I reached the land of Rising Sun on March 6th , and the first day to office itself was something special..It was snowing in the morning in Tokyo. It snowed till 12 PM, which was something I saw for the first time in my life.I felt so happy and everyone welcomed me back saying the same.A day after that, I remember it was a Wednesday morning .We were in office and suddenly the building started shaking.At first I could n't believe, but it was a pretty big one lasted for 1 or 2 minutes. Soon everyone shouted yes it was a big one of magnitude 7.2 with a tsunami warning.But nobody cared as its not something new here.One more day went as usual, to reach the big day , March 11, 2011.
It was a fine friday , we planned to have Korean lunch.The lunch was too good.We came back to office for a meeting at 2 PM.The friday meeting started at 2 PM and went on discussing updates and all. The meeting got over early that day at around 2:45.Our manager just got up and opened the door, soon the building started shaking.I felt like I was floating.The first hit was a big one and it went on.We waited it to get over.I was getting slipped from my chair, tried to hold the table, but I could not.Everyone expected it would get over in sometime, but it didnt..The natural swing continued for minutes , soon the announcement came that it was an earthquake and we should not use elevators..I have never heard this kind of announcement before in our office...The swing business continued for minutes now, and then we saw the disaster recovery volunteers started moving here and there.Some of my friends came out of their work place wearing helmet and the emergency kit.The company provides these to every employee and the emergency kit along with helmet .
The announcement started coming in Japanese and in english. We had to vacate the work place and assemble at the centre of the building.
As I tried to walk I realised the intensity of the quake.I could not make out if I was not stable or the floor.I reached my place and took my helmet.Then I picked my bag instead of the emergency kit thinking if I somehow survive the disaster, there should not be any issues in reaching home.It should have my passport with me :)
When I came to the core area , everyone started teasing me for taking the bag instead of the emergency kit.But I was not alone , there were many people who thought the same as me :P
Everyone enjoyed the get together at core area for some time.The announcements started coming in with updates.Some food and water were arranged at cafetaria.When we felt thirsty , we decided to have some water.The big screen TV at cafetaria showed some shocking videos of tsunami.At first I could not make out where it is, later I saw its at Sendai ,150 Kms away from Tokyo.Suddely I realised I do need to make a call ,else my family would get scared.We got to know calls cannot be made from our handsets as there is no network now.The landlines at conference halls worked.So I talked to my parents after 2 hrs of the disaster and the so-called-disaster was still happening.My mother was almost down with tension and they were trying to reach me for past 2 hrs.
Finally the continuous quake stopped, and it started shaking in every 5-10 mins.When they announced the public transport was ceased , we had to think about alternate plans.I decided to stay with my colleague , who is staying near by .That night I could not sleep , the building was shaking every 10 mins.I reached home next day afternoon.I didnt have much hope that our building will be there after this massive one.But to my surprise the building didnt have much damage ,only that the stove got displaced and was hanging on the gas tube. :)
But the quakes continued for entire week and after 4 days Indian companies started calling their employees back from Japan.Finally we reached bangalore on March 17th.But even after 1 week I could not get over from the shock.Those 5 days I spent in Japan are the most unforgettable days in my life.I had no hope that I would survive this and reach India safe.
An interesting which I realised while experiencing the earthquake in Tokyo is :
Make full use of the time you have.You never know when you will be asked to wind it up.When you are asked to do it , It will be all of a sudden , and you will have a big list of wishes to complete in no time ! :)
