Firefighter Blanket

For me, as a journalist, covering the fire engulfed Nandaram complex in the center area of Kolkata Burrabazar had seemed to be an easy task. After all, during my career as a journalist, I have been incidents that have been covered full of adventure, thrills, risks, and threats. So what could the problem with fire? That's what I thought. Until, I cajoled my Suchandan photographer to accompany me inside the burning building.

Inside the complex Nandaram, I looked for experiences that satisfy my hunger for adventure. I never thought that once inside, I have a brush with death. I was considered lucky when on Monday, I managed to escape the wrath of local residents who thrashed the media people. I was so lucky on Tuesday as well! If he had not been a case of just 5 minutes, perhaps I would not write that!

As we entered the building Nandaram Tuesday afternoon Suchandan looked up at the thick black smoke, and asked: "Are you sure you want to do this?" I just started to climb the stairs steep, through which water flowed down with full force. As soon as we entered the complex, we were soaked - water accumulated on the stairs, and showers on us from the top of pipes watering.

Up we went, from the first, second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth floor of the building Nandaram. While the first floor were clean little less dirty water and scattered elements, a bloody spectacle that awaited us on the sixth floor. Damage from the fire was visible at every step we took toward the upper floors. Piles of burned paper strewn here and there. So do lots of textiles, plastic charred remains of a lost slipper floating on the water, empty water bottles and pictures of deities.

The sixth floor was packed with media people, clicking pictures and record the horrible sight. We moved further and we climbed to the seventh floor. The scene here is similar to the sixth floor. The entire floor had been severely ravaged by fire. The walls were charred, and the iron railings have been in a state of disrepair. The whole floor was enveloped in a blanket of darkness, and we had a difficult time ahead. Ice water in which we had stepped into the lower floors have begun to turn warm now.

Going further, we climbed to the eighth floor. I started to receive some kind of weird smell on the eighth floor. "What is it?" I asked the driver. "Methane," was his only response word. It was considerably hot on the eighth floor, and I could not keep my coat. A mesh son of the main board electrical hung before us like cobwebs in a dilapidated building, and we had to drop down to move forward. A plastic debris, waterlogged, shops with shutters broken and the walls, the remains of half-burned shirts in cardboard packages scattered here and there.

Carefully avoiding tripping over the tangle of hoses on the ground, we moved to the ninth floor. The same scene of devastation everywhere ... However, on the ninth floor, we had a glimpse of how the market would Nandaram before the fire. On the left of the floor, we found the shutter to open a shop. The store was partially damaged, and the thick, white blanket on the ground, with white pillows, a small table, account book, a pile of cards gave a strange impression that the customer would simply enter the store and the company began as usual. But we know it would not.

Ground-ninth session, on the other hand, had a store that seemed more like a house. A wooden table, a gas bottle, stove, utensils and an iron bed with a pile of clothes in the closet was partially damaged by fire. I shudder! And if someone was sleeping on the bed where the wifi.