I pulled myself up from the rubble and looked around. Not a soul ! I was bleeding from my chin, my elbows and knees were bruised, my jeans was torn in many places, white kurta had become a mixture of brown and yellow, but there was no pain, only numbness.

I couldn’t believe it. Yesterday this was a town full of happiness, bustling life and loving neighbourhoods. Today! there is nothing but debris that meets the sight. All the buildings have turned into heaps of brick, and gravel.

The reality that this place was struck by an earthquake is yet to sink in. There is nothing left here. I was trapped under the debris, but was saved by an unbroken bent beam that took the wrath of the collapsing building. I looked around, there was no movement, no sound, no life, nothing.

As I slowly waded through the debris, making way to the next village, my thoughts raced back in time. I went back 30 years in time. I was a five year old kid, holding the index finger of his papa and smiling at my grandpa repairing the fence. Papa sat me on the swing in the courtyard and went ahead and planted something in the garden and watered it. “What is it?” I was unable to resist asking.

He came to me, patted my head and said “ this is a mango sapling that will become a big tree full of fruits and your kids will love eating them from the tree. “ What all are you telling the child!” my mother remarked as she took me into the house.

Ah! I almost fell as I tripped over the branches of the uprooted tree. Was lost in my own thoughts that I never noticed it. Thoughts race back in time.