30 minutes ....



Date: 8th October
Time: 9.15 am

Woke up in the morning..around 9.15. Done with the ablutions, I reach out for the newspaper and take my seat on the sofa. I reach the sports page, when I feel myself moving about on the sofa....I was thinking.."Why the crap am I moving about, when I dont want to? "...2 secs later, I realise its the sofa under me that's moving...


Time: about 9.35 am

I rush into the room where Thangi, sloshed over from last night, was sleeping like a log.... "Get up Thangi, the building is shaking....WE GOTTA GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!!! GET UP!!!"



Time: about 9.37 am


I am making my way down the stairs, as are all the other inhabitants of the building. I hear a "Dont Panic" being shouted by someone. Somehow, that seemed to have a calming effect on people. The last thing you wanted was people rushing down the stairs like mad.


Time: about 9.40am

I just get out of the building and look behind...Thangi aint there. "I did see him following me...may be he's on his way down" -..................................................."Heck! I better go up there and get his ass down!"


Time: 9.45 am

Excitement and a sense of fear was thick in the air. Thangi, Kallu and Myself and a large number of tenants....standing in front of the building....discussing, the possibility of yet another tremor.


Epilogue:
An Earthquake measuring about 7.8 on the Richter Scale hit several cities in Pakistan in the morning of October 8th . The impact was felt throughout Afghanistan and Northern India. Delhi and cities around it felt the tremors at 9.30 am in the morning. High rise buildings were left particularly shaken by the tremor lasting for about minutes in Delhi.

I'm back on the blogosphere ...at last! Its been a whirlwind of travelling, adventure and tons of fun the last few weeks. It began with Chennai (as mentioned in my last blog), then Goa happened out of nowhere, followed by a week's trip to Penang in Malaysia, rounding it off with trips to Raipur and Nagpur.

First stop - Goa

The trip was an outcome of a 4-month sales contest. Some non-sales guys including yours truly was invited for the event, since we had in our own ways, directly or indirectly contributed to the success of the sales contest, acheived the targets,increased distribution etc etc - bottom line being, our company just got a lot stronger and richer :)

The trip was 3 day one, spread over the weekend. Being my first trip to Goa ( I didnt do it in engineering or in b-school!! I know....I'm a loser!), I was looking forward the one place my friends couldn't stop glorifying. And I wasn't disappointed.

3 days we partied on like crazy dudes on LSD (its a similie...i didnt do drugs!....and i'm not being defensive either!! ). The most enjoyable part was when 6 of us, took 3 bikes and rode off to Palolem Beach.

Here are some pics from the trip...


With friends just before the evening cruise


The amazing Goa beach backdrop...and me :)














On our way to Palolem Beach



On the Experience Rating Scale..I'd rate this trip AWESOME!