Personal Experience

Have you ever fall into a drain in front of a hundred people before? Well, maybe that figure is a little of an exaggeration. There were probably fifty people around instead of a hundred. Whatever it is, allow me to enlighten you on what happened on that night. It was a quiet night. I was alone in my room, staring blankly at the laptop in front of me whilst slowly sipping the hot drink I made earlier. I was savoring every delicious bit of the hot drink when all of a sudden, the light went out. I was in complete darkness and the blaring sound of the siren was echoing throughout the entire building. My heart began pounding as wild thoughts raced through my mind. What if the building’s on fire? What if there’s a madman on the loose in this building tearing from room to room terrorizing his victims? Deciding not to let my thoughts stray any further, I sprang out if the room to check on the situation. I noticed the occupants were reluctantly heading out of the building. Still puzzled, I blindly followed the crowd and I was led to the area in front of the ‘Kompaun Ubat’. Then the realization hit me. It must be a fire drill practice. Students from the male and female Nurani dormitories were gathered there. I scanned the area around me and found the sight amusing. It looks like a school assembly with the exception that, it’s close to midnight and nobody’s dressed in the proper attire. Some are in their fancy pajamas and some are just clad in an oversized T-shirt and shorts. Most of the students were downright annoyed with the unexpected fire drill practice as it was so held so late. I could hear mutters of complaints coming out from their mouths. Well, I can’t really blame them for that, I guess. Almost half an hour later, the officer in charge started to do head counts to make sure everyone was gathered there. He then scolded us for taking such a long time to gather at the area in front of the ‘Kompaun Ubat’. With a stern voice, he explained to us the importance of a fire drill and he sincerely hoped we would regard this matter in a more serious manner. The students listened meekly and some nodded their heads. After another few minutes, finally the fire drill was over. I grabbed hold of my roommate’s hand and motioned to her to make a move back to our room. We walked along in silence for several minutes, each caught up with our own thoughts. Then , without realizing the existence of a drain in front of me, I took a step ahead of my roommate and plunged into a wet, grassy drain. I didn’t even have the time to shout because it happened too fast. Fortunately, my roommate didn’t share the same fate as me. She instinctively halted when she saw what had happened and called out to me asking if I’m hurt or anything. I assured her I was fine. I was so embarrassed with what happened and I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. Students who witnessed this incident crowded by the side of the drain, asking me if I’m hurt or if I needed any help at all. I was thankful for their concern but at the same time I was feeling completely embarrassed with myself. All I could think of at that moment was to get myself out of the drain. Without much further thoughts, I gripped the upper corners of the drain, one hand on each side, and heaved myself out of the drain. Thankfully, I managed to get out of the drain relying on my own effort. Once I’m out of the drain, I headed back to my room quickly, hoping nobody would know that it was me who fell into the drain. But I think quite a handful of people knew that I was the one who fell into the drain. Oh well, that was a lesson learnt. Since then, I am much more alert and careful when I’m walking. It was a miracle I didn’t suffer any serious injury from the fall. I just had some abrasions on the forearm of my right hand, which scars of the injury still visible up to now.