911-what's your emergency?

last night was one i'll not forget in a long long time.

it was 9:00pm and we were all watching tv at home. suddenly we heard loud incessant honking under the building. we got totally pissed cuz we assumed the driver of the car was too lazy to open the gate himself. i went outside to look and i saw the 4th floor kid-viven calling out to his father(dr. iyer).

i came back in and continued watching tv.the calling and honking stopped after a while but soon there was loud knocking and ringing of the door bell accompanying the calls to the father. i went upstairs to see what was happening and found that viven was locked out of the house while his dad was inside but wouldn't open the door.viven was wid another uncle who lives opposite to our building, mr.bhatt.

i came down and told ma about it and she went upstairs to find out exactly what was going on. apparently viven had gone out for a school concert while his dad had come home at 8:30(as reported by our neighbour).when at 9:00 viven got back nobody opened the door despite several phone calls and shouts. the lights in the hall were on and the tv could also be heard.

by this time our other neighbour razia was also wid mum outside dr.iyer's door.my mum called my dad, and dad and mr.bhatt together banged on the door and tried calling the landline and mobile phone. both the phones could be heard ringing inside the house. also, their dog Rodger kept barking from the inside. my sis by now had called the boy downstairs-noor to help break open the door. his mum-sarah aunty also came upstairs and now there was quite a scared and worried crowd outside dr. iyer's door. dr.iyer's brother and parents were called and they too tried all they could.but in vain.

meanwhile dad and mr.bhatt came up with torches and some tools to break open the door or pry the lock open. but nothing worked. the door was too sturdy and the lock way too strong to be fiddled with a screw driver.

suddenly someone realised that the spare keys to the house would be with the driver or the maid. a frantic search began for their phone numbers as we got to know that neither of them had a mobile phone. as noor and our marathi neighbour(donno his name but he is the father of the 4 yr old twins ankur and ankit)went in search of the driver, i ran down to ask an old lady who lives in a hut like place just adjoining our building about the maid.

as i spoke to the old lady, her daughter supriya made hurried phone calls to the driver(ravi)'s friends and neighbours to get in touch with him. the old lady told me that there had been a fight between dr.iyer's maid and driver about the spare keys and there is quite a possibility that the maid might have a set of keys. she offered to go get the maid.

as i ran upstairs to dr. iyer's house ,i found out that the fire dept had been informed and were on their way for the rescue. by now Rodger had stopped barking which was even scarier. dad. mr bhatt and dr iyer's brother went up on the terrace to see if there was a way in. but the only way was to jump down in to the balcony. also, viven ran to the adjoining building to see if anything could be seen from the window facing his dad's bedroom. but the curtains were drawn and the lights seemed to be off.

it was almost half an hour since the fire dept had been called and there was still no sign of them, it was past 10:15 and everyone was really tensed by now. the kids in the building were all awake and excited with the activity and noise cuz they dint really understand what was going on.

we then heard the siren of the fire brigade and breathed a sigh of relief. but the tension had mounted and everybody feared the same thing- what would the fire men find once they were inside?

as 2 firemen hurried up to the 4th floor, 3 of them stood under the building awaiting orders. i ran downstairs to see what their plan was and learned that the 2 firemen who'd gone to the 4th floor will try getting into the house from the terrace and only if it dint work out, they would go up from the front with the help of the ladder.

by then, the driver -ravi and the maid had both arrived. the maid had the keys.

but as we stood outside dr.iyer's door we heard a loud crash as the firemen jumped into the balcony and broke the glass doors that led to the hall. dr.iyer's brother asked the firemen to open the front door first before he went in search of dr.iyer. as soon as the door was opened, he rushed in and saw Rodger outside the bedroom refusing to let any one in.

we stood outside wit our hearts beating 1000000miles per sec and silently praying that things were ok. the firemen went inside the bedroom and found dr.iyer lying on the bed. he went up to him and shook him violently.

and dr.iyer woke up from his sleep as though nothing had happened....

he found the whole building population inside his apartment with worried and now relieved faces. he'd apparently just been asleep and had heard none of the knocks, calls, barks or anything.

everybody breathed a sigh of relief that dr.iyer was alright and nothing was wrong. he was simply in a daze and couldn't figure out what the commotion was about.

the firemen were thanked for the help all the neighbours too were thanked profusely for everything. everybody went back home talking about what had just occurred. i ran down to thank the old lady for her help.

it had been a long and scary and adventurous night, and there were a few things i realized after this incident.

** the marathi neighbour(ankur ankit's mom) inspite of only having lived in the building for a few months, was the only one who knew where the driver lived. we really dono as much about our neighbours as we should.

** the old lady who went to call the maid has always been perceived as a grumpy old twit who's always screaming at everyone and making a racket for nothing. i learnt that u should never judge a person until and unless it's based on personal interaction and experience.

** all the people in the building, even though they haven't had as much interaction or anything in a long time, still got together to help. it's at times of trials and tragedies that people truly unite and become one.

** the fire dept is out there to help anyone in need. yet i now realise that they too take everything way too lightly. when they were called for help, they suggested that the job was more of a carpenter's than a fireman's, and this wasn't really an emergency.

** you'd expect a doctor to be vigil and alert at all times in case of an emergency. but this was the total opposite. not that it was anyone's fault, just that even doctors are human beings.