Sometimes tremors are good
Couple of days back , there was a strong tremor in Delhi NCR. People were getting ready to go to bed. The strong jolt forced people to get out of their homes. As anticipated the epicentre was in Afghanistan. Few interesting things happened because of this jolt:
I saw people clutching different things in their hands while coming down. Few carried their passports, they have dreams of going to Canada. Few carried their college certificates. They might be eyeing for job switch or higher studies. Few carried snacks and water in case spending night or next morning out of their house. Few carried their wallets and car keys prepared to spend night in car and to have some money to purchase essentials in case. Few carried their baby diapers and food. Everyone had different priorities and what they carried, spoke volume about their priorities in their lives.
We came to know how many people are actually living in the colony, who are our neighbours and their family members. There were peals of laughter and friendly banters exchanged. Many people talked to each other for the first time. People were confident that tremors were no longer coming back and no more trouble to their lives and houses. It’s rightly said that strangers are friends not met yet.
Almost everyone told me the first thing they did was to go to balcony when they felt the tremors. We don’t want to waste our time going down. We wanted to make sure that those were the real tremors. This is our old habit. Whenever there was power cut in my house, I used to go to balcony to see if there are power cuts in our neighbours house also. This is not only me but almost everyone’s habit. We don’t panic to see our misery unless the same is happening in our neighbourhood.
Many people had to come out of their houses through stairs even from the 40th floor. Nowadays buildings in societies are mostly skyscrapers in Delhi NCR. Lifts were stopped. Few had nightmares of the lifetime while getting down through stairs because of old age and comorbidities. Many people had on the spot fitness test of their lungs and hearts.
I remember a similar earthquake tremors were felt in Delhi NCR a decade back and people had to come out of their houses in the middle of the night. These memories are few of the lifetime moments and we remember them always. It’s rightly said the fear brings people closer to each other. It gives opportunity to meet and know each other specially the people in our vicinity. In our hectic life spiked by ego and arrogance, we don’t bother to give even a harmless smile to those living on the same floor. Sometime these tremors not only shake the foundation of tall buildings but also shake the mountains of arrogance in us and make us more like human.
