Today, 8th october 2005, at
9.24 am, as I slept late peacefully, the bed began to shake slowly. My
right knee, bent and raised, moved to and fro. Sleepily I thought that
my heart was beating too loud and the bed was moving to its beats. But,
a strange screeching and constantly grinding sound brought me out of my
slumber.
Everyone in my
building was rushing down in the open. I got up as they called out
asking me to get out of my apartment. One thought was to go back to bed
and let everything happen if it has to happen. Other thought was
a bit saner and urged me to go out. I dressed up quickly and went out
locking the apartment door behind me.
All my neighbours had
gathered in the parking lot wearing their nightclothes, bathtowels,
etc. They made an interesting group. The grinding sound was still to be
heard. I asked some people nearby about this sound and they were
surprised that I was hearing such a sound which they could not hear.
The last time I had heard
sounds of earthquake was way back in 1980 when I was a kid. That sound
was like a clock ticking digh-digh-digh. My mother had rushed to see if
there was any problem with the wall-clock, but then the earth started
shaking merrily and we all had rushed out.
Either I had developed
infrasonic abilities or I was a Dog in previous life. This sound of
today's quake was heard by me only in my neighbourhood. Strange but
true.