Emergency at 3 am!

Following happened on Jan 3, 2005. Never posted on the blog, doing it now! Kaushal -----------
Jan 03, 2005 at 1 pm

It was January 3, 2005 and the time was around 3 am, yes 3 am in the winter of 2005 and we were yet to sleep on Jan 2. We were sitting in our drawing room and discussing some random issues, like all of us always talk. And the discussion included topics from India to America with our school days experiences and special incidents in our childhood, our school, classes etc. everything was normal and so did we. Because always sleep late night/early morning around 3 to 4 am and discuss lot of things, the thing is no one is able to sleep before 2 am, even if he tries hard, and last night was one such non abnormal night.

Suddenly I smelt something. It was an unknown, unpleasant and untimely odor. I never had it before during those times. So, we tried to figure out what this odor is. But at that time we took it lightly, and just went to our respective rooms. I went to my room and browsing the net in the usual manner.

About after 15 minutes Purvin came to my room and said the smell is not normal. It’s a “Gas Leakage”. Okay so this was the beginning of the emergency. Purvin already had informed Shantanu and Hemal. So, he, Hemal and I went to the basement to see into the matter. And when we went to the basement, it was almost impossible to stand in there. It was so filled with the odor that our doubt got conformed and not it was gas leakage only. Now everything in the basement started looking suspicious. Purvin said the gas meter is making some noise. Oh shit!!! Now at that was quite not good to listen to. One factor added to the gravity of the situation. The we looked into the heater and all around the basement. But were not able to make out from where did it come. So we went upstairs with all kinds of thoughts in our mind.

After reaching to Shantanu’s room we consulted one another what to do next. And again all kinds of suggestions from calling 911 to status quo in the house. But the stink was getting more and more intense. So, it was decided that we should call the police. So as per the instructions given during the orientation in the fall of 2003, we must always call the University Police, no matter where we stay, on or off campus. So keeping that in mind I called the number on the magnet on our refrigerator.

So, the phone is ringing for a long time, and it was around 3.15 am in the police station too. Okay, so it stops ringing and I hear a male voice on the other end.

I: hello??? (talking to a cop for the first time on the phone, imagine)
He: this is the University at Buffalo Police.
I: We have a gas leakage in our home, though m not sure about it. But it smells like it…
He: Where do u stay ?
I: 90 Cornell Street
He: Where ?..... Is it in Buffalo ? (now, this was not good to listen to)
I: Its opposite to south campus. You know this Englewood Avenue… ???
He: Oh yes, I know Englewood…
I: It runs across Englewood and Heath Street…
He: okay I got it…Now, what you need to do is open all the windows of hour home. Get out of the house (that’s it, finally emergency has been declared in the house.). Go to your neighbor’s home. And call 911 (I thought “What the **** ?”, then why the hell did I call you ?). Or I can do it for you.
I: yeah, that would be great. And its 90 Cornell, right ?
He: yep, 90 Cornell…

By the time, I hang up the phone, they were almost ready to leave the house. And they had almost open most of the windows. I put on a jeans and took the phone with me and asked Shantanu to get his cell. And as the situation was very tense so I had all kinds of possibilities in my mind. So, at one moment, I thought of taking my bag with me too. It has all the important documents like passport, photos etc etc. As it was very important to me, in case there is a fire, I will be fine with this bag, but then thought leave it. Nothing is going to happen. So we left the home.

And the count down was already begun. Now we were on Cornell Street. To out good luck, that night was not cold, it was warm enough to stay outside with one jacket. So we were waiting. And it was hardly a minute after I finished the call. We saw a cop on Englewood. We thought she is looking for us, so Purvin raised his hand towards her. She stopped!!! So, I went there and explained her the situation. To my surprise, she said: “oh okay!!!”. And she left, oh yes, she really left. I was wondering.

Came back in front of my house and we were again waiting. Suddenly, we heard a sound of fire engine. We thought its not for us, must be somewhere else. But what, its coming in our direction. And what we see on Cornell towards Tyler end is two gigantic fire engines. I thought, I certainly did not say on the phone that we have fire in our home. But I guess, for safety the fire engine comes with all equipments. By the this time, one of our friends from neighbor had come out and was wondering!!! And about 5-6 guys on Englewood also were looking at us due to that typical sound of a fire engine.

So two firemen got off the engine. And started walking towards us. One of them asked “What is it ?”. Now as always, its always very difficult to understand African-American accent. I had hard time in conversing with him. Moreover he was so huge, I looked like a kid of 4 years in front of him. But I said its in the basement and two of them went inside and I showed them the basement door. They went in it with meters in their hands and I came out. Obviously, I didn’t want to risk my life, in case there is this so called fire. They were wearing fire proof suits, and were trained.

So, again we were waiting outside and they came out after about 2 mins. They got another meter with them and went back in. I thought something looks serious here. But after a minute they came out and said “There ain’t no gas leakage”.
I: ???!!!
I: What ???
Fireman: It’s a smell of a skunk, and it sounds nasty. (Though, at that time I didn’t understand what he said and was struggling to get what he said)
I: So, everything is okay, right ??? (With a lot of suspicion in my mind and everyone else there)
Fireman: Yeah, everything is okay..

Wow!!! What a relief of this half and hr episode. We thanked them and felt sorry and thanked them again.

What now, obviously it was time to laugh, due to this false alarm. But we still didn’t know what was “skunk” ? So it was time to “Google”, as always, Google never disappoints anyone. So, went inside and then to Shantanu’s room. And he googled skunk. And we found one of the descriptions like this…

“Skunks use a highly odoriferous secretion to deter predation: A yellow oil composed of thiols and thioacetate derivatives of these thiols. This secretion is stored in two walnut sized glands with openings in the anus. When alarmed or attacked, a skunk can direct this spray several feet. At high concentrations the secretion causes nausea and retching and will act like tear gas if the liquid gets in the eyes. At lower concentrations it has a very foul odor. The human nose can detect skunk spray thiols at about 10 parts per billion”

Now, we had realized the deal completely. And that was the end of almost half an hour long drama. And what a great start of 2005. It was almost 4 am before we went to sleep.

Well, for next time we and you too know what to do…
Kaushal