Suddenly there was some movement and my eyes opened. There was another tremor. A few standing walls collapsed, but then there was no further movement, I drowsed again.
I was standing at the gate of my farmhouse with my wife Roselyn and son Dhruv, a fine 9 year old lad. My father got out of the car, a beaming smile showing his joy. He helped mother get down, she looked frail, but happy to be with her grandson after a gap of five years. But somewhere in the corner of her eyes, I could see her longing for her homeland. She had come on a 2 month visit, but one look at her, and you will have no doubt that she will leave much earlier.
I took a week off from office, checked the urgent mails in night for half an hour, and all of us visited the places there. Dhruv never kept his video cam down, he was always shooting. My mother said “Child, why are you taking pictures of mountain and wilderness ”. “Dadi, it is not picture, it’s video, and the sights are awesome”. “Oh!” She resigned herself to silence. Only one month was over and we got a phone call at 8 in the night. My father’s brother and family had met with an accident while returning from our Tirupati. All of them were in serious condition. They were really close to us. Although there were two houses in the same compound, no one could ever tell who was where. This was a serious situation, one glance at their faces and I knew the vacation was over. I called up my travel agent, and he could arrange tickets for a night flight. All four of them would leave by the BA flight. I would join them a day later, as I had to spend at least half a day in office to assign the things to others so that my office would run in the absence of its Chairman. As I saw them off at the boarding gate strangely a drop of tear welled up in my eyes. I was surprised, I am one of the toughest guys and am hardly emotional. I quickly shook the teardrop off , how could the owner of a multimillion software firm cry ? No way. I drove home and was about to check my watch as I parked my car in the garage. It was 8.30 p.m. And my handphone rang. It was Dhruv “ Papa, the flight is delayed due to technical snag, next flight is after 3 hours. We’re back in the airport”. “OK, beta, I’ll join you at airport in 15 minutes. I started the car and was on my way to airport. I was at a crossing when suddenly a truck appeared out of nowhere, and there was a deafening noise. My windscreen shattered and out went the handphone.
The truck driver’s skill averted a major accident. A burly fellow, he was out on the road and motioned with his hand to me to come out. However much I tried to explain, all appeals fell on deaf ears. The mess was settled in one hour. Another one hour for the flight. I took a cab to airport, it was only 10 minutes away.
I paid the taxi and walked to the entrance of visitor’s area..5 Out of habit, I glanced at my watch, it was 9.53 p.m. A strange noise came out of nowhere, like the sound of cracking branches. As I glanced over my shoulder, someone pulled the rug from under my feet, and I lay facing the ceiling. I looked at the floor, strange, there was no carpet, only granite floor.
Oh yes! This was the airport, not my home, there was no carpet here. Before I could put things together, the building collapsed with a deafening noise. There was only sound of things breaking, there was dust everywhere and there was darkness and only darkness.
Oh god! What sweltering heat! My throat is so dry. I opened my eyes with difficulty, oh! It seems I am the only living being around. I somehow pulled myself up and walked ahead. And I fell down and was unconscious.
