On the day after Christmas a fierce calamity struck the southern coasting of the Indian sub-continent and a number of other countries in the Indian Ocean including Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Somalia. The extent of damage caused in terms of human lives is huge. Nagapattinam, close to the Catholic religious shrine of The Lady Of Health (Velankanni) was the worst hit with casualties hitting more than two thousand and still counting. Most of Nagapattinam town shares it's boundaries with the sea and there are a number of hamlets that bordered the shoreline. All have been totally wiped out now, what remains are beaches lines with corpses of humans that were sucked into the sea.
The sight in Velankanni is even more ghastly, the makeshift roof setup for the midnight service on Christmas day was now sheltering dead bodies of people recovered from the sea and adjoining areas. Bodies lying to be identified or handed over to the near and dear ones. Imagine what would have been running across the minds of the innocent people, children especially when this had to happen when they were undertaking a pilgrimage. Without going into the ethical concepts involved here, none would have even dreamt of the calamity that was to befall them in the holiest place where people came to get rid of their sickness and handicaps. Is there a message to this? I am not sure, but this is definitely an indicator of one thing. No matter how much man thinks he is in control, that much more things are out of his control.
Cuddalore, a small town on coastal Thamizh Nadu (Tamilnadu) was hit badly. Chennai (Madras) and it's adjoining areas were hit too. Here the disaster was caused primarily because of vested interests allowing people to live dangerously close to the sea all along from Toll Gate, Kasimedu down to the Harbour. Kalpakkam, the site of MAPS (Madras Atomic Power Station) was shutdown to keep things under control. The township accorsing to witnesses bears a batterred look with virtually nobody there. I should say, this place has hundreds of families whose bread winners are employed in IGCAR and MAPS is quite a lively place in normal times. I cherish the moments I got to spend there in a pal's house in 2000/2001. The youth there are involved in all sorts of activities from sports, cultural and social. You can find elder people taking a walk in the township which has well laid roads which are brightly lit and it is absolutely safe to take a walk at 0000 hrs in the night.
Kanniyakumari, the southern most tip of the south indian state of Thamizh Nadu (Tamilnadu) was hit badly. There were visitors stranded on Vivekananda Rock when the Tsunami hit and had to rescued later by the Coast Guard. Thoothukudi (Tuticorin), Vedaranyam, Rameswaram, Pondicherry were all hit badly by this Tsunami. Loss of human lives would have been minimum had the civil authorities followed basic town planning rules of not allowing hutments and settlements close to the sea. The lack of political and administrative will is what should make us squirm because despite the tall promises that our politicians make, we know that they are all directed at appeasement. A long term solution would be to hit the root of the issue, make sure people are provided with the basic needs and stop dividing heads in religious lines.
One thing that is evident in the whole rescue operation is the coming together of human minds. Nagapattinam town is a Muslim majority area, you could find them running around to be of help in the rescue operations. Nobody wanted to save only a Muslim, all they wanted to see was one breathing soul in a heap of breathless bodies. This spirit was evident in all the areas, there was not a single instance where a person of one religion would hesitate to help another on religious lines. It's only the politician who keeps pointing to the dollar hanging around our neck, that sandal paste on our forehead, that thread across our arms. If not for them I doubt if we'd even care to notice that. At the end of the day, all of us breathe the same air, live on the same soil and one day will leave this place for sure. If only we can stop fighting in the name of God ........ I am sure we will. Adios !
