I was shooting a Keo Karpin commercial with KKR players (l-r) Piyush Chawla, Manish Pandey and Umesh Yadav in the Sunderbans lawn of ITC Sonar. At first, Manish and I both thought our heads were spinning! He hadn’t had breakfast and I was hosting a party at Myx the night before and hadn’t had proper sleep. Then we realised everything was shaking. There were literally waves in the lily pond! All the cricketers were evacuated from their rooms and while we were shooting we had an audience of KKR cricketers for a while! I saw Morne, Yusuf… Manish, Piyush and Umesh were considering themselves lucky that they weren’t in their rooms because we heard it was really bad in the rooms… the glasses all rattling. We could not shoot for 10-15 minutes because the lights, reflectors and diffusers kept falling. After that the shoot kept getting interrupted because of rain. The players left around 2pm.
Sonika Chauhan, model & TV anchor
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I was shooting for the film Mahanayika at a studio near Joka along with Soumitrakaku (Chatterjee). The set was that of a make-up room so we had lots of mirrors and a glass of water was kept on a table beside me. I saw the ripples in the water and the mirrors were shaking. Then a crew member screamed ‘earthquake’ and we immediately evacuated the floor. We were all running out and I held on to Soumitrakaku’s hand. We were outside for around 10 minutes and then entered the set again and there was an aftershock. Soumitrakaku told us that never in his entire career has he faced an earthquake on the sets. My prayers are for the people who are badly affected by the quake.
Rituparna Sengupta, actress
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I was reading a script. I thought my pressure had dropped, which is why I was feeling so giddy. Suddenly my family members came running and told me there’s an earthquake. I could feel things swaying but was in disbelief. We immediately evacuated our flat, which is on the third floor. We came up after a while and switched on the television and saw how huge the quake was. It’s really unfortunate that so many people have died in Nepal. Images of houses breaking and roads cracking were very disturbing... very sad. Mother Nature’s fury can make man feel so small.
Koel Mallick, actress
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I was doing an interview with t2 at my home on Lake Road. My wife Susmita suddenly said, ‘Earthquake hochhe?’ I felt it then. The furniture in my study was shaking. We waited for a few seconds but when the tremors continued, the t2 journalist and photographer, my wife and I rushed out of our fifth-floor flat. I managed to grab the keys, but left my mobile phone behind. We took the stairs since it isn’t safe to ride in an elevator during an earthquake. The fire-safety hose in the stairwell was shaking vigorously.
Many people had come out of neighbouring buildings as well, each busy narrating their earthquake tales. A ceiling fan in an adjacent second-floor balcony was shaking.
We walked up the stairs to our flat once the tremors had ended to resume the interview. Coincidentally, our daughter called from San Francisco — notorious for earthquakes — just as we felt the aftershock. This was the first time I experienced an earthquake in Calcutta.
Kunal Basu, author
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I was cooking Daab Chingri with Rakhi Purnima Dasgupta at Kewpie’s (for Culinary Journeys, a new show on CNN International). I suddenly felt dizzy and then everyone in the crew looked at one another and we realised it was a quake. After the tremors, we continued with the shoot. Afterwards I saw on the Internet that the official death toll in Nepal was huge.
Gaggan Anand, Chef
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I was in the hotel [ITC Sonar]. It was very scary. I immediately thought of the tsunami of 2006 and the devastation it had caused. These things remind you just how terrible a natural disaster can be.
Brad Hogg, Kolkata Knight Riders cricketer
Abir Chatterjee (@itsmeabir): Never felt a tremor like that..dont panic..stay calm..stay safe! #earthquake
Aniruddha RChowdhury (@aniruddhatony): Pls bhumikompo niye unnecessary keu Gujob charaben na ....boyosh hoyeche tension nite pari na...
Suryakumar Yadav (@surya_14kumar): Prayers to all my brothers n sisters in Nepal who have face this natural calamity.Stay calm.... Tc #earthquake #phewww
Jacques Kallis (@jacqueskallis75): 7.5 registered earthquake felt here in Kolkatta. A reminder how powerful mother nature is. Hope everyone is ok
Robin Uthappa (@robbieuthappa): My first experience of an earthquake! Kolkata went frm sultry to AC like weather in 2mins. A serious reminder how fragile and small life is. Let’s Be happy n grateful always. Let’s give as much as we can. #earthquake #respecttheenviourment #humbled
Azhar Mahmood (@AzharMahmood11): Earthquake lasted over a minute in Kolkata. I hope every one is safe. Just felt aftershocks.
Morne Morkel (@mornemorkel65): Nature just gave us a friendly reminder.. Hope everybody is okay.. Live life to the fullest..
Jeet (@jeet30): 25/4/15 prayers and hope there are no casualty damages or losses from the #Earthquake. Never experienced such tremor for so long..
