We, humans, have received a wonderful gift from God and that gift is life. He has given this gift to us so that we stay happy and enjoy the gift.
But nothing in the world is an easy task. If one chooses a shortcut to achieve something, the person will get happiness but that will exist for a small time. After that, the person has to bear the consequences of choosing the shortcut way in life. If one wants something in life, one must have the dedication to want it and must work hard in order to achieve that no matter what takes him to do that.
As there is a bad consequence for taking an easy way or shortcut, it means that life is not easy. Life is full of ups and downs. There will be both good times and bad times in our life. But we should not lose hope during bad times. Instead, we need to be strong and remove the bad air from our life. Our life will not go in an easy path.
There will be problems in our way. We need to face those obstacles and win over them. We should not back out or run away from these problems.
If we do not face them, we will not be able to learn anything. We will always be scared to try something new.
There many events or incidents that occur in our life. Some turn out to be a good one while some turn out to be bad. When the experience is good, people are very happy and cheerful. Their happiness has no bound.
But if the experience goes bad, people become disheartened. They feel like they have lost everything. They do not have the energy and inner self to do anything more.
But people should learn from these bad experiences. Some events turn to be bad and that happens for a purpose. A bad experience about anything teaches us to be confident.
Only after a bad experience, we will learn to be aware and work in a better way. A bad experience is necessary because only after a bad time we get to see a good time. Life is a mixture of good and bad times and it is not a bed full of roses.
I have experienced many bad times and a few of them have turned to be dangerous ones too. Those dangerous ones still haunt me even during day time.
If that haunts during day time itself then at night my condition becomes worse. I still have a fresh memory of that day.
It seems to me that the incident took place just yesterday. This dangerous incident took place on September 18, 2011. This day was Sunday.
Then I was studying in class ten. It was the week of my half yearly examination. The next day, that is, on Monday I had my Mathematics and Environmental Education Examination.
The weather that day was gloomy from the morning itself. It was raining from early morning.
Despite the rain we went to church. After returning from church we had breakfast. After that my parents were preparing for lunch.
In the mean time I was busy learning formulas and solving Mathematics problems. My father was giving me fried fish to eat while I was studying.
Soon it was time for lunch. We all had our lunch. It was not raining anymore but the weather was still gloomy. The entire day looked as if it is going to be night.
But it was still day time. After we finished with our lunch, we went to rest. I planned to rest for at least two hours as I needed a break from studying. A proper sleep would make my mind fresh to study in the evening and night.
After the afternoon sleep, we had our evening snacks. I went back to my study room to continue preparing for my exams. Meanwhile, my parents were watching television in the other room. I started studying Environmental Education. I was going through important topics and memorizing the necessary information.
Everything was stable at that time. After thirty to forty five minutes, I was studying the chapter on earthquakes and other disasters. Suddenly, I felt my study table is shaking and even the statues kept on my table were moving.
I thought this is happening because I have the habit of keeping my legs on the rod of the table and keep shaking my legs.
So, I considered that the movement on my study table was because of them. I was afraid in the starting but then later I calmed myself down.
Then, the house bell rang and the milk maid came to give milk. So, my mother went to the kitchen to bring a utensil to take the milk.
My mother just took the utensil and was going to the verandah; my table started shaking more than before.
My heartbeat increased and I did not know what was going on. Suddenly, even the electric water pump started to make sound.
The showcase where expensive utensils are kept, even that was making sound. The emergency light stand was kept on the dining table and that fell down.
At this point of time I got more scared. This happened in seconds. By the time my parents realized it is an earthquake, they were running out calling my name and asking me to come out.
First of all I was scared because of the first shaking incident of the table, this time I did not know what to do.
Hearing my parents voice, I was rushing out of study room but I didn’t know which side to go as there was no electricity. So, I could not see the way.
I was the only one inside the house at that time. Everyone was outside the house calling out my name. I started crying not knowing what to do.
I finally managed to find the way and I went out. I was crying very badly and held my parents hands.
The earthquake was a major one. I had never experienced this before. This was the reason I was very scared. While we were standing outside, the plates, that is, the outermost part of the earth was shaking very much.
We felt that the plates would break anytime soon and we all would go inside and die. Everyone was worried and we could hear the people shouting in the neighbourhood.
There was commotion everywhere. We were continuously praying and kept our trust on God that he will not let anything happen to us. He will surely save us.
After some time, everything became stable but still people were shouting in worry. We remained outside the house for some time and talked with the neighbours if everything was fine.
There was no electricity and all the telephone lines were blocked.
There was no signal in the telephone lines. After everything became stable we went inside and continued with our work.
I could not study anymore as I was horrified with the incident. So, I stayed with my father in the same room. We were waiting for electricity to come and for the telephone signals.
Electricity came back much later. As soon as the telephone lines came back, we started contacting our near and dear ones to ask if they were fine.
Even we were receiving calls from our other family members and relatives. They got a big relief when we told them that we all were safe.
Slowly, everything became normal. But I took a little time. I ate my dinner in fear thinking what if this happens again at night when everyone is sleeping.
After dinner my parents asked me to sleep because I was not able to study after the earthquake. Even they went to sleep.
But I did not sleep the entire night. I was thinking about the incident and my reaction was like what did just happened today.
Did it happen in reality? Or was it just a bad dream or a nightmare? I started getting negative thoughts and just waited for the sunrise.
I never experienced this incident before. So, I was very scared. Even if I become old, I will never be able to forget this incident because it was a first time experience and dangerous too.
This earthquake caused a lot of destruction. The earthquake measured 6.9 magnitude according to the Richter scale.
It badly affected the areas of Nepal, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Bihar, Sikkim and its adjoining areas.
The epicenter was in Sikkim and so it affected our place as well because Sikkim is only 152 km far. The earthquake was in the Kanchenjunga range.
After this earthquake, I have experienced earthquakes many times but the magnitude has never been so high.
The earthquake of September 18, 2011 made me more confident, bold and brave to handle incidents like this. After this major earthquake, we all became used to frequent trembling of the plates.
Thus, every incident small or big teaches us many things in life. We should learn from all types of experiences. These will only make us a better person in our life.
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