Cricket scores and pep talk: How Gabbar Singh Negi kept spirits up in Uttarakhand tunnel

Since November 12, the day the roof of the tunnel caved in, Negi, a foreman with construction firm Navayuga Engineering, had assumed the role of a leader of those stuck in the tunnel, motivating and inspiring them.

Negi — in green.

Negi’s leadership had won him praise from even the Prime Minister, who, during a short phone call with the workers the night they were rescued, told him, “You can be a case study for universities on how to lead people in a crisis.”

By the end of that day on November 19, Negi had to work extra hard at lifting the sagging spirits of those he was trapped with – India had lost the match.

“When I first got to know that India was playing Australia in the finals, I knew it would be tough. When we got to know that India had lost, we were all very sad. Mujhe laga, ek taraf hum haar rahein the, doosri taraf India bhi (It felt as if on one hand, we were losing and on the other, the cricket team),” he says, sitting with his mother in the courtyard of his house in Kotdwar, around 250 km from the tunnel collapse site. “I spoke to them for very long that day, telling them to look ahead, stay positive,” says the 55-year-old.

‘I couldn’t afford to be scared’

Ever since he got home to Kotdwar on November 30, a couple of days after being rescued from the tunnel, the Negi household has received an endless stream of visitors, mostly neighbours and relatives wanting to hear about his “adbhut (magical)” experience. On a Monday evening, Negi receives two elderly neighbours with hugs and smiles and obliges, once again, to relive his 17-day confinement.

He starts from the beginning. On November 12, when the tunnel collapsed, trapping them behind 60 metres of debris, he says, he was at the far end of the tunnel. “I got a message on my walkie-talkie from one of the boys. I had a Bolero with me so I drove back. I was struck by what I saw – a huge pile of debris had sealed the mouth of the tunnel. For a few minutes, my mind froze. I was worried that those outside would have no idea that we were struck. But I knew I couldn’t afford to be worried or scared.”

Negi recalls how he took matters in hand and discussed ways to let the outside world know they were trapped. Luckily for them, the debris had left intact a 4-inch pipe used to drain water out of the tunnel. “I suggested that we intermittently release water through this pipe – start for a while and then stop – as a signal to people outside.”

The idea clicked, kicking off an unprecedented rescue operation involving multiple agencies.

Negi says that in the initial days of their confinement, some of the workers broke down. “Some of them got scared and were crying too. But I was confident that we would be out. I told the others to stay strong and said they had nothing to worry about. I told them we are from a country that rescues its citizens even from foreign countries in hostile situations. Here we are trapped in our own country, so we will definitely be saved. I mentioned this to the Prime Minister too,” he says.

At his home in Kotdwar, where Negi lived with his mother Vichuli Devi, wife Yashoda Devi, and sons Aakash and Vikas, his family spent long, agonising hours waiting to hear from him. When they got to know of the incident, Negi’s elder brother Maharaj Singh Negi and son Aakash had rushed to the site, camping there until the rescue operation concluded.

Negi has in the past been stuck at the site of a landslide in Sikkim for several days. But that, he says, was far less challenging. “In Sikkim, we were trapped in a large open space with lots of shops and options for food. So it was nothing like being trapped in a tunnel,” he smiles.

Messages up and down a pipe

Negi says that for the first few days, until the bigger, 6-inch pipe was drilled through, the 4-inch water pipe was their lifesaver. It was through this that the rescuers pushed through murmura (puffed rice) and dry fruits – the first time in over 10 hours that the workers got to eat.

But there wasn’t enough to go around and Negi had to step in once again. “It is human nature that when something is in short supply, you want more of that. So people would sulk and squabble for more. Sometimes I had to scold them. Whenever some food came through the pipe, I would first keep everything aside and then distribute it evenly. On occasions, I would distribute everything and not take my share just to prove a point,” he says.

Their initial days were punctuated by boredom and cravings, especially for salt. “For the first few days, we only got murmura and dry fruits and everyone was craving for salt. When we finally got it, we mixed it with the murmura and there were smiles all around. That was the tastiest food we had eaten in a long time,” he says.

Though Negi tried his best to keep spirits up, as someone who led from the front, the pressure would sometimes get to him. “I had to stay vigilant all the time; I barely slept. I was worried about my fellow workers. They had no option but to stay positive,” he says, adding the tasks inside the tunnel kept everyone busy. “There was enough work inside – food to be managed and distributed, water to be ferried and stored,” says Negi, adding that the Bolero was used to ferry water in cans from the other end of the tunnel.

Negi says that once the six-inch pipe was drilled through the debris on November 20, it relayed messages and requests from the trapped workers to those outside: from phone chargers to change of clothes and specific culinary cravings.

“When the bigger pipe was first drilled through (on November 20) and they asked us what we wanted, most of the boys said palak-paneer. Though we got matar-paneer instead, along with roti and vegetable biryani, everyone was very happy,” says Negi.

He says that he and the other workers had several conversations with authorities, including Chief Minister Dhami who was monitoring the rescue operations.

“Whenever the CM spoke to us, I would ensure no one got too emotional and said something they should not. So I would keep them at a distance,” he laughs.

Negi, who is home after six months of being away at work, says the company has been in touch and he will rejoin work whenever he is asked to do so.

As he bids his visitors goodbye, Negi says, “It is the love and support of the people that we came out safely. People not just in India but all over the world prayed for us, and celebrated when we came out.”