Jus when I was thinking about leaving to Chennai and enjoying the term break Tsunami has struck...As I was in the college then, I decided to first go to Panruti and then go to Poombhugar to see what had happened accordingly I started off to Panruti and reached there by around 9.00 am in the morning on 27th...I stayed there for a day and on 28th I was off to Poombhugar.. on the way I also decided to meet my uncle's family and it was there I saw the tragedy that was Tsunami...There were hoards of people put up in the Temple at Thirukadaiyoor and they were well fed.. but there had been many casualties and everyone had a sad story to tell...the most saddening to me was that of a two month old girl child...it was found inside the damaged buildings….she had lost her parents.. they had either died or lost somewhere, with the first possibility more probable… a small kid of around 5 years had lost her parents and she had caught hold of this child… she doesn’t know what to do with this child... she herself had lost her parents and she is crying for the two month old kid…
All I could do was to give that girl some money and pray for them… it just feels bad.. I was unable to do anything…what should have I done???...what could have I done at that point…. All people there are in the same boat and no one would take the responsibility of the child…moreover there were opinions that had it been a boy child, may be a lady would have taken him…coz it was a girl, she had hesitated and refused to take her….should I pity the child or the women???.. Does this show the prejudices against female child or is it plain practicality???.... I couldn’t help the kid…but does that mean that I should not speak about that….the women who told that she would have taken the kid had it been a male…is she being practical or being whatever u call her….
I couldn’t conclude…may be we are conditioned to think it only in our own way…may be she is more long term thinker and had thought over all the possibilities… I couldn’t decide about this…
The role of Media though commendable would have been better ( IMHO)…should this be an opportunity to show the prowess of their photographers????....In particular Dhinamalar was pathetic.. Somebody can seriously tell the photographer that people would appreciate him driving away the dog that eats the corpse than shooting it in his camera… I don’t think this is Discovery or the National geography channel where they show the Carnivorous hunting other animals…this is one of the worst tragedy that had befallen the world.. And it would be much better to show some humanity towards the deceased than to claim photographical excellence..
The vernacular newspapers were pathetic in their business sense…one paper was proudly proclaiming that they have 12 pages of exclusive photos… as if this is another world wonders… simply disgusting…
One more thing I noticed was that there were more than enough clothes to the affected people… There was enormous support from all quarters of the country and in particular all parts of Tamil Nadu… I can see many trucks from all over Tamil Nadu arriving at Nagapattinam district, but I don’t know whether they reach the needy…
People expect Government to provide them with everything from shelter to food to clothing…. Will the Government machinery geared to face such a demand….
In Nagapattinam district alone around 12 villages have been destroyed and in Cuddalore district 3 villages have been completely destroyed… rebuilding would take atleast an year…I only pray it heals the wounds of the survivors much faster….