The Nightmare

My story-V

We were living in the ( 4 Area ) Defence Area at Agra City , which is situated on the Agra Fatehpur sikri road. This has residential quarters for the families for Air Force personnel. We were residing in this area for a quite some time , probably 1972, I think . It was a dark winter nights, so dreadful and chilly making a scene of some horror movie , the temperature was sub zero. Cold winds were sweeping the whole belt of North India .
I and my brother were studying in those days at the Central School in the Air Force station. I was a bit unwell, as I had caught bad cold and was unable to sit or sleep properly. I was feeling restless , I felt obstructed breathing due to bad cold and cough. My chest was creating wheezing sound . Though I had been given some medicine but it was not proving good nor it was giving me the desired relief. Though I tried to study, as my brother thought I am tricking to evade studies. At times he even scolded me ,he would ask me to sit up properly. Actually the younger siblings are bit carefree and problematic ,where as the seniors are quite responsible.
Usually ,we had been studying till late as my father was to come late after the Night duty . However my mother had gone to bed with my younger sister . Here I would like to share a secret with you all . My sister is exactly nine years younger than me . Strangely we have same birthday. It is more strange that, I and my wife’s birthday also falls on the same day, It is off-course a coincident that my Better half , also shares the birthday with her brother . This great day is 18th May, it is the occasion we the four people greet each other – “Happy Birthday” and in return we say it “ Same to you”. That way I and my wife now have two occasions to celebrate and mutually share “Wedding Anniversary” as well as our “ Birthdays”.
It was around Midnight we heard the knock at the door, probably my father had arrived. My brother called up, Who’s there? My father called brother’s name and asked to open the door. He kept his bicycle in the lobby, and entered the room. He was shivering with cold, however he had worn woolens and winter uniform. He asked us to arrange for some hot drink, I woke my mother. She prepared hot milk for Father.
Father asked me about the health , I just nodded that I was feeling better with the medicine. Father then inquired about the medicine from my mother . She said that ,she had given it to me. Also that she had given some light diet “Khichri” to me, as I had refused to eat the dinner. In fact that day Mom had made brinjals which I always hated in my life.
She said to Father , “I think it is quite cold out side”.
Father said –“Yes, it is extreme cold outside, rather there is dense fog , the visibility is very very poor.”
My mother asked, “ You might have faced much problem in returning home?”
“Yes it is very difficult to move in such dense fog. It is dead dark out there ,nothing is visible at all.” – he said.
“Then you must be careful while moving like this.” My mother said.
“Actually we were three persons and we moved very carefully, lighting our torches.” My father explained.
“We almost escaped at one place, there was some vehicle standing in the dark ,which had either broke down or may be it was wrongly parked.” He added. “We somehow were able to save our selves with out any harm,”
After sipping hot milk from the cup, Father felt bit cozy he asked mom to go to bed, and he went to bathroom to freshen up. In few moments we also switched off the lights. It was past midnight. The chilly winds were blowing creating the sensation of fear and horror. Slowly the window panes were vibrating sending waves of dreaded unforeseen danger at one place the glass was broken and wind was entering in through, there the curtain was fluttering making strange noise ,raising the suspense and horror levels in our mind. It seemed that some supernatural creature is trying to break into our home to capture us. Our innocent minds were running like discs with high speed in the computers, filling our soft minds with strange feelings and questions as what would happen. The scene was very apt for sort of horror play to take the stage. Some how we both brothers made a brave attempt ,and were satisfied that at least our parents were there to take care of us in case any un-towards thing happens. My thoughts were running wild ,thinking of demons and ware wolfs , the imaginary creatures and things we read in the stories. We were in the beds and soon were fast asleep , at first I took my brothers hands in mine, to be sure he is with me, to be very frank, I was bit disturbed and frightened at the whistling of the winds ,and shaking of the window glasses .If I were alone there I would have screamed .

The Time was quarter past 4.00 in the night, when the silence of the night was all of sudden broken with a loud bang noise . Everyone was terrified ,there was commotion every where . My Parents too were stunned at the sudden sound of explosion . The doors and windows shook terribly due to the bang Everyone wondered , what could be the cause of the explosion. However, my father being in Defence Services was mentally prepared as usually the defence people are always ready to face any un-towards situation . There was loud noise of cries of human struggle and pain. People started to come out of their homes in quest to know. Every one had his own assumptions or conclusions, it was quite confusing situation. It was a situation what one may say like a enemy attack on the civilian area. So people of the colony came out asking each other.
Since all were the Defence people living in the colony so they planned a strategy in a real Army type operation to check the situation. Someone in the group said to form two teams to search out the cause and location . Since it was pitch dark and more over it was foggy with only few yards visibility. The team of volunteers were suggested to first collect some material for personal safety , a stick or some sort, also all they were asked to arrange for torches . The group of four persons volunteered to go towards the east of the main road leading towards the Agra City. Another group of five volunteers moved to the opposite direction towards the west on the road leading towards Fatehpur Sikri. All had to move about 200 yards from the colony on the lane ,in order to reach to the main road. After lot of cautious but brisk steps the team was moving away in opposite directions from each other. However, the team moving towards the Fatehpur Sikiri had one bicycle with them. Almost all were wearing the big Defence coats or jackets.
Both the teams were moving steadily and there was no sign of any accident or mishap they had come across till now. However after moving for a while on the decided path and anticipated plan the team which was moving to the west, towards the Fatehpur Sikri heard some shouts of men in distress probably few yards ahead of them, of people and some cattle , it was about 500 yards ahead of link road of the colony where we resided, the team then suddenly felt that as they moved ahead the sounds were growing more stronger by every step, they hurriedly took steps as they moved to the ground Zero ,which was very close. Just few yards ahead they got some clue . The road was telling a sad story . A big tragedy had occurred had taken place . There was marks of some thing heavy had been dragged with big force, there was blood ,grains, wooden pieces ,metal splinters ,broken wheels and human clothes all scattered .It was a pointer that how big the tragedy was. Since it was pitch dark and visibility was almost negligible. The team members flashed the torches and shouted who is there. “ Hello, Hello…. Is somebody there? ”
There came some painful growling cries of the men , as if someone was crushed under some heavy weight, they were calling for help since the time the accident occurred. “O! God, Help us … Please help ” . These people had lost hope that some one will come to their help at this hour. On seeing the people calling for them, and the flashing of torch lights raised their hopes ,the victims gained courage, they made calls that they were trapped. By then the volunteers reached the site , the scene was very pathetic and moving one , A heavy loaded truck had mowed down a bull cart which was also laden with some grains and other household. The truck was loaded with long iron bars. The truck had crushed two men under the wheels and one oxen had been killed as it was crushed under the truck front wheels. The cart was half crushed and half overturned. The other oxen lay under the cart trapped but alive and load of the grains. The driver of the truck had fled the scene as he feared that people will catch hold of him and thrash him . It was clear that it was the Truck driver who was the real culprit. As he had brought the truck on the wrong side, he either was under the influence of liquor or he fell sleep. Moreover, the fog had also played the villain , it was a head on collusion .It was a very heart rending scene.
The torch lights just were giving some idea about the gravity tragedy, but these lights were not enough, Team members then quickly decided to raise fire and call for more help. The team members started raising alarm and sent one member to call the other people of the other search party. He was also instructed to arrange for some fire and was asked to bring kerosine oil and match box, as soon as possible at the site of accident. The volunteer rushed on his bicycle and after some time reached the members of the other team. Who were almost travelled as much distance ,but to the other direction . As they did not find any thing on their side so they were contemplating to abandon their search operation . He raise the alarm for his friends of the other party.
“ We have found that there is a accident at some distance, so please rush there ,we need more help”. Every one nodded and they almost ran towards the accident site.
Within moments the second team also reached quickly at the site of accident. The first team members who were at the site , mean time sought some help of more men from the residents of nearest blocks of colony. In no time people were ready and rushed to the spot. Since the accident was so grave that more men and machinery were required. As the volunteers had gathered in good number they tried to help the victims . At first the fire was built up with some wooden logs at both the directions, this improved the light at the spot and people could plan the rescue operation. Some volunteers were deputed to inform the Police.

The Truck that struck had the front wheels knocked down and was resting over the cart, below the cart lay two bodies of men in the pool of blood. Two persons were under the heavy weight of the remains of the cart and bags of grain .They were perhaps alive but injured. The passerby trucks were requested to extend some help to extract out the trapped victim.
The police arrived as usual at the snails pace and that too, ill equipped ,Just two constables arrived at the scene ,they behaved as if nothing serious had happened, they just tried to gauge the situation, simply noted down the details of the truck, seized the documents from the driver’s cabin ,noted some other details of the victims and injured, The constable looked indifferent and said nothing can be done right now ,we will have to call the traffic crane to pull out which will be available in the morning. He said we are going to Police station and report the matter to our higher authorities. The people standing there were feeling cheated , feeling restless at the callous attitude of the police. The rescue party of citizens asked the police party to help the victims trapped ,who are injured and alive so that they are saved. The police official said,
“ It is a police case and we cannot remove the material as it is now a - accident case material”.
People started to argue with the policemen -
“ Why we cannot remove the material, we need to save the lives.?”
“No, No one can touch the material evidence” - said the policeman .
To this every one was annoyed and threatened to remove the truck away and save the injured . The policemen argued and warned that - “ if anybody interferes in the working of Police he will be dealt seriously”.
People said with anger- “ How can someone die like this . It is absolutely nonsense ?”
The crowd was in good number they shouted at the police and hooted them. The Policemen felt outnumbered and under pressure they left the spot immediately in a huff. They ran away like the frightened dogs squeeze their tails in their legs and escape from the site.
The colony people were now in good number at the site , as the message spread that a big tragedy has taken place ,everyone lined up to see what had happened, some women of the colony also got up and reached the spot.
We all at our homes were also in a different situation , we were not having any up date of the happenings on the roadside, and also about the search teams, some ladies of the block were sitting discussing the seemingly horrified event, that had shaken the hearts of all and disturbed the atmosphere. I, some how got strength from unknown source which enabled me to sit along with other kids all my ailments and sleep vanished like’ the horns from the head of a donkey’ . The sleep had gone out of the eyes of all. Even the children were awake in fear and confusion. Many dreaded ideas were creeping in the minds. We all were awake as the commotion and activity made us insecure. We young minds were racing with different ideas , for us it was a perfect setting for a horror movie flick. We the kids were already terrified by the whistling of the winds and the bang had made it worse. The kids were taking refuge with their mothers though trembling with chilly winds. Many other kids of the colony were sitting there hearing the story nuggets , some were interesting ,some were horrifying and others were quite boring and stupid to.
Mom got busy with making arrangements for comfort for the ladies and children. Ladies were sitting in our verandah on the carpet, our house was at the advantageous and prominent location so, every one assembled there. This was actually the favorite place for the colony ladies to assemble for daily dose of gossips. They used to assemble here for discussion of Social, political, entertainment, and off course for most important duty to discuss ‘Private’ issues of others . Our home had become a virtual civic Assembly Hall of the sort to discuss the problem in hand now. There were many ‘ Butterfly Experts’ giving their views , more or less they appeared to me not less than Rani of Jhansi ,the freedom fighter or Sarojni Naidu dictating the action plan to their soldiers and comrades .
The ladies at this “Base camp” at times , asked each other to just shut up for a while and concentrate on to listen to the diminished sounds so that they are able to get some clue what’s going on at the ‘Front’, whenever they heard a bit of hush sound . Some Ladies were standing beneath the street light near my home. It was a very peculiar situation. The women and children were now so motivated and charged up that, they were prepared that ,in case anyone who ever dared to trespass or misadventure ,he will be lynched . The people sitting in this group had apprehensions that something worst is definitely going to happen today . The ladies and children were ready for any ‘game’ armed as they were with what they could lay their hand to ,sticks, bats, ropes ,washing stick, bricks and stones. The ‘brigade’ was ready for any eventuality, like the members of Azad Hind Fauj raised by Subhash Chander Bose, for the mission to do or die.

As some time passed , the conversations which was bit diminished for a while , among the ladies became intense and bit louder. There came a alert form the members standing near the street light, the lights were put off ,and every one was supposed to keep complete silence. The visibility was very poor, no one could see through even at a distance of few feet’s. The noise of someone coming was being herd, some movements were felt. As the persons came closer the group of women volunteers sprang up and tries to thrash the person without knowing who they were, as someone in the crowd had ordered to grab them. The brigade attacked like tigers and foxes. Both of the person fell down, as they could not make it as what went wrong. It was only when they shouted loudly that ,women identified that they were indeed their own men. The attack orders was withdrawn, as they realized that they had assaulted their own family members. All felt sorry, and explained the matter, that they were frightened at the happenings and there was no inputs of what was happening out there with the search party still out of reach.
In facts the Two volunteers who had gone to search out the cause of bang , had come back it convey that ,what had happened so that, there is no panic back home . Rather they had a shocking incident to face here at their ‘Base Camp’. However a big tragedy was averted , ‘Thank God! This could have been a big tragedy ’ the men had a sigh of relief. Soon the blame game started among the ladies. The men however laughed and said to stop the stupid act and assist them. The ‘commanders’ at the ‘base camp’ were embarrassed and cut a sorry figure. Rather men said it was correct that they should have been more vigilant but, hypersensitivity or rash action could lead to catastrophe.
Every one was curious to know the updates, Ladies asked -
“ What happened, What happened?”
All eyes turned towards the two .The men described the situation that had been discovered by them during the search operation . The news sent a shock wave in all our minds.
“Oh ! God” A women said .
Every one there was in deep sympathy with the poor victims , every eye rolled down tears. Some of the sensitive ladies started to weeping intensely ,it was a pathetic scene to watch.
Someone in the crowd asked , “How much is the casualty.”
“ We found only Two yet, I think …We need to search them out for more ”
“Are there any survivors.”
“ Yes , We think there are couple of people alive but are trapped.”
“We are hopeful we can save them at least”
The kids were confused ,as they were half asleep and half awake . We all were stumped, our innocent minds raced with fear and horror , trying to make up pictures in our mind as to what had actually happened. The death story of the innocent victims sent a spine chilling impact on the group of ladies . The men then tried to return back to the spot and had described the situation is very grim and tense , “It might take more time to complete rescue operation as it required more men and machinery to get the victims out”. They immediately collected some material they required to rush back to the spot. It turned a night mare for all the colony residents.
Slowly as the time was passing and dawn was about to show, more than an hour or so had passed but the rescue operation could not been started at the site. The official machinery did not come to perform their duty. These were the real tense moments for the crowd standing and worthlessly waiting for the help from the Administration . The men could not wait any more .They were not ready to afford to wait for the arrival of official help, nor were they anticipating any. Any further delay would mean sure death for the trapped victims as it was intense cold. However all that need to be done had been done some of the loose material had been removed where the two injured were actually trapped.
Mean time some moral boosting thing happened, The relatives and people from the village to which the victims belonged to, got the news and arrived in good number that too, with two tractor trolleys. The rescue plan was discussed with them , It was decided to Lift the truck front up so the cart that struck underneath could be removed. Mean while some trucks which were passing through the road were stopped and their help was sought. The passing trucks were requested to spare the tools and some help. The drivers of the other passing by Trucks ,assisted the volunteers. Big jacks were used to pick up the truck that had struck in the accident. The single jack could not withstand the load so two other jacks were arranged, The truck was very heavily loaded so was causing the problems. The accidental truck was lifted up to a certain level and big logs were place under it. As the truck front was lifted that made way to move the cart out. Some volunteers removed the bags of food grains entangled in the cart out. With in moments the cart was cleared, The victims who were trapped under the cart were gently pulled out. The team members then quickly inspected the wounds of the two injured victims. A vehicle was quickly arranged to shift the injured to the civil hospital. Though after an hour or so good news came that the injured were declared out of danger. However the men asked women to arrange for some hot tea for the persons doing the rescue operation and the victims. Our colony families had by now had activated the rescue and help . The colony ladies pooled in some resources to arrange for the tea for the villagers who were here. The dead bodies were also evacuated and placed on the side and covered with while sheets. The villagers were wailing for their relatives who lost their lives. The colony people were anxious to know as what was the reason of tragedy. All the onlookers were curious to know about the casualties, they were moved at the sight.
As the day light spread the bright rays of the morning made the view some what clear. The sight at the spot became more visible and one could gauge the impact of the accident. The truck had rammed the cart from the front, probably the driver was under the influence of liquor or was asleep, the truck was moving in a great speed and had dragged the cart along for about 30 yards, crushing it under the front of the truck. The road bore the testimony to the accident .It was a tragedy that shook every heart.
Slowly the people of our colony started to return home as it was getting late to go to their respective duties. However the villagers had gathered there in good strength. It was now the duty of the police to register the case. It was till 7.30AM that the police failed to arrive . The people sitting there now started to disperse to make other arrangements. The tractors of the villagers also returned to their village to come after some time.
We also were ready to go to school. We boarded the school bus, which incidentally passed through the same route where the accident had taken place. The school bus slowed down a little, and we all just had a look , the bus students started to discuss the night incidents, every child had a story to tell. Later in the school also the topic was being discussed every where .
Later when we returned from the school, we had something new for us to hear, A high drama was enacted by the Police . Probably the scene at the accident site was very disturbing. Now the hot debate was being going on the suspected role of the police . In fact the police arrived very late at the accident site it was about 8.30AM ,on the plea that the traffic crane was not available. The Police on reaching the spot immediately started to hook up the damaged truck , material in truck was unloaded and shifted to other truck . The police officials took some snaps of the site for record purpose and started to investigate about the accident. The officials then ordered the crane driver to tow away the truck to police station and they themselves sat in the police jeep to leave the spot with only half there work done. They deputed only one constable to oversee the site. This infuriated the people sitting their. They sought explanation from the Police party as to what to do with the dead bodies. The police official had no answer. He then pretended that some other party had been deputed for the rest of the formalities. To this the people got agitated, they blocked the crane and jeep of the police. The police at first tried to pacify the people and onlookers, but soon heated arguments started ,police then resorted to manhandling , this act caused the rescue team people to confront and boldly face the police action. The crowd included the persons from our colony, they were unable to control the temper, their patience had given way by now . The indifferent attitude was not at all acceptable, two of them brought their licensed guns and fired in the air. At this stage police found itself trapped. They were forced to leave the truck on the spot. Police was asked to send higher police authorities. Public stood strongly in their way . Their ploy did not work, all hopes of the truck owner and police dashed to grounds.. Perhaps the police was bribed to get the truck out of the accident site, by the truck owner as the load of iron bars, which were actually being smuggled at night to evade tax. In case the truck and material is made the case property the dealer would have been in a additional trouble, as he did not had the proper papers for the purchase of the material. Moreover, they thought the victims are poor and they can be made to make some out of court compromise. Here the people of our colony had taken the situation into their hand and had vowed to help the victim to get justice. The bravely stood between the police and victims.
The dead bodies were lying there till the afternoon the people from nearby villages also gathers . The nexus of the police was exposed. The media and other people of the city stepped in. The bodies were sent to postmortem in the evening only after Sub Divisional Magistrate and higher police officials intervened. The Magistrate ,then assured to the victims relatives and family that justice will be done, he assured that the truck owner and driver will be dealt strictly, he also announced some financial help to the injured and the families of the diseased . Only then was the siege let off. Now, when ever I see any accident of this magnitude ,the memories of this accident flash in front of my eyes. I can never forget this fact that we the people of Air Force colony, stood up against the injustice being done, this unity and consistent effort bore the fruit, and the poor victims of the accident were able to get the due. This is an inspiration for me ,with the grace of god I am able to work for the cause of humanity ,I have joined Indian Red Cross and work for the people.
I wonder how much have we matured in terms of social interactions, earlier also we had to face the wrath of corruption ,and now even, however the situation is more than worse , we have graduated in corruption, earlier the bribe was treated as crime , now it is demanded as a rightful fee. The progress we have made is that , police is not ready to register FIR without money or public pressure , what to say of any thefts , the serious cases of crime like murder ,rape or decoity have no meaning to the law agencies. Every other day they are found seeing the other direction .Where in the Law of the land says to get FIR registered ,it is the primary duty of citizens to do, No one can take law into his hands. In other words the law says us to pay the bribe if you want Law take any action. As there is no way out left for its citizens. Fighting for justice by the poor and innocent is a real nightmare for them.
I pray to God that the good sense prevails and some day we will get justice.