BALI 100 KM (Book 1) ✔

Chapter 15

"What a surprise, Bandu," his eyes expressed the same emotion.

"Nand," Bandu began, "the boy who stays with me?" the officer nodded in recognition, "he is admitted here with Malaria."

"Oh, how is he now?"

"He is doing well, sir,"

"Well, you saved me a lot of time by being here as I would have had to seek you out to share some news with you,"

"What news, sir?"

"You remember I told you that Rana had attacked his colleague to steal the papers,"

"Yes, sir, you did,"

"That person has revived from the coma recently. But still not in a state to make any statement as of now. The doctors, however, requested us not to burden the patient with recalling the tragic event as it might only harm the patient's memory. But we have put our men outside to guard,"

"But Balwant is in jail. How can he harm the person?"

"He is not the only reason that we have put guards here, but we fear that there might be an attempt at kidnapping by the people who hired Rana. There is no reason for you to panic too as we have increased the patrolling near your shop, "

"Why increase the patrolling?"

"Well...that's because there was a jail breakout yesterday, and Balwant has escaped. See you soon, bye," With that last piece of news, the officer went his way, and Bandu returned to Nand, carrying the tension the news evoked.

The doctor came in a few moments behind him to conduct his delayed rounds. After reviewing Nand, he was pleased with his progress and recommended an extended stay for two more days. Partho's arrival with homemade food was a much-awaited respite from boredom for the both of them. Surprisingly, he had brought some change of clothes with his usual gossip, and those were entertaining for the ears.

Partho had come intending to stay overnight as he had some matters to attend to in Goriyon market the next day. He made himself comfortable on the bench outside the corridor for the night.

At first, he thought that Partho was calling out to him in his dreams, but as the voice got distinct, he opened his dazed eyes to stare at his friend's panicked face and immediately sat up to glance in Nand's direction to find him sleeping blissfully. He jumped to his feet, noticing the commotion in the room, and then faced Partho with a questioning look.

'The third floor above us is on fire, and they have asked everyone to evacuate the building immediately for safety. Come, let's hurry."

That explained why there was screaming and moaning as the nurses and ward boys were helping patients move out of their beds. Losing no time, Bandu carried Nand on his shoulders while Partho followed them with their medicines and clothes. People were rushing about everywhere in the corridor, creating a commotion. Bandu had to carefully maneuver the steps so as not to miss a footing and fall down the stairs with Nand in his arms. After descending the steps, they exit the building, following the crowd to the hospital's garden, where the staff was evacuating most of the patients. They find a space in a far corner for themselves. Partho spreads a blanket on the grass, and Bandu places Nand onto it. He then covers him with another blanket to keep him warm, and then both of them sit down on either side, looking towards the burning building.

Bandu observed fire and smoke coming out from all the windows on the second floor, as the terrible smell of burning permeated the air. Suddenly he noticed a small figure waving out from one of the windows, which had smoke billowing out from it. After a few seconds, the figure disappeared. He realizes that the person must have fallen unconscious and must require help immediately and was on his feet at once.

"Partho, wait here. I will be back in a moment." Bandu broke into a run leaving Partho surprised.

As Bandu rushed inside, he collided with a lady who was the hospital nurse. He informed her about what he saw on the second-floor window, pointing in the direction of the window where he had seen the figure.

"That is the ICU. There is no one there. We evacuated everyone in that room." she said and hurried on without allowing Bandu to speak.

Trusting his instincts, he made his way through the people coming down the stairs and finally reached the second floor, which was in a smoke fog. Bandu covered himself with his woolen blanket and strode towards the ICU. He saw two figures lying on the ground, and after close observation identify them as the constables with the uniform they wore. The nurse was wrong, he thought and tried to shake them awake, but they did not move. The ICU door just ahead of Bandu collapsed to the ground, allowing him a faint view inside the room as the smoke escaped out from it. The fire had engulfed the entire room. He used the guard's baton to push at the burning door to make way for him to enter the ICU.

As he entered the burning room, the smoke smothered him. He started coughing as the smoke entered his lungs, and he felt a burning sensation inside. Covering his face again, he scanned the room and located the window where he saw the figure. But no one was there, and he thought that maybe the nurse was correct, and they had evacuated everyone. He immediately turned to leave the heated room but stopped in his tracks as he heard a faint cough somewhere in the room. Yet another cough came from the window. He moved towards the window and sees a figure lying on the ground. The figure moved. It was alive. Bandu rushed forward without hesitation, lifted up the body, and ran out of the burning room until he reached ground level. He then walked into the garden and placed the body gently on the grass, which was when he got a first glimpse of the person he had saved. It was a woman. Soon two nurses rushed in and covered her with a blanket, and the other checked her pulse. Satisfied, she turned to Bandu and thank him.

"There are two...constables...lying there unconscious. Please hurry with help," Bandu said, trying to catch his breath for a few moments. On second thoughts, he turned round to go back and help the constables himself but stopped when he saw the nurse instructing the ward boys pointing towards the ICU window and knew that help was on its way. Out of breath, Bandu got up and walked tiredly towards where he left Partho and Nand. He saw that Nand is now awake and looking around with curiosity and asking Partho what happened. Partho, with great enthusiasm, worked out the explanation and showed him how the fire personnel was making preparations to douse the fire.

By early morning everyone was allowed back into the building, however only up to the first floor as only some rooms were beddable because the others were ruined, when water was poured into the rooms, by the firefighters, wetting all the mattresses and floor.Thus it was all chaos the entire day as there was a severe space crunch and shortfall of staff to supervise the sick. Bandu requested the doctor for a discharge, taking a cue from other relatives, who were doing the same. As the doctor gave his consent, he approached the office to settle his bill, and they told him to wait in the queue. He decided to come back after some time, and on his way back, he met inspector Sarathi, who had come to take stock of the situation.