Rise of the Fallen

The land started vibrating with terror, but the hearts of people were shaking more horrifically, with mild pain and with fear mostly.  The basic rule of the life was to save yourself first and then think about others. The rule was being followed with pleasure. People were running unconsciously to a larger space, an open land with no buildings around.

The mega quake was notifying them that life was not bounded within one’s hand; it can be sabotaged by some external factors too. The buildings were moving wildly; the scared public was watching the mishaps hoping that it would stop now but the stubborn nature was not satisfied with the destruction caused already.

Death, yes death is one thing people are scared of, until they realize they have lived their part and the fear can make the strongest person, the weakest of all. The disaster took many lives and sucked major portion of the tears from the people’s eyes.

What people wouldn’t give to ‘time travel’, so that they could save everything they could? The country which was the richest in culture, and the heritages, was being robbed by the nature ruthlessly.

One moment everything was normal, and then everything changed. People would say change is inevitable; anything could change in a matter of seconds. It was actually being true in reality.

 The cracked buildings were unsafe to be resided, so people shifted to the temporary camps  for a few days as the earthquake was greeting with frequent tremors, to let us know that it was somewhere around.

The strange sky with superstitious minds of people was disturbing the naïve mind of Naren, who lived as a tenant with his parents at New Baneshwor and the quake affected their residence along with their hearts. They had shifted along with a large crowd to the nearby school, as they thought it was safer than the cracked building.

There were no tears in Naren’s eyes but deep inside, he was scared. The crude age of ten was not an age to witness such mass destruction.

The whole neighborhood was present inside the school compound, reserving the places for their family. Each family brought a mattress, blanket, everything they needed, and some utensils to cook food for their family.

The rumors were spreading faster than the tremors, that the earthquake would again struck at certain time and destroy everything. But we all knew that the rumor was only destroying the delusion, everyone had that the disaster would end soon.

Naren was trying to distract his mind, playing with his nearby friends, with his parents watching him closely as the fear would demand surveillance. The sound would greet us first, and then the earthquake and the playful feet of Naren would come running towards his parents.

The daytime would go slowly as everyone would tangle themselves in gossips and forecasting that when would the next tremor arrive. Naren was dozing off on his mother’s lap and his mother, Maya was caressing his hair slowly.

Naren couldn’t even sleep peacefully as the next tremor would obstruct his good dreams as the reality was a nightmare to him. The shaky grounds would wake him up, to hug his mother tightly, hiding his face, pressed hard on her stomach.

The geologists had predicted the tremor would continue for seventy two hours and urged people to reside in an open place for the next three days. Naren had never lived outside, other than his house.

“Do we need to stay here forever, Mom?” Naren asked his mother. The innocence could clearly be seen on his face.

“We’ll move back soon baby. Don’t worry. Look there, your father and me, we are here with you. Don’t be scared. We are here with you.” Maya comforted his child.

Naren was still inside his blanket, looking at the open sky, hoping it would all end soon. Maya was boiling noodles for the night. Naren ate it quickly as the hunger was much stronger factor than fear at that point of time.

Naren studied in the nearby school in Grade four. He found out that some portion of his school was affected by the calamity. There were cracks inside the building.

The sleepless night was being caused by the frequent arrival of the uninvited tremors. Naren had to wake up every now and then to watch the ground vibrate. It would take more than an hour for him to sleep again and then again, the tremor would greet him again. The routine continued till the morning.

Everyone had hoped that the morning would be a different start and it would bring changes to the current situation but the earthquake didn’t even bother if it was the morning time or the night. It struck again, deep inside the minds of the people affecting them mentally.

Thankfully, the media was alive and working perfectly to let the people updated about the current state of the country. Naren heard about the deaths of people in many areas, the collapsing of various buildings and the lives of people being affected.

He knew that he was also a victim but he found out that there were people who were affected way more than he was facing then. He felt for them, the people who lost their lives. It stayed inside his mind as an image, which would distract him now and then adversely.

He went through such devastation in such a small age, and to find out death is a scary thing at such an age would create a mental illusion. Naren heard that there were people who had lost their child, or their parent or a relative. He was grateful that nothing happened to his family.

He then, walked back to his house to get some things for his camping. He walked with his parents but he couldn’t take another step when he saw the big building as he feared, it would fall down on them.

He was inside his house, watching television when the quake greeted them for the first time. He had never gone though such experience. His mother had gone to a nearby shop, to buy something and he was all alone at home.

He saw people rushing outside. He could feel the grounds shake but he was numb, he didn’t know what to do.

He heard someone calling his name, “Naren! Naren!”

It was his mother, who was in tears. She would have blamed herself if anything had happened to her precious child. She carried her son and ran towards an open space.

His father carried him, seeing him terrified and walked back home. He asked Naren to stay in the small ground, which was near their home. He could see his house from there and then his father along with Maya walked towards home.

Naren sat down on a small stone, on the ground watching his parents, unlock the doors and get inside the house.

The parents were gathering the required items as soon as they could, so that they would not become the victim of another tremor while they are inside the house. Naren was still watching them from a distance. Then, suddenly the ground started to shake again.

Naren stood up from the stone and screamed, “Mom. Dad.”

He then started running towards the house, as he didn’t see his parents coming out of the house. But the earthquake had already stopped, for the moment. He was scared, really scared. His tears could show his fear as he cried for the first time after the major earthquake.

His parents came running outside the house, hugging their only child.

“Don’t cry baby. It’s alright. We are here. It’s going to be okay soon. “Maya comforted him hugging him.

“Now let’s go back to the school. It’s not safe here.” His father said.

Maya wiped the tears from his face and walked towards the school again.

The days passed by with a lot of tremors and the increment of people’s fears. The two days were the longest of their lives. The sleepiest person would suffer from insomnia. The foodie of the group wouldn’t be hungry at all.

The two days passed by with lots of shaky experiences and the mini heart attacks, arousing from the innerest part of the body.

People were getting used to the frequent shakes after the three days. The people returned back to their respective homes after four- five days. Naren, along with his parents, returned to his cracked house, but the crack inside the heart caused by the disaster was more painful than the cracks inside the house.

The next day, the owner of the house brought the engineer to check his house, and the engineer said that is was safe to reside in the building. The cracks wouldn’t matter at all.

The school and colleges were still closed as lots of renovation was needed to reopen. The children were at home, all scared and with boredom, as they had nothing to distract them. Naren went inside his room, only after ten days. He was scared that, the quake would strike again.

He couldn’t sleep properly.  He would watch his mom sleep, and finally doze off, usually at midnight and the earthquake would wake him up again, in the morning.

Naren wouldn’t eat properly too; he didn’t even watch his favorite TV shows. He was lost inside his own world. He was always quiet. He was affected by the earthquake adversely.

He would always think about the disaster and death at such a small age and there was nothing, his parents could do, to divert his mind.

The school remained closed for a month, but the working mom and dad had to attend their work but they couldn’t leave their child behind, all alone, in that horrifying situation.

They used to take turns and attend their work as one would go work, when the other is looking after Naren. This continued for almost two weeks.

Then the school reopened, along with the green sticker stuck outside the building, ensuring it was safe for the students.

The school had some unnoticeable cracks but it was marked safe, by multiple engineers, so the parents were convinced that their son was safe to attend classes.

Naren was getting ready for the school. He was staring at the cracks of his house. His mother saw him staring and said, “Don’t worry. Everything’s getting better now. Nothing will happen.”

Then finally the bus arrived for his school. Maya walked with him to the bus stop and waved him goodbye with a smile. He forcefully smiled back.

He was sitting in his regular window seat, with Bishal, his classmate. Bishal  was talking with him but the scenes outside the window made him ignore everything Bishal said.

He could see the buildings, all destroyed and some of them with cracks that couldn’t be mended and the tents of people on the footpath, as all of them were still settling down outside their home.

He finally reached school, where all the teachers personally guided them to their respective classrooms. The classrooms were in the first floor for the preliminary weeks.

The teachers were trying to divert the students’ minds, with some stress free games, but deep inside, they all were scared.

Naren was finally diverting his mind inside the classroom, along with his friends, but the image that’s been portrayed inside his mind needs time for its effects to minimize permanently.

The activities inside the classroom, finally forced out a smile from Naren’s face but they knew that children are affected, badly and they just need time.

The major calamity has changed many lives, affected some adversely. It took many lives, and affected some mentally. The physical effects as well as the mental ones need time to heal. The disaster has brought changes in the lives of the people.

The difficulties may arise now and then, but the time it takes to heal is the toughest of all.

Naren, the small child has witnessed such a frightening gesture of nature that, his ripe mind would need time to get him back to normal phase. Like Naren, there are many children, who are going through this phase.

The earthquake has been a nightmare, which has ended physically but will affect many people mentally, as a never ending nightmare.