Inspiring lines? But when you have to face it in the rough of things, it isn’t exactly so wonderful!
The news of recurring shocks to the Nepal’s topography was making headlines every day. It seemed like God was unleashing his wrath again and again on this small but once beautiful creation of his.
The rescue operations in Nepal had also been suspended. The airports were shut and hordes of people who could reach there in time were just hanging there in hope.
Around the same time, I met Lata, a well-spoken young professional in her mid-20s. She had been traveling on a company sponsored trip to Nepal and was one of the lucky few to have escaped the country in the evacuation operation.
Her story sent shivers to my spine. Lata was orphaned when she was a kid and she has sisters to take care of. While she has moved on and has secured the job of a business analyst in a reputed firm, her sisters still stay in an orphanage and are studying.
She narrated the story;
My friends and I had been to Pokhara for trekking while on our trip and after much backpacking fun, we decided to commence our trip in Kathmandu and relax our feet there. We reached Kathmandu in the night and just crashed, tired from the previous few days heavy activity. The next day we were having breakfast in the marketplace and our friends decided to go ahead and shop for local offerings. While I was sipping my tea sitting on the first floor of a restaurant, I could feel a slight tremble in her surroundings and within seconds, we were running down the stairs, just in time before the entire building collapsed in front of our eyes. We had no time to even contemplate or grasp their surroundings, their survival instinct told them to keep going on. Around them, buildings were collapsing, men, women, and kids were running in all directions. It was a do or die situation.
We found a taxi right outside the marketplace and had to pay five times more the fare to get to the airport. Our only hope was to catch a flight out. However, we were not the only ones with that idea, there was a huge queue by now, in and around the airport. The airport had been shut and all flight in and out of Kathmandu had been suspended.
I was reunited with my other friends here and together, we had enough money to pay for food and water, the price which had been hiked by five folds. We stood in heat, rain and earthquake tremors for the next 2.5 days until we were finally evacuated by the Air India flight.
Even today, I don’t feel very settled and am trying to overcome the trauma of the incident. What kept me going on was the thought of my little sisters, who could probably not handle one more tragedy in their lives and that she was the only earning member of her family. I felt responsible for them. I had left the orphanage quite some time back and thought I had a new life ahead of me, but this incident taught me once again the value of life.
Lata’s story made me realise how life is so unpredictable and all can change in a matter of seconds. It taught me to be grateful for what I have and who I have around me. Her story inspired me to keep building on my strengths and keep adding to my life skills, so that tomorrow, in case of an adversity I am able to face them bravely.
#khudkokarbuland
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