(11) How to grab a crab --- Chucker Batti.

(Continued from the Previous Article: ‘Flash’ Players and ‘Flesh’ Players of Eighties. If you are visiting the blog for the first  time, please start from the first Post Promotion Promotion.)

 

Techno Tandi, Butterfly’s true lover, had grown Mint leaves & green chilies in a small area in the perennial ‘wet-land’ below the eternally leaking overhead water-tank constructed by Topi Pissoo on single quotation basis. The ‘wet-land’ was exclusively used by Butterfly, Reno, Tandi , Chucker Batti and some lesser employees for cultural activities like rain dance and frequent local food festivals. 

The whole local ‘wetland’ had a large no. of land / terrestrial crabs that elsewhere in Tapri used to come  out of hibernation only after Monsoon. Techno Tandi was unofficial caretaker of the ‘wet-land’ & crabs. While he had learnt from Chucker Batti how to eat live crab; he was now far ahead in the knowledge and practice of ‘crabbing’; leaving the art of cribbing to the successful SPCL Officers.

Reno found the crabs very cute. The day he saw a full size crab for the first time, he was sure about his second car - a vintage ‘landcrab’  (BMC ADO17), made in England.   

  

Those capriciously lateral/forward moving weird creatures, like many of the bosses in SPCL, were ultimate fear factor food for most of the people in Tapri but not to Tandi, Butterfly, Reno and Chucker Batti who used to enjoy local food festival of crabs, cooked or raw, in the ‘wet-land’ every other day.

As Butterfly and Reno were busy outside the Plant in managing the ‘extravaganza’ for the bosses; Chucker Batti was quite upbeat at the prospect to grab a larger and better crab. Tandi caught a fully grown crab, dressed it with mint leaves, green chilies and some salt always available in his pocket. Chucker Batti had a pathetic -hungry and ravenous- face while watching Techno Tandi handling the live crab so deftly. 

Tandi offered the first one, a pale yellowish crab, to Chucker Batti. He did grab the drab crab, removed the scab to dab the flab of the live crab, and then finally put a large slab of the crab in his mouth. He pleasantly felt a part of the crab wriggling around in his mouth in a green pool of mint leaves and green chilies. He closed his eyes and began to thank God for giving him an opportunity like this to savor such a delicious crab. For the rest of the day, now he could blab about the crab he was just having.

The moment Chucker Batti was having the sensation of the third crab wriggling in his mouth, the Security Officer blew the siren as he saw huge flames outside the Plant. The pleasure was so heavenly that Chucker Batti found the sound of Siren melodious and in sync with the exotic experience he was having through the wriggling crab in his mouth. As Chucker Batti did not respond to the siren; Tandi thought it was just a mock fire drill. They both continued to devour the crabs like today's Suresh and Ramesh eating Cadbury chocolate in a trance.

Factotum Techno Tandi, just one of the Contractor labor but extremely essential to Butterfly and LPG Plant Operations, heard a lot of workers screaming. Tandi soon realized that something had really gone wrong. He instructed Chucker Batti to take control of the situation at the main gate.




Chucker Batti, the Manager, followed contractor labor Tandi’s instructions most loyally and reached at Main Gate to see Satak and Reno running from one end to the other end of the Main Gate, from outside, while shouting ‘Fire-Fire’. He tenaciously joined them inch by inch and decibel by decibel. Now three of them were running like cete of badgers from here to there. The only variation was that he was shouting ‘fire-fire’ so cutely, with the last crab still in his mouth; from the inside of the closed Main Gate of LPG Plant.

As the crab melted in his mouth, the reality also did in his mind.He began to shake in his pants as he knew there was almost no water in the huge Underground Tank or even the smaller Capacity eternally leaking Overhead Tank Constructed by Topi Pissoo…

The water available was just enough for two-three minutes to fight against fire. Whatever water was pumped daily from two bore wells was barely enough to take care of the daily requirement of Plant mainly due to leak in both the tanks since the inception of the Plant. 

The LPG Operators were thrilled to hear the sound of siren. They knew it will be the end of the duty for them for the day. They stopped the carousel (the machine at which cylinders are filled) at once and began to see a god sent opportunity to carouse in the canteen. The few hapless workers busy in playing flash and carom had to reluctantly stop their game. 



They all, except the three drunken ones, sprung to action. They all knew there was practically no water to fight fire in case the fire reaches inside the Plant. They had been taught by the Local Management that the show must go on.

So, they were ready for the show and ready to play Holi with each other- may be just for only two-three minutes. Some connected the fire hoses to fire hydrants; some reached at the fixed water monitors and began to wait for the fire engine to start. Some took Fire Extinguishers and ran towards the fire. 



The all knowing, raincoat wearing,  lowly learned, certificates accumulator , tobacco chewing, Bean Counter,Account Officer cum HR Officer Pujya Doshi - as per his role in the Fire Organization Chart- telephoned to Police, fire-brigade, Civil Authorities, Ambulance and the neighboring Oil Companies depots and ran out of Administrative Block to Security Block to help the injured , if any. He cleared the traffic and a truck load of filled cylinders  without documents taking advantage of the melee at the main gate.Now he too was free to follow his bosses. 

 

Union leader DM Yadu ran towards the gate and saw the wooden platform collapsing and the bosses falling. He then saw the actual fire from the inside. Now he rushed to administrative Block and narrated the whole story over telephone to two journalists of local news papers. (Kindly see the Chapter no. 7- A dancing pro becomes a PRO about Journalists.) 

Many of the Officers rushed to fire engine to start it, without succeeding to start it even after five minutes of blowing up of the danger siren. It was the duty of Safety Engineer Bapurao to start the Fire engine but the 'arrogant traitor' was still in the Hospital.He certainly deserved one more Charge Sheet.
 

At last Techno Tandi reached at the Fire Engine Room with a crab in his each hand and one in mouth. He transferred the crab from the right hand to the left hand, started the Fire Engine with his right hand within a few seconds without letting go his precious grabs - the crabs.

They all waited for two more minutes to see the pressure in the Pipelines develop. The lines were not pressurized as Jockey Pump and the caretaker of the Jockey Pump- Bapurao, both were under maintenance. After 7 minutes the lines were fully pressurized and the Team –Tapri was finally in a position to fight fire that had by now extinguished on its own.

The workers, like their bosses, always believed that show must go on. They used water in playing holi with each other till it was all exhausted. They all missed to see Butterfly drenching. 

(To be continued…)