" And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”
-Abraham Lincoln
Shivers ran down my spine as I glanced at my TV.
As the news of the devastating earthquake in Turkey started flashing on screen I stood there motionless, my heart skipping a thousand beats..As I immersed myself in the household chores my mind kept racing back to 2001 when I was in Ahmedabad and we were at the receiving end of nature’s fury then…
The sudden rumblings awoke us from sleep on a Friday morning. It was 26th Jan, My sister's birthday. My mom grabbed my sister and I and rushed out of our eighth floor high rise apartment. We were left with no option but to stand outside the house with our neighbors and cry and pray to the God aloud. We cried and hugged as the building shook and shook and shook!!!!!There was fear written on our faces. Fear of the untamed fury !!!!!!!!!!
We rushed down the building as it ceased to shake. For the next 3 months we stayed at a rented house as there were cracks in the building that required repairs. Our neighbors had become an extended family sharing the same fear, the same feeling of homelessness and the same gratitude to have survived this disaster.
It has been more than 2 decades since this brush with catastrophe but the memories of the day are still vivid. I still reckon the jitters, the fear and the uncertainty of life….
In our materialistic quest
Some sorrows to share
Laughs galore to pair
A Handful of love to give
In every moment to live
Life is not in years
But in smiles and tears
Life is short, Life is uncertain
LIVE before it draws it’s curtain!!!!!!!!!!
