Water

She had just slept on the cement bench after a full night's work at the hospital.

In her dream, she saw herself being washed away in a flood with her children and somehow catching hold of a branch of some tree, they miraculously land on a small island.

When she awoke, it was already time to go home, cook lunch for the kids, send them to school and come back to the hospital. It was only a short break.

When she came back, she found that her husband had died. Too much alcohol.

She somehow didn't remember the dream, and the relation, for a long time.

She had better, bigger dreams to realise.

In hand

There is so much to do. So less time. I have never wished to have 28 hours in a day (while working in offshore rigs, who would!?), but now I do. There is so much I want to share with you all. All I could manage now are the photographs on my Flickr album. Will post more tomorrow.

[Photo:In Venpurusham village, this baby girl, Janani (meaning "giver of life" in Sanskrit language) would not want to leave my hand for a long time.She wore a beautiful smile on her face all the time and I could see why the affected people say that children are their biggest hope]

Sea hope

"Who wants to buy this ? Start your bargain..."

We were right in time to witness the morning auction of the Saturday early-morning catch. Visibly happy with the fish caught with new fibre boats given by the NGOs, the fisher folks are beginning to see hope. There is nothing else that can bring smiles to the faces of the helping people than seeing the fishermen return from the sea with a boatful of good catch.





(Photo below:) A good catch getting exported to Kerala state ...

sit, listen and learn

Later I go to the night school that has just started. Lakshmi belonging to the local fishermen community, has studied till the 12th standard and has volunteered to teach the children when they come back from school. Fifty five children from the village come here every evening to sit and study for three hours under a lightbulb on the roof of Lakshmi's house.Initially they think that I will "speak only in English" and later ease up when I speak in normal Tamil !

Suvetha is reading "Anne Frank's diary" in her English text book, while Vanmathi has been finishing her homework - Question: " What are streams and the sea compared to? Her answer:" Stresms are compared to religigions and the is compared to God".She has decided to swallow the sea today and forgot that she has already written the gi. I point this out and she bites her pencil in reply, but "I will correct it with my new lubber". Five minutes later, her answers emerge. Impeccable in good handwriting.

There is a Hermione Granger in the class - Vaideeswari ("I am Vaideeswari. I am studying in Seventh Standard A section Sir"). She knows almost everything in the lessons that have been taught at school and never misses a chance to jump up and down to answer questions. She knows in which sections, the exam portions have not been covered and what Vanmathi does not know in a subject.She then volunteers to teach them! Clever and helpful.

And then there is Ron Weasley - Chandru. Forever smiling and the center of all attention because of his pranks and jokes. While sitting and teeaching him, I notice his half finished English homework. "Write these words in one full page" -- " boy toy baby web". I remember wondering the choice of words for a imposition. Web? Why web? No idea! I am only happy if Chandru finishes his homework in time which he does prompt and proud ("How is my English handwriting, Sir?")


(Photo left: Children studying under a light bulb in Sadras)
Lakshmi, the teacher says that the children have become more sincere since the tsunami. They are more focused and have put behind the disaster. Often, one parent or the other peeps in to check how the kids are studying and go back home with happy and proud faces. It is such a good thing to see them study and play.





(Photo below: Kids playing in Meyyur kuppam in a playpark donated by CRDS)

that day

Though I dont want to remind him of that day, Kumar talks of the black Sunday which no one wants to remember, but can never forget. It was around 9 in the morning, when they had returned after the daily catch. As usual the fishermen stood on the beach, repairing and knitting their expensive fishnets when the first wave spilled sea beyond the usual limits and started dragging the nets and boats.He clearly remembers everything - as a natural reaction, without thinking much, without seeing much into the sea's plans, they ran towards the waters trying to save their means of livelihood- the boats with engines and nets. While running, some of them saw the Kalpakkam nuclear reactor's cooling tower platform being swallowed by giant waves. This one scene ran a shiver down their spines and that moment, they shouted and screamed at each other to just leave everything and run to safety, damn the boats and nets.

(Photo: Boats and nets spread out on the beach)

By the time they reached high ground, the waters had reached well beyond the main road - around 400m from the usual sea limits. Astonishingly, the children had run to safety and crossed the backwaters, minutes before it was inundated by the tsunami waves. It is their observation and relfex action that saved hundreds of lives that day.

(Photo:The platform to get water for cooling the reactor can be seen at a distance)
Kumar recounts with gratitude that without the NGOs, it would have been difficult to survive the tough times. The Government relief efforts came late, but the NGOs made sure the people had food, water and shelter. "The whole thing lasted less than 15 minutes, but that was more than enough to wreak damage of a scale I have never seen (or want to see) in my life, says Kumar. "When we saw the sea, it was like a giant monster sucking pump - after all the waves hit the mainland, they were sucked back with such force that it just pulled anything and everything in its sight into the sea. We could see almost a kilometre into the sea - the troughs and dunes.So, we ran back in as far as we could salvaging anything useful. Our friends who had gone into the sea came back and thought that they had reached some other village. They could not believe that their village is devastated by the same sea that was so calm in the middle"

I patiently listen to his narration, wondering how a fisherman would have felt in this drama. I ask him about the black sand and whether this is because of the nearby reactor - he does not know "it has always been like this".

By the black sands

A group of people from this quiet fishermen village - Sadras (Sadurangapattinam) have come to meet the CRDS director to discuss the rebuilding plans. "Would you like to go with them and see the night school there?" asks Father Yesu Antony and I readily agree.

Winding through State Highway SH 58, we pass via the temple township of Tiru kazhu gundram (where, for hundreds of years, two eagles have been coming to the top of the hill to eat the food offered by the temple priest). All along the way, there are hundreds of giant cement pipes that have been dumped as part of the much-emobroiled-in-poltics-and-controversey Veeraanam Water project for Chennai city. The route is scenic and with good Tamil songs in the FM Radio keeping us entertained, it is almost easy to forget why I am going there. But, I don't.


Sitting in the front seat of the Matador van, I take down notes on the roads, on interesting things that come in front of us (the herd of sheep, the occasional "tea-kadai" (Tea shop) and the scene around us. The first signs of the village approaching are when I see the "Department of Atomic Energy" buses coming in opposite direction, taking employees of the Atomic Reactor plant, back home. The Eucalyptus and Casuarina trees and the beach sand announce the proximity of the sea.

That is when Kumar points out the nuclear reactor and its chimney to me. A new 500 MW plant is under construction and it was affected by the tsunami. Different people say different things about the impact of the tsunami on the reactor, but then who would know the real story anyway?

Amit Varma writes in his blog,

"Dr Pugazhenthi gives us a guided visual tour, from the beach, of where the reactor is. It is right on the shore, he shows us, and he tells us of how the waves penetrated the pumphouse, flooded the motor there – needed for cooling the reactor – and tripped the system. A safety engineer in the turbine room noticed that the system had tripped and effected a shut-down of the reactor. (There were also rumours of a small fire in the turbine room, which was soon brought under control.)

No issues there.

“A bigger problem than the reactor itself,” he tells us, “is the waste-management faculty, which is a kilometre from the shore. The waters did not go that far this time [they went much further in Nagapattinam, though], if something like this happens again and they do go that far, it could be a disaster. If the affluents there leak out, marine life across the coast would be devastated. It would be a massive environmental disaster."

Anyway, we reach Sadras and I get down to see the situation around. Kumar and I sit on one of the damaged boats to talk. I am careful not to ask the typical 'disaster-tourist' questions --- "How did you feel on that day? "How far did the water go", "What were you doing when the waves lashed?", "How was the scene like" etc. So many people must have asked him the same questions in different words and he must have answered them all, the patient person he is. The past is behind us. I remind myself that for the short while I am here, let me get to know my people and see if I can be of some help in their efforts towards a normal life. And do all that I can to make a difference in some way.

I sit quietly looking at the gentle waves trying to reach our feet. That is when I notice something abnormal in the sand.

Daily routemap

Tracing Tamilnadu's roads ...



Map copyright: www.Mapsofindia.com

In her eyes ...

" It is so important for adults to see children play again," she says. "It makes us smile. It restores our hope in future."
(From TIME, issue 4-Apr-05, pg 31)

Very true indeed. In every village I go to, the children seem to have coped up with the disaster better (though I hear of parents talking about how the children can't seem to sleep in the night sometimes). Their world, though washed away by the tsunami, has not turned totally dark. In Sadraskuppam, I observe them as they excitingly talk about the "otta pandayam" (running race) held last week. Lakshmi, the night school teacher made me distribute the gifts for the race - one pencil for Chandru (First prize), a 10cm plastic ruler for Suvetha (Second prize) and a eraser ("lubber") for Vaishnavi (Third prize) . Hope personified. In front of my eyes.



Photo by me on 21-July-2005

Five point plan

I learn that the long term work to build back the lives of people is grouped broadly into ..

1. 1. Livelihood (Boats, engines, nets and other means to earn)
2. 2. Shelter
3. 3. Women and children
4. 4. Counseling
5. 5. Non-fishing (Helping Non-fishermen and other fishing-dependent people)

Photo: Repaired boats in Sadras village

Meeting

Disaster victims – we have to recognise their aspirations and capacities and not just show their vulnerabilities and fear while talking about them” – from the Red Cross web print out on the notice board.

Father Yesu Antony is the Director of the CRDS. Simple, dedicated and kind. His short speeches in the two day Orientation meeting (for Tsunami rehab workers) are highly motivating. Just enough to push you through the tough day and still feel happy for being there. I consider myself lucky to land just in time for the meeting. Sitting among the different people who have been working in the relief and rehab work, I feel a little useless or bad for not being there when they needed volunteers the most – during the first few weeks after the disaster struck. These are the people who were providing food, water, shelter and kind, solacing words, which the government could not provide for weeks to come. I notice that more than half of them is women – mainly from the fishermen community. There is Mangai and Selvamani who are secondary counselors , and Lakshmi who is a night school teacher in Sadraskuppam (Sadurangapattinam).

I am learning as much as I can in these two days so

that I can hit the road soon.

I might have less time in hand, but lots of hope and desire to help.

Photos:

Top: Meeting room

Right: The nice hut where we had lunch

First day

Schlumberger -> UNDP/UN Volunteers -> Chengalpet Rural Development Society (CRDS)

Place to go: CRDS Center, Thimmavaram, Chengalpet (55 kms from Chennai)

How to go: Take the bus from Asarkana, St.Thomas Mount or take one of the regular shuttles from Tambaram railway station.

I chose the latter. Traveling from St.Thomas Mount to Tambaram takes about 30 minutes in the Electric Sub-urban trains (called EMUs). From Tambaram, the frequency of trains to Chengalpattu depends on which time of the day it is. (During peak morning and evening hours, you can catch a train every one hour). It takes an hour to reach Chengalpet from Tambaram.

The Chengalpattu railway station is a quiet one - striking contrast to the busy and over crowded stations of Mumbai.

“Will you take me to Kallarai Thottam (Cemetry Garden), Thimmavaram?” I ask one of the auto drivers (Muthu), and looking at his puzzled look, his friend shouts “CRDS da dei”. Muthu readily agrees , “Muppadu rooba aavum saar” (“Thirty rupees, Sir”). Post-tsunami, the CRDS has been visited by a lot of people – volunteers (part-time, long-time), people from CARITAS India, other relief and rehab workers, “disaster tourists” in search of stories and the likes. So, the drivers know, just by looking at you why you are here.

The auto passed underneath the newly-constructed flyover, which, strangely has no posters – “Mana vizha”, “Iyarkai Eidinar”, “Captain azhaikirar”, “Suvishesha nar cheydi kootangal” or some movie posters that so ubiquitously plaster the walls of Chennai. The fly-by-night-poster guys must have realized the uselessness of marketing on this fly over which does not attract or retain any eye balls.

The first thing that catches my eye is the signboard and then to my right, the big white-walled cemetry and hundreds of crosses (on graves). The statue of Jesus erected in February this year, in memory of those who lost their lives in the disaster, reminds me of a similar place in my School- St.Michael’s, Coimbatore where, we used to pray every day.