A Mine Blowing Experience

July 23rd 2009, Kenda

The hero was going through a rough patch in his life. And when I say rough I mean a really REALLY rough patch.

All the beautiful maidens had deserted him due to his communication problems and general cluelessness about things that a fair maiden likes. Furthermore, all mayhem had been let loose in the kingdom of riches where he sought to be because of the incompetence of some dim nitwits who were in charge of financing it.

Our hero thus started working in coal industry in India of all places as a HR Trainee just to feed himself.

As a trainee the hero had to roam all kind of dangerous places in the mysterious lands of India. He visited Asansol and he conquered.....errrr......lived to tell the tale. He visited Rajmahal and he didn’t get kidnapped and still lived to tell the tale. He visited Jhanjhra, the fabled Black Diamond mine of ECL Kingdom, which is the only profitable underground mine in the empire of Coal India, and still he lived to tell the tale.

But then he visited the fabled lands of Kenda. Where he went to see the first manually operated coal mine he’ll ever see in his life.

This is the story of this incredibly mine blowing experience that this hero had in this mine.

It was the first time he was ever going to enter a manually operated mine and therefore he was reasonably excited about it. It was a unique experience after all. He and his fellow traveller (Named VeryTall) got into the boots, the suits and the Lights to get ready for the 3 kilometer hike into the mine.

Their guide (called Gollum for the sake of convenience) started leading them into the labyrinth. What a labyrinth it was. Filled with strange twist and turns, height varying from 4 feet to 7 feet, supported by dusty rotten wooden columns and beams the labyrinth spread its wings deep into the mine.

It was an alien and strange experience. The only light was coming through the torch mounted on the travellers headgears. The only sound being the sound of their feet, the wind rustling through the tunnel due to thoughtfully placed wind shafts and the occasional Gollum from the guide. The only way being forward and downwards. Hero felt quite like Gandalf with his fellowship travelling with him into this exciting adventure. While VeryTall wished very much he was ReasonablyShort so that his head did not keep banging on the ceiling.

Hero was looking at the strange things done through some highly advanced technologies belonging to the late 18th Century. People were actually able to transport coal through a unique transport system. Gollum explained that it was done through the art of a tracks & pulley system. Recently they had put in the futuristic technology of electrical motor to pull the pulley system instead of man pulling the coal up through the pulley.

It didn’t make sense to the hero but he feigned interest and understanding. He was the hero after all.

Then Gollum led the fellowship further into the labyrinth. Hero was now only 250 meters from the end of the mine. At the end people were putting in explosives for controlled detonation later that day for mining of coal. It seemed very exciting to the hero, because as a hero he always liked blowing up things.

Gollum kept on explaining about the Nitty Gritties of the labyrinth and since VeryTall was listening with interest, Gollum kept on speaking to him about the Labyrinth.

Our hero then noticed something strange about the end of the mine. He was already very suspicious as quests usually have the trap at the end only. Now, roof bolting is a common practice inside the coal mines. It stops mines from collapsing on themselves and should be done within 2 to 3 hours of blasting, if done after that time it actually makes the roof more vulnerable to falling. He asked Gollum about Roof Bolting at the end of the mine, which he couldn’t see. Hero thought maybe the roof bolting had been done and he couldn’t see it due to some inherent magic of the Labyrinth. But Gollum said “Oh roof bolting equipment is being used in another area of the mine. We will roof bolt this last 150 meter stretch next week.”

Hero now saw it. It wasn’t the roof bolts. It was the Balrog which was coming to take his life.

And for the first time in his life, the Hero felt true fear for his life.

His throat dried up. He couldn’t speak for 30 seconds and felt breathless.

VeryTall asked him what was wrong in a general clueless sort of way that only VeryTall can, while hero stared on into empty space in abject fear.

He then did what a true hero is supposed to do when he truly fears for his life.

He ran away. He ordered Gollum to lead him out of the labyrinth RIGHT now, and he ran away from the abyss as if Sauron himself wearing the ring of Power was after him. When he reached the surface he thanked god for the life that he had given him and for looking after him.

He swore to NEVER EVER go down into a underground coal mine again.

And so it happened that our Hero visited Kenda, battled true fear, and still lived to tell the tale.

PS: Have you noticed that my last few posts have been on the last or second last day of the month?

PPS: Special Thanks to Vikas Bansal & Sajal for helping me improve the flow of this piece of Writing