Man who made first call

KINSUK BASU

Dec. 13: 94325*****

Thus exists in the police FIR the man who did what AMRI would not — or could not, according to some hospital officials.

That is the number from which the fire brigade received the first alert about the fire around 4.10am on Friday.The Telegraph has been reporting the time as 4.08am till now based on what sources had told the newspaper but the official FIR shows a two-minute divergence.

This reporter on Tuesday set out to find the face behind the phone number, a journey that led to a house in Hooghly's Adisaptagram, 80km from Calcutta.

Somewhere in the vicinity, Susanta Goldar was immersed in the last rites of his brother-in-law, Jahar Lal Sarkar.

It was 30-year-old Susanta, who has not yet landed a steady job, who made the call to the fire brigade, though he could not save his brother-in-law who was on the second floor of the hospital after suffering a stroke.

This morning, Susanta was deep inside his sister's home, at the quarters for employees of the state power utility.

His family politely refused the request for a conversation on his behalf. Incense sticks burnt before a framed and garlanded portrait of Sarkar, 58. No one spoke.

This reporter did not know what to do: decency demanded that the family be left alone in its hour of grief and irreplaceable loss.

But one question — does Susanta know that he did something that may have helped save several other lives — made the reporter wait.

Eventually, prodded by a relative, Susanta met the reporter and reluctantly narrated what happened that dawn.

I had promised didi I would return with jamaibabu in a day or two. I returned with his dead body instead, a day early. (Sarkar would probably have been discharged on Saturday). What good am I? What is there to say?

I was sleeping in the reception area, on the floor between the rows of steel chairs, most of them occupied by relatives like me.

I have no idea what time it was but I woke up to shrieks and some people were running. Some of them shoved me before I could gather my senses.

A thin stream of smoke was slowly filling the room. It was coming from below, close to the floor, maybe from under a door… and people were screaming "fire! fire!"

My first thought was about jamaibabu. He was in the stroke unit on the second floor. I ran up in one breath. The corridors had become foggy with smoke. My eyes were burning.

I reached the cabin. Jamaibabu was awake but unable to move. His left side had been partially paralysed since a stroke (on November 23).

His eyes appeared to light up seeing me. He must have known there was a fire in the hospital from the screams for help all around but he could not help himself and there was no one around to help either.

I tried to lift him with all my might. I surely could carry him downstairs on my shoulders. I had to. There was no one else around. There were many, in fact, but everyone was running.

I couldn't lift him beyond a point. My breath had become very heavy. I was panting… it was suffocating. Breathing had become difficult. I put him down to take a deep breath and try again. I couldn't. It was paining around my chest every time I tried to breathe.

I ran out to see if someone could help. All I could see was smoke. I ran down.

I don't know if I should have stayed up there. But I couldn't.

Flashes of my one-year-old son (Souryadipta) and my didi coursed through my mind.

There was chaos all around on the ground floor now.

I stepped out of the building. The sky had become lighter by this time but there was neither any sign of a fire engine nor the police. Some local people were breaking windows open and they were spewing out endless gusts of smoke.

I dialled 101. A didi took the call and said "Nomoshkar, fire brigade". I told her there was a big fire at the Dhakuria AMRI hospital.

(This reporter then asked the question that made him stay and intrude into private grief: Did he realise his call had helped save many other lives?)

Not really. That's not something I had in mind when I made the call. If some people have survived, I wish them life for another 100 years. Who am I to save anybody? It's God.

I hung up and ran in. There was no point. I came out again and called my didi(Chandana) to inform her of the fire in the hospital.

On Thursday evening, when I spoke to my jamaibabu for the last time, he spoke about how much he longed to go home.

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The FIR lodged by the fire department at Lake police station says: "A fire call received at about 4.10am on 0912.2011 through telephone No. 94325***** and from the Lalbazar police control room that a fire broke out at AMRI Hospitals annexe building, 15, Panchanantala Road, Kolkata – 700029."

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That number has a name: Susanta Goldar.