THIS happened a few years ago on a visit to San Francisco: The room shook one night. I could feel the tremor; I looked around, where was I supposed to run, or was I supposed to run? The room shook again and I ran to the doorpost and stood under it, somebody I remember had told me that it was the safest place to run, or had he told me it was the wrong place to be under during a quake?
Where was everybody else? Why was no one panicking, I stepped out from under the doorpost and looked out of my room, nobody else seemed perturbed. At breakfast I told my cousin about the tremor. He laughed, “That was just a tremor,” he said, “This is San Francisco Bob! It happens all the time!” The next tremor which happened a few hours later didn’t have me bothered. I’d got used to it!
I realized in San Francisco tremors are common and they even have a cute word for it; ‘Trembly’, but quite often even in this city, that same tremor turns into a huge earthquake and there’s tremendous damage and loss of life, in fact some have been so bad that gigantic bridge spans lying broken on the ground remind residents of how severe the damage has been, and underlying everything about the city and suburbs of San Francisco is the very potent message of being careful it could happen anyway again!
People have been advised how to put up their buildings, residents have been told how to handle each little tremor and everybody’s been told not to take any of them lightly. But everybody does! It so reminds me of how we become immune to anything bad when it happens often! Either we say no to it right at the beginning or we get used to it. Especially now! There a hundred and twenty million migrant workers, starving and terrified. The first pictures of them walking home, had everybody horrified, and then we got used to it. Did you help them?
Or taking the government’s, ‘Stay at home’ with a pinch of salt, like going out to play a game of cricket or sitting with friends in common areas: Slowly we get used to disobeying these directives, till one day, the huge earthquake of disease and disaster strikes, to you, through you and to your families! Listen to the tremors, but don’t become immune to them. Heed them and guard yourself against them before you lie crushed by a giant earthquake..!
