September 1993
” We need to perform the last rites of our eighteen month old daughter Sirji! Please can you help us trace her body from this debris.”
These words of Haanish Jawalge, shook the core of a twenty year old Army Jawan from Patna. L T Col Sameer Pandey was having his lunch with his team of jawans ,who were carrying out the rescue mission for the survivors of the earthquake victims at Latur. Col Pandey was now desperate to look out for the eighteen month old child.
” Sir please come this way. This was the way to our house.Pinky was playing in the room , when Anuradha and I jumped out of the house.”
Col Pandey moved beneath the rubbles of broken walls after he heard Haanish speak .He observed a small crevice .Soon ,he peeped through it . He found a narrow opening from which only a slim figure could enter .
It was dark inside . Col Pandey tried to touch things. Suddenly, he felt that he had touched something cold . As he tried to feel it, Col Panday heard a faint cough . He had indeed found a child , but to his astonishment even after five days of the earthquake, she was still alive.
” Yeh bachhi Zinda Hain,”( this child is alive) .
With these words , the Col brought out Pinky . Anuradha’s face lit up as she held her daughter Pinky in her arms. She was delighted to see her daughter still alive after hundred hours of the earthquake. Col Pandey renamed Pinky as ” The Miracle Child”.
28 Years Later, April 2021
” Hello , may I speak to Pinky . I am afraid that Col Pandey is very serious. Can you come over and meet see him urgently.
Tears rolled down Pinky’d cheek as she received the call. The old memories flashed infront of her eyes. Haanish and Anuradha had constantly kept in touch with Col Pandey after she was rescued. He had become too attached with Pinky . Both of them had developed a bond of father and daughter. Later, when Pinky was studying in the fifth grade both her parents passed away in a road accident. It was Col Pandey ,who came to her rescue again.
He brought her up ,single _ handedly . He became her mother and father overnight. They both shared a miraculous bond . It was for her sake that Col Pandey ,did not marry. For he felt that Pinky and he made their family complete. He got her married after Pinky completed her education . She started working as a school teacher.
During the pandemic ,the Col had to constantly carry the patientd to the hospital.Soon ,he was down with Covid .Pinky’ miraculous touch saved him at the right time. He regained health listening to her words.
” Vadil, me aslen kaibi hona nahi”( father , nothing can happen to you , till I am there).
Their miraculous bond made them both survive amidst all oddities.They shared the strongest of bond beyond the ties of blood .
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Beautifully woven story portraying the strong bonds of a father and daughter. Loved the idea. Well done Adity
I liked the story a lot Aditi. The emotions were handled so beautifully throughout. Keep rocking Aditi👍😊