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Saifu
by
Ehsan Elahi Ehsan
The morning of 8th October, 2005 was a drastic morning for the people of a small
state of Damascu. It was eight in the morning and every thing seemed to be going
on well to the village of Marka. Some people had gone out of their homes for
work. They went to the market for buying some things and selling some things.
Some went to the fields to plough the land and graze their cattle. The children
with their shining morning faces had reached their schools. The bell for the
start of the classes had rung. The boys and girls had seated on their benches in
threes. There were three to five rows in every room. Each row having nearly
thirty students. The teachers with their usual grim faces were just seated on
the stages. They were planning in their minds where from to start the lesson.
Should they first check the students of the previous day' lesson or start the
new lesson. Some of the students were terrified because they had not done their
homework. Some of them were happy that they were fully prepared to answer the
teacher’s questions. The same was the case with the girl students and the lady
teachers because the students of Marka as of other schools were of the similar
nature. Neither was there any difference between the male teachers and the
female teachers except one. This difference was visible because every female
teacher had brought some homework with her. Most of them were preparing for the
coming winter. The climate was already giving the message that winter and cold
were at hand. So most of the gentle ladies had brought their knitting work with
them. It was usual with them to ask the monitors of the class to check the home
work of the students and teach them the next lesson. The lady teacher had only
to sit like an observer in a big international political gathering.
The housewives, having cooked their breakfast, and sending their husbands to
work and their children to schools were feeling relaxed. They were just thinking
of sweeping and cleaning work of the houses.
Suddenly a loud roaring sound was heard. Every body was horrified of that
strange sound. They had not yet reached any conclusion that they began to feel
jerks, sever jerks. They did not immediately realize what it was. It were first
the teachers in the class who voiced that it was an earthquake. Hearing these
words the students rose up from their seats and wanted to run outside
immediately. The teacher feared that they would be stampeded. He ordered the
doors to be locked.
Gamoo and others farmers had started ploughing their fields. They were losing
their balance because of the severe jerks. The condition of the cattle was not
different. The farmers came to know what it was. They left their cattle at the
place where they were and began to run to one another. They had gathered in
groups. The housewives also became aware what it was. They could not do anything
except to cry with fear. They speedily began to remember God. The earthquake
became stronger and stronger. This was the condition of the whole state of
Damascu. The radio and television stations had stopped working. If there were
some working they were only reciting the name of Allah and saying ‘Allah-o-Akber’,
Allah is the Greatest. The whole world became alert. Nobody knew the details.
The next day, the radio stations and T.V. Stations of the world were giving the
news that a severe earthquake had hit the state of Damascu and many villages had
been totally buried in the ground. The big cities had also suffered a heavy loss
of building, property and human life. All the communication and
telecommunication system of the state had been destroyed and the assistance was
badly needed from within the state and from the outer world.
The village of Marka was also buried in the ground except one double storey
building. It was a miracle. Some people said that the owner of the house, Saifu,
imagined to be an old man was very pious and God fearing person. He might have
been doing many good actions for his fellow beings. He might be worshipping God
all the time, that was the reason, that nothing had happened to him, to his wife
and his seven young sons. The news of his safety, with good words was broad cast
on the state radio, which had been half put to working condition.
A week passed in alarm and work for the help of the victims continued. The
neighbouring state and its inhabitant made every sacrifice in cash and kind.
Foreign help also began to reach. Trucks in large numbers with usable and
eatable things were travelling towards Damascu.
Mr. Rehman, the correspondent of a well-established daily news paper was sent to
visit the afflicted areas and report back of the miserable condition of the
population. He boarded a truck that was going to Damascu and passing by the
village, of Marka. The truck was fully packed and there was no room to sit in or
on the body. The driver of the truck was a very kind man. He seated Rehman
beside his own seat in the front portion of the truck. They reached the village
of Marka after a tedious journey of two hours. A few persons were standing on
the stop. The truck driver was advised to deliver the goods on all stops.
Fortunately the stop of Marka came first of all. The driver asked the persons
standing there to unload the things they wanted. Hearing this a wave of a new
spirit ran into them. Their faces seemed to glow with happiness. They thanked
God that He had helped them in time of dire need. Rehman said good bye to the
truck driver and began to ascend the hilly place where a two-storey building was
standing. When he reached the building, he found it locked. However, he read the
name of Saifuddin (Saifu) on the nameplate and he knew that it was baba Saifoo’s
house. He stood there waiting and thinking where baba Saifu and his fmily had
gone. Perhaps they would have gone to help the survivors come out of the debris.
There was much cold on this hilly area and Rehman wanted to tremble but he was
shy of it that some person would see him trembling like a child and he would be
put to shame. He was busy in his thoughts and trying imaginatively to shake off
the stingy cold wind when he saw six or seven persons ascending and coming
towards him. They were bearing the heavy bundles on their heads. Rahman thought
they would be some persons hit by the earthquake coming for shelter to baba
Saifu. In the mean time the party with the heavy loadas on their heads reached
there and they unloaded their bundles with great difficulty. One of them who was
leading them, was an old man but in very good health. He had a red stubby beard,
one was a woman not very old and with a healthy body. Seven were the young men,
very sturdy and strong. When they had unloaded the heavy bundles off their
heads, and came nearer to Rehman, he saw that they were perspiring and the drops
of perspiration were flowing down their faces as if they had been travelling
through rain. Their clothes were also drenched. The old man came to Rehman. They
glanced each other for a moment. Rehman was very much impressed by the
personality of the seemingly old man, with big black eyes and eagle nose and an
over all dignity. After a moment, Rehman asked him if he could tell where Saifu
baba would be available. ( He had a quite different picture of baba Saifu in his
mind). "Yes, I am Saifuddin. People call me Saifu" Rehman was stunned for a
while. He could hardly control himself. He told him that he was a correspondent
of a daily newspaper and had come to take his interview. "Let us go in and then
you can start your work." Saifu Bab began to unlock the door, and Rehman looked
to the woman and the seven young men and the luggage outside the door. It looked
like a small hill reaching the roof of the first storey. Saifu baba opened the
door with great difficulty because it was hindered by the luggage inside. They
entered the building. There were seven rooms of the first floor, perhaps the
same number of the rooms on the second floor. One room was in the front and
three to each side. Saifu baba was moving on, perhaps to find some place to sit
but of no avail. The luggage was touching the ceiling and occupying the whole
floor. There was no space at all to sit.
They looked to each other’s faces for a while and Rehman eased the situation by
asking the condition of the village. He wanted to hear it from Saifu. "Oh" Saifu
baba heaved a sigh. "The whole village had been buried under the debris. You
will have seen in the far end of the village to the back side of this building,
some army men and volunteers working with machines. They were making hectic
efforts to bring out the dead and the survivors, if any. I had offered them that
I could help them, with my seven sons, to dig out the debris beside my house and
take out the corpses and …….and the survivors, but they did not allow me. All
the school children, girls, boysand teachers had been buried under the debris of
the school buildings. Those people who had gone out, the farmers and the other
persons, had not come back. God know what happened to them" He paused and then
changing the subject said "I am sorry, I could not offer you a cup of tea. There
is no space here, even to sit. Moreover, we have to go to the standing truck,
for another round to bring some things to pull on!" Rehman understood what Saifu
meant and asked his permission to leave. He was very much fatigued and
disgusted. He took a returning truck and straight away went to his news paper’s
office and wrote the following report. "I visited the village of Marka. The
whole village had been ruined. No building and nobody had survived except one
double storey building of an old God fearing and Pious man Saifu, his wife and
his seven young sons."
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