Tidal waves of terror

Thiruvanmiyur Beach
Originally uploaded by Prav.

December 26th, 2004
Tsunami what?? Why don't you just say tidal waves. Too technical, that word, lets keep it simple words.

December 27th, 2004
Excuse me, they are not just ordinary tidal waves. They are called Tsunamis. Tsunami is a Japaneese word - "tsu" means harbour and "nami" means wave.

What a crude way to improve one's vocab!

My cousin woke me up on Sunday morning. I was feeling so numb that I had no clue she was telling me about tremors which she felt. I convinced people at home that it was nothing serious and got back to sleep! Tidal waves - I've just read about them in my Social Science text book. And as far as I can recollect, they've never been associated with India.

All I heard in the morning news was "kadal kondhalippu" and I did not have a bloody clue that they were talking about tidal waves! My paatti went to the extent of commenting "Idhu ellam Jayendrar-ku senja anyayam dhaan". I couldn't help being my usual self and telling her "Paatti, Jayendrar maela earthquake case podaatha varaikkum sandhoshama iru!". The scenes on TV, I assumed were exaggerated. Day was just normal for me. I was just curious to go to some beach and see what it was . Some may call me nuts, but I spent almost the entire day in coastal areas - Elliots, Thiruvanmiyur and Mahabalipuram. Took a cam along to get a few snaps and people there looked at me as if I was some journo!

After seeing these places, I was pretty much satisfied that everything had been blown out of proportion by the media. The scene was calm and serene at all these places and hundreds of people just sat there watching the waves. I stared at it too - monontonous - have seen it so many times. Was just wondering what these people were doing there instead of watching a Sunday afternoon movie.

Seeing the evening dailies, I was in for a total shock. Death toll past 1000 in TamilNadu. Did not have the slightest idea that the matter was this serious when I visited all these places. This was a totally different picture being painted before me. Was just devastated at the scenes. Thosuands lost their homes. Many villages were deserted. People just moving within their own towns like refugees. Such a pitiable sight. Hope god brings solace to these people.

Knowing the unpredictability of nature, I guess its high time we have warning systems for all such calamities.