Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network - Kasargod (SP)
Kasargod, May 9: "We survived the earthquake scare because of the protective hand extended by the Lord. During the first 70 hours after the quake, we had been rendered orphans virtually. At last we could reach our homes safely," says Mohammed Azhar Ali (26), who reached his home in Deli in the district a week after he came back unscathed after the earthquake in Nepal threatened the lives of himself and his friends.
"At around 11.30 am on April 22, I began my four-day tour of Nepal along with five friends. At 6.30 the same day, we reached Kathmandu. We then travelled 110 km and booked room in a resort there. The next day, we reached near a bridge located by the side of a tourist spot. When we were engaged in adventure sports, we saw that huge boulders were falling down a four-km high mountain. We felt that some strange calamity like earthquake was happening. So we rushed towards our resort, and learnt about the earthquake.
"The walls of the resort where we stayed had developed cracks. Some lives had been lost in the area where we stayed. As the situation posed risks, we opted to stay in the open. Our fears turned worse when we found that we were unable to contact anyone. Our attempts to contact our close ones back home proved fruitless. We did not have food to eat," he explained.
"On April 27, we came to know that bus was available to the airport from Barabasi, about 20 km away. We walked this distance and reached there. We reached Kathmandu through a bus from there. From there, I could call my brother, Aziz, and tell him that we were safe," Azhar said in a voice choked with emotions.
He said that he availed four days off from his job in Dubai, to get rid of the fear that had entrenched in his mind, and that he would return to Dubai on May 10. Azhar Ali, working as chartered accountant for a private firm in Dubai, had gone to Nepal with his friends, Tanveer Rautar from Ernakulam, Majal Moidin from Kannur, Niad Khan from Hyderabad, Sunil Gandhi from Mumbai, and Anil from Talassery.
Azhar Ali, who went directly to Dubai from Nepal, came home after spending a week there. Relatives and friends have been making a beeline to his home to meet him and congratulate him on being safe.
Azhar said he came to know about the death of Dr Irshad from here and Dr Deepak from Kannur in the earthquake, only after he reached Dubai.