent.
This morning that very same crossing that had been fortified by Policemen yesterday morning, then by a Violent Mob and finally by men in camouflage last night, was now besieged by the electronic media.
This part of the city seems to have settled down after the army enforced a curfew from 10pm to 6am this morning, but there still are police pickets on all street corners lying in wait to see that yesterday's madness is nipped way before it can mushroom into something beyond control.
The damage had been done, becuase I was witness to 10 vehicles, charred beyond imagination, being towed into the custody of the Topsia Police Lines Station across the road. The entire opposite side of our place looks like a junk yard.
This is besides the immense loss to property and individuals who have been injured in such senseless violence.
So finally the state government was left with no choice but to call out the Army. The Eastern Command responded to the call and deployed a huge contingent that staged flag marches in all the affected areas.
I was also witness to the huge contingents of military personnel that had fortified the 7 point crossing at Park Circus. There must have been atleast 10-12 trucks full of soldiers in addition to the Maruti Gypsy's and the police vans and jeeps.
The trucks with two soldiers on top of the driver's cabin with an LMG (Light Machine Gun) started patrolling the road in front of our house after 10pm. The curfew has been enforced from 10pm-6am.
People coming back after 10pm had their hands raised above their heads and we being question by the policemen deployed at the head of the road.
The No. 4 Bridge has been shut down and now no traffic can cross over to go to the Topsia side.
The TV News channels have only one topic and there are programming ranging from debates to analysis to interviews around the subject of today's events that have occurred in Kolkata today.
I decided, once again post lunch to get to the depth of this chaos that had surrounded the streets around us and brought life to a grinding halt. So armed once again with my camera, my mobile phone rendered useless as a communication device due to the jammed network was left deep in my pocket.
I crossed Mullick Bazar crossing, where I had ventured a little while back, and headed towards Park Circus. Crossing the barricade I could see a bus at nearly 90 degrees to the road in the distance. So while I walked down the deserted road with all it's shops with their shutters pulled down and the few people lining the streets stealing strange glances at me headed in the direction of the madness, I kept looking back over my shoulder knowing that i was leaving all safety behind me at that barricade. There was a tingling sensation in my stomach, but I had already come to far to turn back and now as I came closer to the bus I could catch glimpses of the huge crowd behind it.
Once I came upon the blue bus, I noticed it was one of the four that had been mutilated in the mob frenzy. I stopped and clicked and walked towards the epicentre of this mob-quake, the 7 point Crossing at Park Circus. It was a sea of people, mostly young Muslim men. So I started clicking and made the mistake of making eye contact with one angry young man that seemed to be inciting the rest of his followers. Wielding a Stick he promised to tear down the City if he had to and then our eyes met. And they all surrounded me and inquired if I was a Journalist. I quickly Stepped back and away and told them I was independent and didn't report for anyone in particular and they all asked me to take more pictures and tell the story right. They then seemed to get charged up with my presence there taking pictures that they seemed to be fueled now to indulge in some more mayhem. The group suddenly swelled to over two-dozen from just a handful that had accosted me and headed towards a bus to cause some more damage, but we held back by some of the elders in their white beards and sent to a side.
I decided I had see enough and headed back down the road to Mullick Bazar. I was walking along four youth who seemed to be discussing how they had been called to participate in a "Chaka Roko" (Basically bring traffic to a standstill) and how it had erupted into a full-blown riot. As I approached I saw an Army Truck come around the corner and thought there goes. The city is going to go into curfew. It's only when it came closer that I noticed it was a school bus for army kids. Phew!
Finally at the barricade I noticed a Sergeant leaning against his bike and talking to some of the crowd discussing with them how things had gone out of hand. I took the picture because of the Bike, one that I have always loved, the Rajdoot Yamaha RD 350.
Oh and finally all this trouble is because Ms. Taslima Nasreen has been allowed to stay in Kolkata and the Muslims aren’t too happy about that. So that's what's was scribbled all over the roads with red bricks; Slogans slandering her and our Chief Minister.
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