“Baby, did you feel that?” I asked my wife, who was sitting on the couch.
“Yes,” replied my wife, who was now panicking, because she gets migraines a lot and feels dizziness, but I never ask her about the room moving and so she lost it.
She immediately ran out our 34th floor high rise apartment in Bang Cha, Bangkok, Thailand.
Meanwhile, my son is crying hysterically standing on the couch, as our living room sways back on forth, living room and kitchen appliances falling to the ground.
I pick him up, grab our passports and sprint out the room.
The first site we see are two Thai girls crying and screaming at the top of their lungs. In shock, they do not move. My wife and I immediately yell to them,
“Run to the stairs!” pointing with our fingers.
Obviously, elevator would be a dumb move because what if we get stuck. Then, we’re really f*cked.
Anywho, we run for dear life down the stairs, where we are met by a mob of people running down the stairs.
It looked like something out of a movie. Zombie Apocalypse or something.
Old women and men walking backwards for fear of falling.
Stupid a*ss guys WALKING while texing on their phones. Like WTF!
With my son in my arms, I’m sprinting down the stairs with my wife closely behind.
We ran down from the 34th floor to the 19th floor.
And I’ll never forget, it was when we reached the 19th floor, the swaying intensified and I’ll never, ever, be able to unhear the screams of people, and the look in their eyes, of, “Is this how I’m going to die?”
I’m not going to lie. I had the exact same thought in my mind when our building was shaking and swaying side to side…
It literally felt like the building was going to collapse like a deck of cards…
I asked God, in this exact moment, “Is this how I’m going to die? With my son in my arms and my wife beside me?”
I did not hear an answer, but I did say a prayer…
“Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum…” repeating it over and over and over again.
I then made a deal with God…
I told him, “God, please let me my son. I’ve lived my life, but my boy is so young. Please God let my son live. Please allow me to use ALL my athletic abilities, all the training I have done and allow me to run as fast as I EVER have in my life, for this exact moment. I don’t care about the trophies, wins and losses. I need you now God and I need you to please let me run as fast as humanly possible, RIGHT NOW!”
And so, I felt a push and higher energy rushing through me, as I began to skip two steps, three steps, four steps, and five steps.
By this time, my wife said to me, “Go save our son, you guys go ahead.” To which I replied, “No, we’ll go together, we can’t leave you behind.”
She instantly replied, “No, SAVE OUR SON!”
I said, “Are you sure?”
She yelled, “Yes!”
And so I ran with my son in my arms like I NEVER ran in my life.
It felt like I had wings.
I raced down the stairs, weaving through people, and yelling like the man in the Titanic, “Please, I have a baby!”
People began to part like The Red Sea and I charged forward like a Bull.
I was now running faster than everyone.
All this while, the building is still swaying.
Unfortunately, four girls fell onto one another, and twisted their ankles.
But I could not stop, I had to keep moving for my son.
I ran in desperation to give my son a second chance at life.
I ran and ran and ran…
Leaping flights of stairs…
Weaving through people…
Yelling to everyone, “Run faster! Run faster! Run faster!”…
And after running for dear life, with extreme desperation, and fear of dying and not being to save my son…
My son and I had made it to the Ground floor, where we were met by an old woman, holding the door open for us…
WE MADE IT!!!
OH MY GOD. Guys, I had never felt and let out such a big sigh of relief in my life.
I could not believe we were still alive and made it out of the high rise building which nearly collapsed.
My son and I continued to run to safer ground and away from the building now in the sun.
We both were still worried and scared for my wife who was still inside.
We waited, and waited and waited…
And finally, we saw her run out of the building as well.
We all gave each other the biggest hug we’ve ever given.
And ran FAR AWAY from the building for fear of it collapsing.
Fortunately, it did not collapse, but other buildings in Bangkok were not so lucky.
Several buildings collapsed and lives were lost that fateful die.
As someone who witnessed live, from my 7th Grade window, The Twin Towers collapse I was traumatized and this day brought back those harrowing moments from my childhood.
I wish no fellow human experiences what we went through.
We have a second chance at life and I promised God to make a positive impact on this world and help others.
Rest in peace to all those we lost that day in Thailand and Myanmar.
And may we all find joy, happiness and make the most of our time here on Earth.
With a heavy heart and lots of love,
Sonam
