My+First+Bomb+Blast


 * I teach in a school which has about 500 staff and over 10, 000 students. So, it is quite big. **


 * Once during a routine exam…. (they take place almost once every month), there was a massive sound, the earth under my feet shook. There was smoke every where. I just stood there lifeless, the blood had drained out of my body. The girls in my class dashed outside. I just stood there, not sure of what to do. …should I call the girls back for their exam or run after them. Amidst the screams in the corridors I decided to run after them…a wise decision. A bomb had exploded close to the school premises. **


 * For all of you, who have never been in a bomb blast, the mobiles are the first things that stop working. All that you can hear are the sirens outside of maybe the fire brigades, the ambulances, the police cars or maybe all of them all together. The girls were all over the place, screaming their heads off. The air was full of smoke and pieces of broken glass. There were white papers flying everywhere. Someone shouted, **


 * “Get the girls in the main ground, away from the buildings!” **


 * Again for all of you, who have never been in a bomb blast, buildings fall on people and crush them alive. In all this hue and cry, all of a sudden, I said to myself, **


 * “MALAIKA!” **


 * Malaika is my daughter, who was five then. I rushed to her class. Her class was empty as was the entire school building. The Junior Section girls had been assembled in the bus parking area. I hurried there. The bus park was full of little terrified girls. But my daughter was not there. I was screaming her name but none answered. I spotted a few of her friends in the crowd. I asked them about her but they knew nothing. **


 * Oh my god, my daughter! **


 * By this time I had gone half mad. My daughter! I just couldn’t find her. Someone told us not go near the car park. This is the section behind the school building. The bomb had exploded near the car park. Again, if you watch those enlightening educational bomb blast videos, you will know, that the normal procedure is, to have a small blast. The people panic and come out. Then have a larger blast, to kill the whole lot of terrified people gathered outside! I made my way to the car park, hoping and praying to find Malaika cuddled in the back seat of my car. But she wasn’t there. I was in tears. **


 * I found an unmarried colleague of mind (she had no children of her own to hunt down). I asked her to help me look for Malaika. She agreed. We both frantically started looking for her. We found Malaika among a large crowd of howling girls. The search might have taken me about 15 minutes. But it seemed like ages and ages to me. Malaika was fine. She was just quite. She knew something was wrong, but she was too small to understand what had happened. I heaved a sigh of relief, hugged and kissed her. I was going to survive the bomb blast after all. **


 * I went back and found my sacred girls. They wanted to talk to their mothers. My mobile was working by then. I offered them my mobile. They hysterically called home. They were weeping and understandably so were their parents. Luckily no student was hurt. **


 * I wasn’t worried about my son, he was seven then, and his class was in the front section of the school. My son had enjoyed himself. He came home very happy. He had had a good day. The exam had been cancelled. Hurray! He had a lot to share ! **


 * “You know what Mom! There was blood outside every were. Little children were dying. ..hundreds of them!” **


 * School was closed for a few days. My children couldn’t have asked for more. **


 * The day the school reopened, we were called for an emergency staff meeting. We were told that the teachers had mishandled the situation. **


 * “Teachers were crying. They were rushing after their own kids. And some stupid ones gave their mobiles to the girls to talk home and worry their parents and create panic!” **


 * So, what are the roles and responsibilities of a teacher during a bomb blast… I wonder what....Are they written somewhere? **


 * I am going back home…. my students need me! **


 * You can read the BBC newspaper article about the bomb blast behind our school from the link: **


 * @http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8554850.stm **