IT WAS A MONSOON DAY

It was a monsoon day. There were strong winds and heavy down pour. I was coming back to home from my office. I could hardly hold my umbrella steady in my hands. I held it against the blowing wind to save it from flying off from my hands. I had to apply my full strength in holding it like that. It was about a 200 yards walk to home after getting down from the bus.

The wind had been testing my strength or rather I was testing my own strength against the wind. I was completely wet. That didn’t matter as I would be able to change my dress after reaching home. Looking down and holding the umbrella against the wind, I kept moving until I reached home.

The postman of our locality was sitting on a chair in the veranda. He had been an old friend of mine. I was glad to see him sitting in my home. It was always a pleasure to talk with him. Whether letters were there or not, he would often come for a chat with me as and when he passed through. The rain also must be a reason for holding him back. I talked with him over a cup of tea. It was slowly getting dark. We kept on talking till the rain subsided enough for him to move out. Then he bid farewell to me and started his way back.

I had almost changed my dress, when I heard him calling me loudly from near the gate. “A tree from your plot has fallen on the electric wires, pulling them down.” He informed me. There was a lane of about four feet depth segregating my plot with another’s and the tree from my plot had fallen across the lane into the other’s plot. The two electric lines going overhead along the lane to the houses behind my plot had been brought down by the fallen tree. The wires lay loose in the lane, with partly touching the ground at some place and partly one or two feet above the ground at other places.  Many people used the lane as a footpath to their home. They often walked in dark without any lights with them. The live wires could be extremely hazardous and risky. “Didn’t you see it when you came?” My friend asked. I answered that I was holding my umbrella turned to that side while I walked. I did not know whether it fell before I came or while we talked. The falling sound was not heard. The wind was too strong. Any thing could have fallen.

The fuse point was on top of a wooden electric pole nearby. There was no chance to climb on it. Even a person who can climb would hesitate as it was wet and slippery. There was no telephone in near by homes including mine. It was far before the cellular phone era. Even land line phones were available only in a few homes in our village. The nearest home to have it was abut 300 metres away and the next nearest was one kilometer away. We couldn’t leave the fallen line as such and go to inform the electricity office as any one could happen to touch the line during our absence.

One side of the lane belonging to the other person was full of bush, probably left like that for a fence. My side was a well made wall of granite. I thought that if we could lift the lines some how and push it over the bush on to the other side, it would be safe for people to walk along the lane and underneath the fallen tree which lied across it. The bush branches would be able to hold the line temporarily without allowing it to slide down. I suggested and my friend agreed. I requested him to caution any one coming to pass through, while I went and brought two long bamboos. Covering its one end with dry cloth wrapped in plastic paper for holding, we started our risky job of removing the lines from the walking area.  The rain had again started. The cloth would soon get wet and we ourselves stood a chance to risk. Passersby began to gather and were watching our show holding their umbrellas open. After the whole length of each wire was safely put away without touching each other, we requested a person to remain there to caution anyone from trying to climb up the fence of bush for any reason. Then we proceeded to the nearest home where a phone was available.

“What are you going to do?” asked a person in his anxiety.

 “We will inform the electricity office of this incident”, I replied.

“No, no. Don’t do that. They will switch off power to the whole area. Do you want all of us to be in dark just for the sake of this? The lines are now on the fence. There is no problem. No one is going to cross the fence in the night.” He tried to convince us.

Without bothering him, we proceeded.

“The phone is not working”, was the curt reply as we made our request to the first home. We walked a kilometer to the next. They allowed us to use the phone. I called up the electricity office and informed them. The man at the office told me that the matter was required to be informed to the power house and not him. He gave me the number of the power house. I tried on that. The man at the power house, after confirming the locality of the incident, told me that the area came under another power station. He was courteous enough to give the phone number of that station. I rang up there. No one attended the phone. The house owner was getting impatient. So was me too. I called back again to the electricity office. In a harsh voice I said, “I am informing you of the incident. I do not know which power house is to be called. I have told you the locality clearly. My job is only to inform your office. It is further your job to take up the matter with the concerned authorities or power house. There is every chance that some one could get electrocuted by tomorrow morning. I am informing you, and I have witnesses here of my informing it to you.” I put the receiver down.

Back at the accident spot, I thanked the man who was waiting for my return and I myself took charge as the guard. The electric lights were on in nearby houses. I was bewildered on why the fuse did not blow off even when the wires were brought down. I thought to wait for some more time till it got late enough for any one to pass through. While waiting there, suddenly I found that all the lights went off at once. They must have got in touch with the power house, I thought.

Back at home, I fell in the bed. I was totally tired with the additional work I shouldered and slept tight.

I used to get up early and it was a practice with me to do a few morning exercises. While doing so, I heard someone loudly screaming nearby. I ran outside to see what happened. People were running helter-skelter. I could see four or five men holding a body and running to the main road. Some one told me that a person has got an electric shock. Later I was to know that he died before he could be rushed to the hospital. I remembered my own words said on the previous day, “some one could get electrocuted by tomorrow morning..”

The person who died was only from a nearby house and just two houses behind mine own. He was there the previous day watching our exercise of removing the lines from the way side. He knew the lines were alive. I heard that it was his palm that burned. Might be he slipped and then caught hold of the wire on an impulsive response. That was not much possible, as the wires were beyond an easy reach. Sometimes it could be that the line slipped a little down due to the rains, providing an easy access for him to hold. Or might be in his ignorance of its serious impact, he tried to just touch and feel whether the charge is still on the line. I didn’t know. Later I was to know that the power was restored after I left the spot and late in the night; but I was dead sleep by then.

The Police and the Pressmen came to my home. Officers from the Vigilance wing of the Electricity Board also came to my home to take my statement on the incident. I narrated everything. The electricity office confirmed my informing them and said that the information was passed on to the concerned power house through hot line. The power station also confirmed receipt of the complaint, according to the pressmen who visited them. People from the power house said that they sent a vehicle with men who found a branch of a tree fallen on another side near the locality and got it removed. They thought the complaint was on that. Till that was cleared they had switched off the power. They could have confirmed clearance of my complaint from me, if only I had a phone then.

I do not know what where went wrong. Everyone had a reason. All that I can say is that whatever was to happen, happens irrespective of reasons.

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