Earthquakes, tremors,after-shocks

One of my all-time favorite mother-son anecdotes ( from much before cancer became part of our vocabulary) is watching the movie Dil Se on the tv in Ludhiana - with everyone sprawled all over the living area. Me on my designated armchair with U ,who would be 3-4 years old, and suddenly the earth shook. For a flash of a second there was day-like light and birds came flying out of their nightly resting places. As soon as we realized the magnitude of what had happened ( am not going to refer to google for the correct citation but think it was Uttarakhand) the usual conversation went to the fragility of life. U asked if that meant we could have all died? Remember telling him it would have been the safest and blessed way to go if we were meant to go.

Reading various posts in the aftermath of the Nepal quake, and yet again wondering about the fine lines between being and nothingness -  about the daily tremors in our lives and the instinct to sustain life and yet being aware of the finality of all existence. Can't help ( sincerely don't mean to downplay any fears - to fear death is NORMAL) but treat the running down floors/ evacuating buildings as a metaphor for surviving the cancered life. Every minute of it. Is a run to survive. To sustain. To just be.

P.S.  sorry about the missing laughs but perhaps this post can be taken only with an extra pinch of salt?