Out of the Bolt
Ramdev and Nanhu were busy working hard in the fields to earn a day's living, oblivious of the fact what fate had in store for them. Residents of Lalu Ka Purwa village in Rae Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh, Ramdev and Nanhu worked in brick kilns during the season while rest of the year used their horses on carts for transportation purposes.
Ramdev owned two horses while Nanhu had one. On the day when they were toiling in the field, their animals were grazing in the forest and were tied to metal chains to keep them from going far. It started raining heavily after sometime followed by lightning and thunder which struck the animals killing them instantly.
The news of animals' death spread like a wild fire creating panic in the village. Villagers rushed to the spot and sympathised with Ramdev and Nanhu for whom these animals were the only source of income. Ramdev and Nanhu were clueless and completely blank as to what they'll do now. They decided to bury the animals in the forest and started to prepare for the same.
In the meanwhile, the Ashwamitra Ranjeeta Devi who is also a resident of the same village asked them to first contact the Brooke VACM Urmila for help. Urmila having heard their whole story instructed the Ashwamitra to stop the burial and inform the pradhan and lekhpal. And then after Urmila contacted a local journalist and informed Brook VO Dr Manish Rai. Dr Manish contacted the GVO who was responsible to conduct the post-mortem of the deceased animals. Everybody reached the spot within a few hours of the phone calls. The villagers were aloof of the provision in the law that owners of the animals would be compensated by the government in case of natural calamity.
Post-mortem was conducted in the presence of Brooke Team, pradhan, lekhpal and the victimised owners, by GVO. A nominal fee of Rs 30 was charged by GVO from Ramdev and Nanhu for preparing the report. Later the report was handed over to the District Magistrate to release the compensation. Within 20 days of the submission of the report, Ramdev and Nanhu received cheques to the tune of Rs 15,000 each.
Ramdev and Nanhu had never imagined to be compensated so well. "Our crumbling world was held together by the hope Brooke Team gave us and this cheque is evidence that they sincerely followed our case."