Paradise Lost

Just like any other day, Chottu as usual woke up early in the morning and went to his primary school, He had plans to play with Reshma after the school is over. They had a small corner in Reshma’s hut as their own, private little home. But on that day of March 5th 2010 something different was waiting for Chottu.

On that day, a small piece of land, between a sewerage cannel in central Kolkata went up into flames. Thick black smoke covers the sky, It was dark on the middle of the day. Another unknown slum of metropolitan Kolkata was burning. A slum built and inhabited by the peoples who had lost their homes, when the government decided to widen Bypass, another road development project. The help came; but it was too late.

Chottu, Reshma and many others were a small part of this slum. The place was as expected dirty and small huts of bamboo and corrugated tins were standing next to each other, with minimum facilities available to sustain human lives. But life was somehow going through.

When Chottu returned home, the place that he calls his home, has changed. Everything has a gray tone of ash, smell of smoke surrounds the place, Sounds of half extinguish fire and howling cries fills the air. It was difficult to walk on the shallow lanes, where Chottu used to run. He still tries to run, not with his usual joy and excitement, but with the fear of loosing his home. He found his mother, eyes filled with tears, trying to salvage whatever the fire has left. The hut, his home, was on the grounds. Suddenly another fear grips him, He runs to find Reshma and their own small corner, where they had built their own little home. He couldn’t find Reshma, but that corner was buried under ash. He digs and collects whatever he could. he ran again as he couldn’t wait, he had to find Reshma.

That day many lives, like Chottu and Reshma along with their parents, had changed. Many of their dreams turned into ashes. They are poor, they have hardly any place other than this one to go to. They know that they now probably have to move out from this place as well. The destination was unknown as is their future. There was small report published on the next day’s newspaper. The reason of the fire was unknown and the investigation is under process. The political leaders expressed their condolences and promised of compensation.

Chottu, on the age of 12, probably on that day, lost his first home, And his first friend with whom he had plans to make his own play-hut. He perhaps on that day understood the limitation of poverty and the problem of being small. That perhaps denotes the end of his childhood. What compensation does humanity holds for that?

Names of the characters have been changed due to justified reasons.