The Memorable Earthquake

I was born and brought up in Bongaigaon, a town in Assam. Our house was located at a distance of 1 KM from the town’s main road, a place named Dolaigaon. I still cherish those golden days, when everyone seemed to be so simple and approachable. Despite the frequent minor differences among some of the matured ladies, the entire neighborhood was like a big family. I remember the usual evening power cuts during my childhood days. Whenever there was a power cut in the evening, we used to come outside our house. Pretty soon, most of the people in the locality would gather out there and everyone used to stroll in the nearby lane. It was definitely the best time of the day, as so many people strolled together and everyone used to gossip. I immensely enjoyed those power cuts, as we had the opportunity to take a long break from our boring study. 

Those days, it was quite difficult for anyone to maintain any kind of privacy for too long, as most of the people had a pretty good social network. The social networking that time was very much similar to today’s kind of social networking. The only difference is that, instead of the "calling bell" sounds at the front door, now a days we used to hear some beep kind of sound or some pop ups or some red color notification on our mobiles/computers. During my childhood days, there was literally no chance for any of the families in the neighborhood to avoid any of their festivals and not throwing a party.

I remember the Bihu and Mahashivratri celebration at my childhood friend, Bhupen’s house. Bhupen’s father was a true follower of Lord Shiva, so he celebrated Mahashivratri a little graciously. Oh! The Poori Sabzi, was so delicious and on every occasion, I used to have countless number of poori’s.  On one such occasions,  I think I was in my 8th or 9th grade that time. I and my elder brother, who is 3 years elder to me, went to Bhupen’s house. My father was not in the house that time and my mom decided to stay back along with my sister.

As soon as I entered Bhupen’s house, I was totally enchanted with the mesmerizing  smell of the Poori Sabzi. To be honest, that was the best Poori Sabzi, I ever had in my entire life. That evening also I had countless number of Poori's and we returned home with our overloaded stomach. I and my elder brother used to share the same room and once he left for the engineering college, the room was entirely mine. After we came back to our room, my brother got busy with his studies and I just lied down on the bed. All of a sudden I felt a minor earthquake and out of panic, I immediately got up and shouted “earthquake, earthquake, everyone come out of the house”

Within no time, my mom, brother and my sister were outside the house. I expected most of the neighbors  to be outside their respective houses, that was the usual scene whenever any  earthquake used to occur. But I was very much surprised not to notice anyone there. My mom said it must be a very minor earthquake and even she couldn't feel it properly. So, we all came inside the house and I, along with my brother entered our room. After a few minutes, again I felt the tremor and that time it was quite bigger, as the floor and the walls of our room started to shake.

I was so horrified and screamed "earthquake, earthquake, everyone quickly come out of the house" That time also, in no time, everyone was out of the house. I said to them "Have you guys felt the earthquake this time? This time it’s much bigger than the previous one" 

Everyone looked very confused and even I was also surprised, as apart from us, the entire neighborhood were inside their houses. 

Soon we came inside and out of confusion my mom asked my brother "what happened to him?"

My brother replied “nothing, I noticed him, when he was secretly having those white fluids at Bhupen’s house."

My mother again got confused and asked "what white fluids?"

"BHANG BHANG ..." he screamed.

(Some form of marijuana, prepared with milk )

My mom was so shocked to hear that and without saying anything, I immediately went to sleep. I was so horrified and wondered how my father would react, the next morning. My father is a very religious person and to my surprise, he didn’t say a word to me that morning. In fact, he didn’t speak to me for the next 2 weeks.