The weather was cloudy from the morning so I was expecting heavy rain in the afternoon. I never liked the rain, so somehow the weather had influenced my mood. I was in the café far from our house with brother. We were meeting after a long time, so we were chatting. I was playing with my phone so I didn’t notice at first. Brother paused and alarmed me that the ground was shaking. Then I felt it too. Slowly we walked down to the door frame. I could still feel that the ground was shaking like the ‘Columbus’ that we used to play at Fun Park. I lost my control watching the motorbikes crashing and people rushing on the road. The situation was a complete mess. I grabbed my brother’s hand and thought it was my last day on earth. I thought the whole 2012 things that people used to talk about were going to happen. I was so scared. I thought of home and the people here. I tried to call but the network wasn’t working. I was so scared. Deep inside I was thankful that at least I have my brother beside me to take care of me. The shaking stopped for a while. I took a long breath and thanked God for saving everyone out there. I thought the earthquake was a usual one like we used to have before. No, I was wrong this time. The ground started to shake again with small aftershocks. That took my breath away.
We didn’t feel safe there and came down to open space. The ground was so crowded. Kids and women were screaming and crying. I felt like crying too but controlled myself. We waited there, thinking that the aftershocks would calm down. My heart shattered when I saw the pictures of collapsed Dharhara, the tallest historical tower of Nepal. I couldn’t see the photos of people and heritage sites that were destroyed by the earthquake. Then I realized that it was devastating. I felt like crying so bad from inside because nothing was the same as before. Still I wasn’t able to contact anyone from my house. I stayed in the open space with one of the sisters I know for 6 hours without even knowing it was so late.
“Hello?” My heart rushed with joy when I heard the voice on the phone. It was Bec speaking from home. I was happy to know that everyone was safe at home. After half an hour my mates came to pick me up to home. We walked home. On the way I saw that many houses and walls were collapsed. People were out in tents. We came back home. It was so good to see everyone. We had dinner and slept on the ground floor. I was so scared. I couldn’t sleep. Our boys, Bec and Rohan were our heroes of that night. I am still so thankful for their help.
About Sabitri
Sabitri is a first year student of Bachelor of Laws at Kathmandu Law School.