`The only thing left to us is to pray’

“As soon as they got to know about the quake all the stall-owners panicked. People started crying, running to the phone to find out whether families had been affected. But there was no way they could find out. I was lucky, I’ve come with my whole family,” says Kiranbai, whose house in Sundernagar was luckily untouched.

But the story was not the same for the rest. Jagdeep Rana, president of Gujarat Young Man’s Association (which organises the Gujarat Utsav yearly), says: “Most artisans who come to do business at the fair are women with families. So when they got to know about the quake the sole thought in their mind was to leave.”

At the Haat, huge bundles of packed goods lie strewn on the ground. The Association will ship the piles of goods that the hurrying exodus of 150 artisans and their families has left behind.

But all have not left. Lakhubai comes from the coastal Kutch regionof Dwarka, a little away from Jamnagar. Lakhubai and her octagenarian husband Pethabhai Rabari have no news of home. “Our children as well as grandchildren are still in Dwarka but we have no idea what has become of them. We have been trying to call since yesterday but can’t get through. The only thing left to us is to pray to God and hope he keeps them safe,” says a teary Lakhubai.

But the old couple cannot leave. Pethabhai says the family supports 300 other artisans back home so they couldn’t simply pack up and leave. “Hum rozi roti kamane aye hain. Bina samaan ke wapas nahin jaa sakte.” Seventy-year-old Danjisivabai Bunkar is also stranded. Bunkar’s ninteen-year-old nephew has come down with fever and the couple won’t leave before it abates. Bunkar lives with a 300-member joint family at Manakua in Bhuj and has no idea what has happened to them. “I fear of what I’ll find when I get back,” says Bunkar. This isn’t the first time Bunkar is facing trepidation. He lost family members to the 1956 earthquake.

But all is not lost as various Gujarati organisations start to mobilise. Gujarat Young man’s Association (GYMA) has already sent a team of doctors to the area and has started a donation camp at the Haat. They have also donated Rs 1 lakh. The Association will not be giving the money to the government but will be taking on the task of allocation of funds themselves. “We can’t afford any delay. We have also hired and kept buses on stand-by to send the artisans back,”says Rana.