Love knows no reason, no boundaries, no distance. But not often does one get to see the kind of relationship that Parth Joshi, known as ‘Gujarat’s earthquake boy’, shares with London’s John Miller and Nick Spence.
The duo miraculously saved Joshi during the killer 2001 earthquake in Gujarat. Parth, then 10 years old, was pulled out from the rubble 92 hours after the quake. Mr. Miller and Mr. Spence had come to Bhuj as part of the Rapid Rescue Team from London.
Early this month, Parth, now a computer engineer, got married and Mr. Miller and Mr. Spence were special guests at the wedding in Kutch, which bore the maximum brunt of the 2001 earthquake.
Tears rolling down their eyes, the duo amazed almost every guest at Parth’s wedding reception. “I don’t know what the connection is between Parth and us. I can’t find words to describe the joy of seeing my little brother get married,” said Mr. Miller.
It’s 15 years since the January 26 earthquake which killed around 15,000 people and injured another 1,67,000.
Gracious hosts
“After Parth was pulled out from the rubble, John and Nick had to amputate his leg to save his life. Since that surgery, every year they two send tickets for Parth to fly to London. They get him a new artificial limb every year and take care of all his expenses. They take him around London and show him places that even my relatives in the U.K., who are natives, haven’t seen,” says Parth’s father Pradip Joshi, who is a bank employee. “They host me in London every year. Once they took me to watch an England-Pakistan match at the Lords from the VIP box. Then they made me meet Naseer Hussain and other cricketers. More than a life and an artificial limb, they have given me memories that I can live with for the rest of my life,” says Parth.
