(From left) Nasiruddin, Mrinal and Sandip engage in a mock drill on Monday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Mrinal Kanti Majumdar, 43, took “voluntary retirement” from Puja festivities the day he joined the fire services department 28 years ago.

Mrinal has a President’s medal to show for his loyalty to the fireman’s uniform — he won it after the Firpo’s Market fire in 2002 — but not being able to spend even a day with his family during the pujas sometimes hurts.

“I am used to it, though I do long to be with my 19-year-old son Amitabha when I see other people out on the streets with their families. This feeling of missing out on something has grown since my wife Archana passed away in 2003,” he told Metro on Mahasaptami.

The fire engine operator-cum-driver knows he won’t be able to fulfil this desire “till I am in service”, but his younger colleagues aren’t quite at ease with the job-comes-first philosophy, yet.

Fire operator Sandip Chakraborty, 27, knew what he was getting into when he joined the department but admits to being “frustrated” during the pujas. “My father was in the same service, and I knew before joining that firemen don’t get leave during the pujas or any other festival. But it is sometimes very frustrating, more so when the rest of the world is having so much fun.”

The frustration grows when there is nothing to do except wait. Till Saptami evening, the fire station headquarters on Free School Street, where both Mrinal and Sandip are posted, hadn’t received a single emergency call.

Fire brigade veterans said the incidence of fire-related emergencies during the pujas had declined over the years because of better arrangements at pandals.

“It is a strange situation for us. Of course no one wants a fire to break out but just sitting idle while everyone else is pandal-hopping with friends and family can get painful,” one of them admitted.

For 26-year-old Nasiruddin Ahmed, who joined the fire services department in July, Id was slightly better than the pujas have been for Mrinal and Sandip. He had been granted outstation leave to visit his village in Nadia for a day after completing his shift on Id last week.

“I have no right to complain. My seniors have been doing duty without leave on festive occasions for years. Besides, this job is important to me. I was unemployed until the fire services department recruited me and I think working during a festival is a small price to pay for a life of dignity,” said Nasiruddin, for whom “the uniform and the responsibility it brings” matters the most.