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Sunday, April 26, 2015

When the earth trembled

Just before mid-day on Saturday, April 25th, I was listening to an old boy making a presentation of a scientific paper (preparatory to a scholarship interview) when the earth shook. I do not lightly use words like ‘eerie’, but this was one eerie feeling if ever there was one. There was no noise save the boy’s soft drone and something sizzling in the kitchen when my feet started tingling first, and then my head began to swim. I actually thought I was having a stroke. I got up alarmed (probably to check if I still could) and then noticed that both computer monitors were swaying, and a glass tinkling against a teacup on my table, not just the floor below my feet. The young man was so engrossed in his talk that he had not noticed until I told him we were experiencing an earthquake. It lasted nearly half a minute, and what I did next was to ask Mayadi in the kitchen if she was alright. She too is middle aged and suffers from high blood pressure, so she too had had exactly the same premonition as I did at first, and the poor woman had also nicked her finger on a knife. I was about to hurry both of them downstairs when I realized that the tremors had stopped, and some superstitious folk were blowing conches loudly from nearby houses.

The internet was soon flooded with spot news. It was just as I had figured: it was a fairly strong quake, measuring 7.8-7.9 on the Richter scale (anything that is 8 and above spells MAJOR devastation), and had originated close to Kathmandu in Nepal; the seismic waves had spread all over northern India, including Calcutta. Within the first day the death toll in Nepal had crossed 1800; it made me sad to think that the Dharahar Tower was no more, and the almost-grand Durbar Square was badly damaged. There had been significant casualties in Bihar, and even in north Bengal. A massive avalanche on Everest had sent several climbers to their doom. Our National Disaster Management Agency had swung into action: let us see whether it covers itself in glory or turns out to be a damp squib. The kids that afternoon were less excited and panic-stricken than I had expected them to be, though some living in multi-storeyed buildings had run out into the street, and some reported that cracks had appeared on their walls…

Last time this town experienced an earthquake, I was talking to a man outside my door, and all the kids started screaming inside the classroom, but I felt nothing! And the one I remember before that was very long ago, when my sisters were still very young and sleeping beside me; the older one laughed later and said ‘Dada is so used to scolding his classes that he scolded even in his sleep, imagining someone was playing the fool, shaking his bed!’ Durgapur has never, mercifully, had any real earthquake, and I pray fervently that it never does. I love thunderstorms, and who knows I might even watch a tsunami coming before it sweeps me away, but this takes the cake: I wouldn’t want to be caught in one. My parents lived through several minor and one really big earthquake during their sixteen year sojourn in Sikkim. I would not want my daughter to live in a place like that. Sick to think of being buried alive. 

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Sir,
On one hand, people bereft of their beloved are mourning in Nepal. Thousands of people have been pushed into a dark, horrendous realm of uncertainty, who've managed to survive the calamity, but have lost their homes and are scrounging for bare necessities in order to sustain their lives.
And on the other hand, I see people of my age, most of whom have completed the much "coveted" B.Tech's and are on the verge of entering the job market, where they're surmised to be matured enough, both physically and mentally; so as to shoulder plethora of responsibilities (hopefully): are flooding the social networking sites with utter moronic "status updates". And one of the many goes like this "OMG; missed the earthquake...was sleeping....feeling sad".
Now you tell me, should I curse myself that I'm surrounded by these heartless pinheads? Psychological disorder seems to be ubiquitous these days.

Regards
Soumallya Chattopadhyay

Unknown said...

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/not-getting-it-right-how-insensitive-posts-on-nepal-quake-were-booed-on-social-media/article1-1341186.aspx

Something I just talked about

Regards
Soumallya Chattopadhyay

Subhadip Dutta said...

Dear Soumallya,

Yesterday at night in bed, I was thinking about the quake and it reminded me of the Bhuj earthquake in 2001 which led more than 20000 people to their doom and destroyed more than 400000 buildings. The fact that Nepal is a poor country and Nepalis are generally good people, saddened me even more. At one point of time I found that I was so lost in my thoughts, I did not realize when tear drops started rolling down my cheeks.

And then you speak of these - please pardon my language, but indeed they are - real f*****s! It is so sad and shameful to realize that we live in a world where such insects and suckers in the form of human beings are living all around us. Nothing matters to them other than making money and getting noticed, be it in a good way or bad. Helping people, apologizing, being sensitive are just publicity stunts for them. It was once taken for granted that these qualities should be inherent and an integral part of the human character - nowadays these are so rare traits that these are used as publicity stunts by the most inhuman people to make even more money.

We are heading into very very bad times Soumallya!


Thanks,
Subhadip.

Subhadip Dutta said...

Dear Sir,

Soumallya's comments disturbed me really badly. It may be a sin to say such things, but it is only when some dear one from their own dies in a natural disaster like this that these people will understand what loss is! Maybe that will be the time, I hope, they will stop thinking about making money for sometime.


Thanks,
Subhadip.

Subhanjan Sengupta said...

All of us had experienced quite a few short and low intensity tremors since then. I used to wonder why! But now I know it. And if this is true, God save all of us.

http://www.abplive.in/india/2015/04/26/article569022.ece/32-times-more-devastating-earthquake-to-hit-Nepal-and-India-Experts

Subhadip Dutta said...

Hi Subhanjan,

First of all I would like to know how you are. We have not met for years.

I just met our school friend Jishnu Banerjee here in Bangalore this week after 5 long years without any kind of communication, and both of us were so happy that we were feeling like spending the whole day together. Amidst the many things that we were speaking about, we discussed about earthquakes also.

Jishnu said he read somewhere that an earthquake of about magnitude 10 on the Richter Scale is about to come in the years ahead in India. This will be primarily because of tectonic plate movements below the Uttarakhand region. It will be a highly devastating earthquake, and the destruction can be so much that the landmass of India might get divided into 2 parts. The whole of Northen India is in a very high risk zone. West Bengal also is facing this threat. Both of us were planning the other day that we might need to shift our families to the southern part of India.

I am living in constant fear of losing my near and dear ones everyday after hearing this news. God alone knows what is going to happen.


Thanks,
Subhadip.