After celebrating my 21st birthday in India, I fell asleep around 11pm exhausted from the heat and chaos so typical of India. Ever since the first two days in Kolkata, the AC became too cold and uncomfortable to keep on at night so I only decided to keep only the fan on. But last night, I woke up feeling warmer than usual. I awoke around 4am to the smell of smoke which at first I thought could be anything coming from outside as its not unusual for people in here to be burning things in the street even before dawn. I was also sweating and opened my eyes to realize my fan was off, which meant the power was out. Again, not unusual. But as I opened them further I realized my room was hazy. Adrenaline kicked in and suddenly I knew something was off, the smoke wasn’t coming from any fire outside, it was from a fire inside our apartment. I opened my bedroom door to see the backup generator on fire which explained why I couldn’t turn any lights on. The fire was small but growing and I couldn’t think of what to do. Theres no 911 and theres no fire extinguisher. I can’t get enough water, no blankets, nothing to put this out and it was growing fast, the generator was melting as was the 3 foot tall box it was sitting on. I started banging on my partner Chris’ door to wake her up, and then in less than 60 seconds we began trying to yell to the family we were living beneath for help (our landlord and his family were living upstairs while we were temporarily residing on the ground floor). No answer. Our apartment was situated in a stairwell on the ground floor. There is a lock on our door, a locked gate to the first floor (where the landlord lives) and a locked gate from the stairwell to the driveway. The smoke was becoming heavy and difficult to breath so Chris and I started to grab our stuff to move out of the apartment but soon we realized that with the locked gates – there was no way to get out of the building and we were stuck in the stairwell. We started screaming louder and after what seemed like too long, the landlord and his family woke up and came downstairs. They were quick, moving as if this wasn’t an unusual event. They grabbed buckets of water and began dousing the fire until it was extinguished.
Its moments like this when I am reminded of the incredible hospitality that I have been met with so many times in Southeast Asian countries. Our landlord, who lives with his two children and his parents could not have been more hospitable and kind to us at this moment. They brought us into their rooms, his young 8 year old daughter offered her room to let us stay in and sleep. His mother brought us water, tea and biscuits. They helped us feel as safe as they could.
I can’t help but feel guilty. While we have the Miller Center of Social Entrepreneurship of Santa Clara backing us up and mobilizing quickly to get us safe and to a hotel, our landlord and his family will be caused great trouble – loss of rent for the summer, damage from the fire, and the cost of a new generator. While it may seem absurd that there is no 911 to call, no fire extinguisher and most importantly no smoke alarm, Chris and I only have to live here temporarily… we don’t have to live under these threats every day and in the end we get to go home to a “safe house” in America where everything comes much more easily.
Scary yet eye opening and almost a necessary experience for me. It is until you leave the United States until you realize how fortunate you really are, how safe you are, and how easily and cushy life is. But for most of the world, they live through daily struggles we will never have to. Even more concerning is they live under conditions where there is a lack of necessary safety precautions for unexpected and life-altering threats. We are so grateful that we woke up, that we are safe and were able to make it out. But it has become clear how much we take basic human needs for granted in America while most of the world unfairly lives without them.