| Our
first motel night was relaxing. I could finally take off my clothes and
sleep without thinking if I'll have to get up and go somewhere during the
night. The night was quiet and we got the so needed rest.
We
thought bombing will end. But the next night NATO continued the bombing
with even more intensity than before. The Novi Sad oil refinery was bombed
so hard that flames were visible high in the sky although from 20 km distance.
Fire was burning all night long and soon we could smell the smoke from
it, from such a distance, even all windows were closed! In the morning
the black smoke was still coming from Novi Sad over wide fields and above
our motel. It was an unbelievable image, image of catastrophe, of the end
of civilization. Thick smoke was threatening to poison us, the plants,
the animals.
We
decided not to go back to Novi Sad and to stay few more days in the motel.
On Monday Marta and I went to work, and Mariana to her faculty in
Novi Sad by bus, which took about 20 minutes. After work we went back to
the village to sleep and relax. |
Smoke
was coming from the burning Novi Sad oil
refinery
20 kilometers away, for several days,
threatening
to poison people, plants and animals.
Thanks
God there was no rain in that period. |
In
front of village motel with Mariana and our new
friends;
the owner's children and their dogs
With
Marta in front of our new refuge
During
our long walks Marta and I were discovering
beauties
of the village, our temporary new home
|
Living
in village was safe for us. There was no bombing, planes just went over
us to bomb Novi Sad, but we could still hear the detonations and windows
and doors were sometimes shaking and trembling of them. Villagers were
afraid after hearing planes and our artillery. They used to open windows
during the air raid alarms and go to the shelter, although the village
was never bombed. For us it was funny, because we were accustomed to much
more dangerous situations. We never reacted to the sound of planes or sirens,
because we knew there is no direct danger for us there.
One
night during sleep I heard roaring of planes and soon after several detonations.
I grabbed my transistor radio which was always near me, to hear the location
of bombing. But there was silence everywhere on the radio scale. It was
night, total darkness, no sound from radio. It was like the end of the
world. After many efforts going trough the radio scale I caught some very
weak radio signal from some small town in Serbia which reported that the
electrical distribution system of the entire state was completely out of
function. NATO has thrown graphite cluster bombs on our electricity transmitters
destroying most of links. What could we do, we continued our sleep, and
in the morning we found out there is no water supply too, because of lack
of electricity. We found ourselves in a Middle Age situation with problem
where to eat, how to wash ourselves, how to use toilet etc. Thanks God
our electrical system was fixed during that same day.
The
bombing of electrical system repeated several times in the following days
so we were thinking of finding some other place to stay where there is
a stove and well, so that we can manage living in such situations. The
same problem we would have if we were in Novi Sad. So we decided to rent
a part of a house in the village with stove and well. We began our search
and it took few days till we found it. We have found a nice four room house,
with bathroom and kitchen, a big yard with fruit and vegetable garden.
Only a woman was living there so we could use two bedrooms and other departments
too. With time we became very good friends with our host Anica who helped
us a lot in such bad situation. Electricity and water supply was cut for
days so Marta and Anica cooked nice lunches and dinners on the stove. We
always had hot water on the stove for tea or coffee, also for washing ourselves
and clothes. Also the stove made it pleasantly worm in the kitchen and
room, where we used to sit by candles and talk or listen to music from
transistor radio. It was a new kind of life for me, a country life which
I never tried before. I was happy I am with my loved family, wife and daughter,
and with nice woman Anica, who had every day a plenty of work in her garden
and in the field. Needless to say that we were so much more relaxed than
being in town, and we didn't bother about NATO planes and bombs anymore.
Of course with all our hearts we were longing for end of the war and couldn't
wait the day when we will go back to our real home.
We spent
days walking trough and around the village, which was really beautiful,
or we spent time in the garden. We were going to Novi Sad only to work,
and then hurry back "home". Mariana found a good friend in the
village so they used to spend time in the garden, and in the evening
they went to walk, or to disco. She also went to Novi Sad meeting
there her old friends in the bomb shelter, where she used to stay over
night sometimes. We were in touch by cellular phone so we didn't worry
too much about her.
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