Mamta Kalia

It rained a lot in the year 1962.
All the homes of our locality were made
of clay. The non-stop rain that fell over
many days was disastrous for these clay
houses. Our house had sprung leaks all
over. We would set a pot under the
leak. Every time a drop fell in the pot
it made a sound: tup, tup. We had to
stay awake during these rainy nights.
A fear constantly dogged us: who knew
when a wall might collapse. Sometimes
a huge big hole would suddenly open
up in the ceiling, and to close such a
hole was a very difficult job. Climbing
up on the roof of the clay houses was
a very dangerous undertaking.
One night, when it was raining cats
and dogs, a big hole opened up in our
roof. I was entrusted with the job of
going up on the roof as I weighed the
least in our family. Since the rain was
pouring down on me, I could not see
a thing in the pitch dark. Placing my
feet on Pitaji’s shoulders, I climbed up
on the roof. Pitaji guided me from below,
‘Careful Munshiji ... steady feet... Don’t
walk towards the middle... Stay near the
wall.’
I had a big lump of clay in one
hand while I looked for the hole with
the other, in complete darkness. Pitaji
called out to me non-stop, ‘Munshiji,
have you found the hole?’ At last I
succeeded, found the gap and sealed
it with the clod in my hand. I had a
very hard time climbing down after
closing the hole. I could not keep my
eyes open in the pouring rain. As I
was slowly climbing down, orienting
myself by Pitaji’s voice, my foot slipped.
For a second I felt I was up in the
air. But Pitaji’s experienced eyes had
seen me even in that pitch dark and
I had managed to regain my balance
in his strong grip. My. screams had
brought my mother out, and she was
relieved to see me safe. I was shivering
from the cold. My mother wiped me
dry with a cloth and set me down by
the chulha.
That night a huge piece of our baithak
had collapsed. Pitaji and Ma had not
slept for a second. Many homes had
fallen down in our basti. People were
screaming and shouting. Pitaji had gone
out and shouted, ‘Mamu... Is everything
all right?’ Mamu had yelled in a voice
as strong as my father’s, ‘Everything
is all right... the back shed has fallen
down.’
A big commotion started at the crack
of dawn in the colony. Everybody was
out, looking for a safe place. The rain
was continuing to pour. The remaining
houses could collapse any minute. Pitaji
had gone towards the Tagas’ houses and
he had returned very soon. ‘Hurry up,’
he called. ‘I have got the baithak of
Mamraj opened up.’ Ma gathered up some
essentials in a hurry, and we left for
Mamraj Taga’s baithak, our belongings
perched on our heads and our bodies
drenched in the rain. Mamraj’s baithak
had been locked up for years. No one
used it. Even the plaster on the walls
had crumbled. Still it was a sanctuary.
We hadn’t even put down our stuff
in Mamraj Taga’s baithak, when another
thirty or forty people came in after us.
The rest of the people of our
April-June 2010 :: 21