4.2 on the Richter Scale

Last night, I was trying to put my 9 month to sleep. He had just finished his last bottle and I was lying next to him on my bed, cuddling up with him. It was about 11:20 pm,(My LO sleeps late) and all of a sudden, my bed shook very hard and there was a loud rumbling. And just like that, it was over. It only lasted a few seconds, maybe 5, but I was in tears holding on to my son for his dear life. And, truthfully, in those 5 seconds, I had all of Japan's Tsunami TV images flash before my eyes.

It was an earthquake. It was the hardest tremor I have ever felt and it really terrified me. I screamed out for my husband. He came in and said, " I know, its OK." But he found it very funny that I was scared. I told him to hold on to the baby for a few minutes while I composed myself. I had tears in my eyes as I thought of what could have happened if it had lasted longer. In those split seconds I had visuals of rubble all around me not being able to help my son and that truly scared me more than anything in the world.

As the news reports started pouring in, we came to know that it had only been 4.2 on the Richter scale with the epicentre at Sonipat, which is about 50 odd kilometres from Delhi. As far as earthquakes go, this was not huge. There are about 6200 earthquakes per year measuring 4.5 or less on the Richter Scale. Since, the epicentre was extremely close to us, we felt a massive jolt. Our parents and relatives started calling to make sure we all were fine. There has been no damage reported from this incident.

As I woke up this morning, I felt very lucky to not live in a country like Japan where tremors like these may be common. But, it also makes me wonder about things like terrorism. We have no control over nature; but why do human beings choose to harm each other? Why do they feel the need to take some helpless persons life when there are no guarantees about their lives as well. Have we forgotten that there are forces larger than us in this universe? Whether one believes in God or not, one cannot deny that there is no control on things like weather, calamities, etc and those can be categorized under Forces of the universe.

Hope everyone is Safe tonight. And with that thought, I sign off.