The Tree That Fell- (Gujarat Earthquake 1/26/2001)-By Ramanpreet Kohli

 

 
" And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”
-Abraham Lincoln

The sudden rumblings awoke us from sleep on a Friday morning. It was 26th Jan, My sister's birthday. Our parents grabbed my sister and I and rushed out of our eighth-floor high-rise apartment. We were left with no option but to stand outside the house with our neighbors and cry and pray to the God aloud. We cried and hugged as the building shook and shook and shook!!!!! There was fear written on our faces. Fear of the untamed fury !!!!!!!!!!

Amidst utter chaos and mayhem ,we rushed down the building as it ceased to shake. For the next 3 months we stayed at a rented house as there were cracks in the building that required repairs. Our neighbors had become an extended family sharing the same fear, the same feeling of homelessness and the same gratitude to have survived this disaster.

It has been more than 2 decades since this brush with catastrophe but the memories of the day are still vivid. I still reckon the jitters, the fear and the uncertainty of life….

How often do we forget
In our materialistic quest

Some sorrows to share
Laughs galore to pair

A Handful of love to give
In every moment to live

Life is not in years
But in smiles and tears

Life is short, Life is uncertain
LIVE before it draws it’s curtain!!!!!!!!!!


Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 28, 2023 at 4:49 PM

    Ramanpreet, I recall having read about the earth quakes in newspapers, but getting a first-hand account hits differently. It's good that you memorialized this in your writings. // Rakesh

    ReplyDelete

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