Remembering the buried
Living the horrible earthquake as a 9 year old boy.I remember that day as if happened yesterday.It still give me chills to think about that day.Who knew that such pleasant morning turns into domes day.
In most cases, the first class was Islamic or Arabic. The concept was that the negative shadows in the Holy Word should be erased, and the day should begin on a positive note. We used to learn Islam from Qari Iqbal. On that particular day, Qari Sahib was not present for some reason. During the free period, we used to get silver. We'd build a paper ball, wrap it in scotch tape, and play cricket with a thick-skinned book in the empty classroom. Even that day, we were playing cricket inside the door with a book and a paper ball.
Source : pintrest (VeraVise)
Even though winter had not yet arrived, the wind was blowing. Winter arrives early in mountainous locations. The green leaves begin to wither as the sun's heat fades, and their paleness increases. The swaying basanti(yellow) leaves break off from the branches and fall to the ground like a kite floating through the air when the wind blows.
It was just another ordinary day. The same routine, joyful children going to school, calling mothers waiting in doors, and adults dressed in terror and dignity, distancing themselves from the whole process, walking out to work.
Because we were playing cricket in the classroom, we were soaring through clouds of dust.At 8:52 AM, It looked as if the earth had ripped its chest open and sprouted a beard. According to Devmalai (mythological) legends, the bull that lifts the earth on its horns. Our hearts began to melt. This wasn't your typical sound. With hammers, the children's throbbing began to hit their chests.
This would have lasted two or four moments. We gazed at each other, regained our senses, and promptly forgot about that wonderful sound, returning to cricket. When the ball was only bouncing in the air, it collided with the ground. The walls started to vibrate. The roof fan swayed in the breeze like a swing. Everything was starting to come apart. It seemed as though a creature lurking beneath a classroom was transforming.
Source : History.Com
Our vision and consciousness were both veiled at this point. He found himself in an empty field in front of the school when the fog lifted. Nobody knew how the latch was opened, how the front gate was crossed, how it got past the sharp stones in front of the school, and how it got to the field.
Source : pintrest
In the open field, it was a nightmare. Girls and boys were sitting on the bare ground, terrified. The Kalima Tayyaba and Quranic verses were being recited openly by the teachers and those surrounding them. Even the children who had witnessed the grownups began weeping and saying La Ilaha Illallah. We were both trembling. The ground continued to tremble. It was a bizarre sensory world. The school's lone scavenger had no idea where he acquired the jug of water from.
Source : wikipedia
When the ground began to eat again, the children were being quiet by drinking water. The home in front of us, the trees growing between the houses, and the hills growing between the trees were all swaying inexorably, as if a boat had lost its balance in the sea and had been bounced off by the waves. The trees were still standing, but the houses were crumbling apart. The dynamite inside the hills on the higher side was exploding, as if someone had set fire to it. The massive structure was approaching us, rolling black stones. In such a setting, all of the children's fears vanished, and they all became silent. The unexpected hush of the weeping youngsters engulfed the senators.
Fear is essentially a protective measure of consciousness, and it can only be controlled for as long as the state of comprehension is comprehended. Both consciousness and unconsciousness are then suspended in space.
The Montessori and elementary sections of the school were on the second and third floors of a two-story structure. The ground storey of the building was home to a Punjabi family looking for work. Because of their skin, peculiar dialect, and huge number of children, these folks appeared to be isolated from the locals.
Source : Wikipedia
Although the epicentre was stated to be below ground, no tsunami warning was issued. From here to the open field, the schoolchildren walked comfortably.
From the east side of the building, I heard moaning and wailing. Two or four older boys raced towards the weeping since it was so loud. It happened as the lady from that punjabi house came out for something. When the tremors stopped, his attention was attracted to his two-and-a-half-month-old daughter, who was sleeping inside and had sunk to the ground, along with the rest of the building. This woman was in her worst condition possible. As a mother should feel for her child.
The lads walked inside when this woman said that she had arrived at a specific location to put the baby to sleep, and this innocent life remained. The walls and ceiling were totally buried in the earth, but two opposite door frames were discovered at this precise position, making a tunnel in which the child lay. The pressure of a shattered brick on the girl's chest caused her eyes to protrude out. She was handed over to her mother, the woman began kissing her. That day, I witnessed a maternal display that I will never forget.
Source: Al Jazeera
It should be mentioned that this was a situation that would not be conceivable in regular conditions. Every single person has been estranged from their senses due to their impotence and powerlessness. It was neither a psychological nor an empathic reality. There was a feeling of exhilaration and fainting in the air.
I was wandering in the open field in the midst of a storm of lamentation when I saw my father. Then it felt as if someone's feet touched the ground as if i was wandering in the air. Blood-related relations are truly unique. I was told that everyone in the house was alive, so I went with my father to my ancestral home in the village. On the way there was a world of chaos . All the houses made of clay had collapsed and their houses had been destroyed. Those who were living, desperately trying to rescue their loved ones from the debris.
Source : international rescue committee
When I reached the village, for the first time I realized the reality and fear of death. About forty members of the family, including children and adolescents, were dead. Which included very close relationships. Well, there was nothing new in that. That was the story of everyone. But one incident is etched in my memory forever.
There were plum trees in the yard of the house. Under these trees, there were intact bodies of about ten or twelve teenagers in school uniforms. Their numbers were increasing with each new body. Among these children, there was also my only cousin. His school was built with a mud roof over beams. As soon as the quake hit, all the children ran outside.
He immediately put on his new bag and ran outside with them. The roof collapsed. While running, the young man was hit on the head by a powerful beam. The skull of this innocent man cracked. I saw his lifeless body lying on a large, smooth rock, while the new bag was still tied on his shoulder.
It rained heavily that night. It rained a lot of dust. It was as if the ghats had been broken. The cold snap intensified. The corpses (which numbered over twenty) were lifted and placed under a half-standing canopy to protect them from getting wet. The rest of the people sat trembling under the naked sky. The severity of the cold became unbearable for me. I got up secretly and lay down among the corpses lying under the canopy. Socialism has taken place in the leaven of man. We also consider the human condition as a support to cope with the situation.
Source : AsiaNews
The next morning was full and bright, but the majority of those who saw it had died, and for those who remained, the magic was no less than a nightmare. One or two shovels were found and the work of crushing the dead began. Most of the young men were dead, so the digging was done by children, including middle-aged men. Collective funeral prayers were offered, corpses were wrapped in white cloth (which was available in very few places) and they were laid in a pit and the pit was closed by scattering raw mud on top. There were very few 'lucky ones' who got a white cloth or a separate pit, otherwise thousands of shrouded corpses would have gone underground in their original state of death.
Source : Researchgate
Some time after that passed in great misery. It was the month of Ramadan. People used to go hungry and break their fast. A roof-like facility was rarely available. These were the days of great carelessness for me. Such a close observation of the bitterest experience of death made me numb and rebellious. I wandered around recklessly all day. Counting the flights of foreign aid ships, looking for corpses while machines clean wreckage , and wandering around tents and huts to see the condition of the people who had been stoned.
Source : the dawn
A strange snake of joy waved inside me and I suddenly became young that the earthquake that happened is now school is gone forever. I was overwhelmed by the school routine and the work that came with it. Thinking of the perpetual ruin of the school, I would have been as overwhelmed by the server as I might have been by my neighbors playing.
These days of carelessness were passing when one day news came that the principal of the school had called all the children and their parents. My hopes were dashed. I had to go to school four times. There was a large gathering of children and parents. Principal Ghulam Hussain Wani, who was in a state of shock, delivered a historic speech. It was a great revolutionary genius. They are like
Source : The Wall Street Journal
A garden is called a garden as long as it has a flower camp. Our garden is desolate, but we have to beautify it. One should not expect any unseen help nor extend one's hand in front of anyone. We should all return to our homes. Rebuild them or dig caves and live in them but no one stays in the relief camps. The people living in the camps have no history and no certainty of their race. We will work hard and stand on our own two feet once again. Our children will read and we will teach them.
His words had a profound effect on people's willpower. It was a very effective conversation. People returned to their broken homes and gradually lives began to be built. We started going to school with full enthusiasm and as soon as we saw the garden started flourishing again. Today's garden is more lush and developed than ever before, but there is a dearth of irrigators whose bodies this soil has used as fertilizer.
It was hard writing about this experience. It took men days just to complete this. I hope i am able to portray what a 9 year old experienced on that day.
THAT'S S ALL FOR TODAY. SEE YOU SOON.
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