"It was an 8.9 in Indonesia and I felt it!!! I felt it Rock my bench!!!"
It was incredible, alright? My first tremor. It actually was pretty nice. I was at the Uni sitting and eating lunch on the bench just outside class. All my classmates had left because the department had let us go early today (Damned earthquake couldn't have come on a day when we actually have marathon classes till five :-|). I decided to go to the library and do some reference once I finish my lunch. Gingerly, I sat between my seniors who were preparing for their Viva Voce and talked nonsense. The Head of the Department and the other teachers were inside the room judging them.
So suddenly I feel the bench rocking, as if someone was rocking it on purpose. I shreik out loud asking Gayathri akka if she was doing it. No. She gave me this look saying I was doing it but NO. Even as the three of us were wondering what this was ( I didn't want to shout out loud and scream like an idiot) Vialli comes up with this super theory about how the room below has a higher ceiling and their fan has some turbo speed thingy that kind of reverberates on the floor sometimes. :) :D
By this time Asha has come out, we ask her to sit on the bench so she could feel the tremours and she takes a few seconds to believe that I actually am not shaking the bench! And then we alert those inside. I gobble my lunch, pack my bag and jog (JOG) downstairs.
All of us now on the ground, we notice students and profs from other departments crowding outside. The whole campus abuzz with people talking excitedly (a rare sight at the Uni). The beach of course is just across the road. A worried Head of the Department asked us first years to leave home ASAP. The seniors and the HOD share a joke about how the earthquake came because all these people did their viva pretty well. :P Which is when twitter tells me its an 8.9 in Indonesia. (Twitter savy me) After spreading that bit o news to those near me I realise phone networks are jammed. I texted a few, called three four people, wanted to tweet to Sharon Thulasi but couldn't. By now phone is incapable of even completing calls.
I plug in my earphones, tune into FM and hear Radio Mirchi Senthil going "தமிழ்நாட்ல இப்போ நாம உணர்ந்த நில அதிர்ச்சி வந்து இந்தோனேசியால வந்த 8.9 hectare (யேய்! அது ரிக்டர் யா!) அளவு பூகம்பத்துனாலதான் நு நமக்கு...”
I cross the road, take 27h from Anna Square. Outside the window there was no surf on the sea. I spotted couples far away (couldn't make out if they were making out), groups of old men sleeping on the lawns, the samosa sellers and a couple of dogs drinking water from the sprinkler. As if nothing had happened. On the opposite side of course Ezhilagam is full of people waiting anxiously with their bags for buses. No one is in the aavin store (They have awesome hot milk). All along the side of the road people standing, the bus stops and is immediately fillled with aunties and uncles carrying leather bags and pseudo Tupperware lunch boxes.
What was different today? The men and the women excitedly exchanging how water cans shook and how they couldn't call their respective husbands and wives and stuff. Sinking back into fm I hear this chennai live RJ wanting to ask a live caller if police protection has been given to people in potentially dangerous areas (Ummm? Dude?). This earthquake is fun, I agree but I don't think police really can save people from tidal waves.
I find mum and uke half way. They waited for me near a chaat place (The chaat place, Kolkata Mithai bhavan) I realised it might be my last day on earth so I grabbed a plate of pani puris and then we decided to go to T Nagar to get the little miss a pair of Jeans. NaiHa helped us just right. The akkas talking about how they didnt feel the tremour. ( I did! I did I did I did! My first tremor!) I grab a cone ice cream and a nice black top I am gonna wear on friday and reach home.
To type this out and put it on damned FB. God I need to get a life. Pretty soon. But in case the world does come to an end before that, I'd have atleast told my little world about the first tremor that actually rocked my life.
PS. The only seemingly negative thing about YOU being the 'Feeler' of the tremor is that you're the one calling people up and texting people to see if they re alive. I anxiously (read excitedly) call my mum and she goes "என்ன?? நிலனடுக்கமா?? நாங்க ரோட்ல இருக்கோம் இங்க எல்லாரும் வெளில இருக்காங்க செரி சீக்ரம் வீட்டுக்கு வா T Nagar போலாம்...”
