It was a very hectic day started with a long to-do-list of tasks that I had planned to finish by that day as it was a blue Saturday, the gate of the week, 14th October (2017).
My employer normally serves up free meals for its staff as an incentive and that day I had no time to go to the canteen at the lunch time as I had a lot of tasks and number of deadlines to meet. Instead of going out, I rang the waiter and requested him to reserve a dish for me. So, I continued doing my business.
At 2:30 afternoon the stomach bell rang. I was forced to put all what I had down and went to the canteen to have my reserved lunch. When I arrived at the restaurant no one was there and I thanked God for that, I knew I couldn't entertain any joke or greetings whatsoever.
I asked my friend, the cook, to give me what he had for me and he did. As a plateful of boiled rice appeared on the table I unconsciously jumped to it and gave it a warm-welcoming, but with my right hand I remember.
Rice with fried fish is my favorite dish, if you do not know.
As I was about to swallow my second morsel, I felt that the food was tasteless, lacking salt, and I lost the taste of eating it. I looked around to see if the cook was there, unluckily he was. I did not want to discuss why and what went wrong with him, but I was planning to go to a nearby Badar Restaurant and leave that unpalatable dish behind.
This man was innocent and kind. He cooked, kept a dish and waited for me to come and eat my reserved lunch. So, I could not able to walk away. I had to change my plan as I did not want him to feel disappointed. "It is a moral obligation to me to thank this man by eating this lunch" I told myself and I did.
At around 3:05pm I returned to my office, sat on my chair and resumed the work. Few minutes later, a very huge bang shook the world over. The roof of our office collapsed and all my colleagues fell down forcefully including me and run out of the office while creeping as we thought that we were under Hiroshima and Nagasaki attack.
I remember falling down repeatedly and uncontrollably while I was on my way out of the office. It's that time when I touched every part of my body with my own hands to make sure that no part was missing. My colleagues and I met at the compound in a state of shock, but we managed to look brave as we started helping one another.
The whole sky was covered by dark smoke coming from somewhere not that far, just one or two blocks away. We all realized that it was an explosion but we did not know the exact location. I double checked my body again and I found my right hand bleeding after a broken piece of glass came out of no where dived in my palm, but it was a picnic and incomparable to the hundreds of loved ones who fell to the heinous attack.
Someone helped me with a piece of cloth and I folded it with my bleeding palm.
After minutes of confusion, not knowing the epicenter of the attack, the reality dawn upon us that the busiest (Zoobe) junction which was just two blocks away from us was hit hard by a lorry loaded with tons of explosives in a rush hour afternoon time. My destined restaurant for 'stomach shopping' was among the flattened buildings located in the widely known KM5, thanks God for not making me part of those who were in the restaurant when the disaster striked.
Thanks to the cook too who was there when I wanted to leave his dish behind and go to the scene of the truck bomb attack, though he don't know that he forced me to stay. Otherwise I could have been among those who were perished, injured or missing.
I have know myself being strong-hearted and steadfast in a number of black incidents I witnessed before but this shook me and took away all the hopes I had for this nation. I remember, I was looking for the best possible ways out of this country while I was on my way home that afternoon but all the methods that came crossed my mind were not genuine and digestible to me. Simply, my values and ambitions in life outweighed them.
I remember falling down repeatedly and uncontrollably while I was on my way out of the office. It's that time when I touched every part of my body with my own hands to make sure that no part was missing. My colleagues and I met at the compound in a state of shock, but we managed to look brave as we started helping one another.
The whole sky was covered by dark smoke coming from somewhere not that far, just one or two blocks away. We all realized that it was an explosion but we did not know the exact location. I double checked my body again and I found my right hand bleeding after a broken piece of glass came out of no where dived in my palm, but it was a picnic and incomparable to the hundreds of loved ones who fell to the heinous attack.
Someone helped me with a piece of cloth and I folded it with my bleeding palm.
After minutes of confusion, not knowing the epicenter of the attack, the reality dawn upon us that the busiest (Zoobe) junction which was just two blocks away from us was hit hard by a lorry loaded with tons of explosives in a rush hour afternoon time. My destined restaurant for 'stomach shopping' was among the flattened buildings located in the widely known KM5, thanks God for not making me part of those who were in the restaurant when the disaster striked.
Thanks to the cook too who was there when I wanted to leave his dish behind and go to the scene of the truck bomb attack, though he don't know that he forced me to stay. Otherwise I could have been among those who were perished, injured or missing.
I have know myself being strong-hearted and steadfast in a number of black incidents I witnessed before but this shook me and took away all the hopes I had for this nation. I remember, I was looking for the best possible ways out of this country while I was on my way home that afternoon but all the methods that came crossed my mind were not genuine and digestible to me. Simply, my values and ambitions in life outweighed them.
We will One day be among the peaceful Nation on the earth insha allah, thanks MOWLID.
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