Numbed by tragedy, Bhuj picks up the pieces

BHUJ: Prakash Vajirani sits on the steps of the building next to Mahadev Gate, watching post-quake life passing by. Barring a few cracks, the building seems intact. But peer into its narrow door and the facade is shattered. Inside, Armymen are digging into three storeys of rubble. Vajirani is ready for when they pull his aunt out. He has brought along a coconut, some ghee and white cloth. When Shakuntala Vajirani, 54, is put on the cart waiting outside, it will be just another body for earthquake-devastated Bhuj. Not far off, bulldozers are working on the rubble of Gokul Apartments, which it is feared, has many more bodies to yield. And Vajirani can already see Bhuj coming to terms with the loss. Handcarts and pick-up vans pass by the street, ferrying household goods. Fearing that their partially damaged houses could crumble in an aftershock, most people prefer to remain away. But they have begun making forays into the deserted streets to retrieve their household goods. Like the couple who pushed along their scooter, carting away the family''s television set. ``The labourers are charging 10 times the usual rates,'''' Ishwar Soneji complains. Soneji and his family sleep in the camp opposite Mahadev Gate. He knew Shakuntala from the time both were with Gujarat electricity board. Then she quit to become a schoolteacher. ``She had a smiling face,'''' he remembers. His partially damaged house may have to demolished, he fears. The relief will dry up in a few days and Bhuj may not offer enough space - to live and earn a living - for its people when they begin to pick up their lives again. He realises it will be months before the quake-affected actually see some government cash. So Soneji was planning a 100-km round trip to Nakhtarana. Maybe, he thinks, he should shift there now. Prakash Vajirani too feels the administration could have done better. His aunt''s building wouldn''t have collapsed had the municipality enforced a two-storey limit on all structures in Bhuj, he says. A foreign journalist asks him what he blames the tragedy on. ``Corruption,'''' he replies. A neighbour offers that only PVC plastic structures should be allowed in Bhuj. After they have cremated Shakuntala, the Vajiranis will probably begin rebuilding their lives. Like many other Sindhis, Prakash Vajirani''s father came to Bhuj after the Partition. ``This is the second time this is happening to us,'''' he says. It is turning out to be a long wait for Shakuntala. A couple of women relatives drop by to watch the operation, sob a bit and then return. A television reporter makes young Rajesh Ramani, part of the building owner''s family, repeat twice the story of his escape. He was on the top storey, while she was on the ground. He remained in the rubble for two-and-a-half hours before being pulled out. The other 13 inhabitants, from three families, too escaped alive. Like the front, the back of the building is intact. But it leans dangerously over the waterfront of Hamirsar Lake, a favourite spot for the people of Bhuj to pass time. As Vajirani waits, a woman older than his dead aunt, hobbles across Mahadev Gate Chowk with a small bucket in hand and a foot in plaster. Should she be doing this, we ask. ``I have rested for six day. I don''t like other people looking after me.'''' So Kantiben Naranji Pallan hacked away most of the plaster on her leg, picked her stick, and limped across to the lake to wash her clothes.