The voice from the nearby dargah prayer tower called out to the devout to offer prayers. I lay on my bed. It must be five in the morning. I can laze for a little while before I get up.
Last night Athamma gave us a few anxious minutes. She is not well these days and has a pack of medical disorders which is difficult to cure says Appa. She is my father’s aunt and I have always known her to be an energetic woman. She has never been sick though she nurses sick people very well. I chance to see the calendar on the wall and realise that exactly four months ago the killer wave struck. Since then, Athamma’s health has been deteriorating. Before long, I was diving into thoughts about the Black Sunday.
On that fateful morning, I was playing outside our house with my brother Kumar. Our house is close to the sea. Suddenly there were frightening noises and people were shouting ‘Water! Water!’ and ran past us. My father who was just leaving the house told us ‘Run! Run away to a safe place!’ As disciplined children, we asked no questions, and started running.
Soon we saw many people running from all directions towards the main road that goes to the nearby town. Some were yelling, others crying. All these panicked us further. We ran quite a distance on the main road towards the town. Kumar tripped and fell down and was not able to get up immediately. I looked around in terror and asked a man standing there ‘are we safe?’ he gave me a weird look and said ‘nobody is safe my son!’ and broke into a sob. I struggled to hold back my tears and hurriedly tugged at Kumar to get up and we continued to run though at a much slower pace.
We were now really far from our village. We were exhausted. We saw small groups of people standing here and there. They were wailing and talking loudly of which we could not decipher much. Kumar said that he would not be able to budge an inch and so, we sat under a tree nearby. After minutes of gasping, we regained normal breath and slowly felt pain all over the body. We had bruised our legs and hands and had some bleeding injuries too. Nevertheless, the feeling of being in a safe place and with my brother comforted a little.
As time went by, more people started gathering on the road and the place was becoming noisier. One woman walked towards us, looked intently into our faces, and turned away wiping her tears. Then, she turned around and asked for our names and about our village. Initially I was hesitant to reveal our identity to a stranger, but Kumar gave her the full details. Kumar being two years elder to me, he probably felt that she could be of some help to us. However, no, she was not of much help. She went away.
I started feeling hungry and by now, the sun had risen high up. Amma said that we would have fish and chicken for lunch. However, we had started on the run even before breakfast. Kumar must have read my thoughts or probably he was also hungry, he put his arm around my shoulder and drew me closer to him. Slowly, I curled on to his lap and lay wondering what we could do now. I had dozed off for a while. Something jerked me and I woke up with a start. I sat up, saw Kumar covering his face with his hands, and crying! I was shocked. I made frantic attempts to stop him. I wanted to know what had gone wrong when I was asleep. First he said he was hungry and then about his aching limbs. I knew that it was something more, beyond… I scanned his face and looked into his eyes - an attempt to read his feelings, but he shied away.
My thoughts wandered in the wilderness and suddenly stopped short. Where are Appa & Amma? My body trembled, could this be the cause for Kumar’s tears? Oh, God! No, everything should be fine with them! If I start crying, Kumar would join and who would console us? I squeezed his hand and said – ‘Kumar, Appa & Amma would be safe. We’ll meet them soon’ and he chipped in ‘Oh yes! Appa is the village headman and he is strong – he has to take care of the entire village so we can be sure of his safety.’ Saying this he hugged me tight and held me close to him. I was relieved that my effort to control my tears was successful and effective in boosting our spirits.
It was late afternoon and many more people sat along the main road, but none from our village. That made me a bit uneasy. Suddenly there was a flutter and we turned around to see some cars and vans coming. People started moving towards the vehicles. Only a few of us stayed back. We wondered what the vehicles had come here for – but feared to leave our place and go enquire. We decided to wait.
Soon, the commotion cleared. Some cars and ambulances drove further towards the villages while a group embarked from a jeep and a van, which parked in a clearing off the main road. Again, a crowd gathered around the vehicles and the place became noisy. We watched for a while.
An elderly villager walked towards us. He was holding something in his hands. He came closer and called out to us saying – ‘hey, boys, they are serving food – go on and get some.’ We looked at each other. Though we were hungry, we were wary of taking food from strangers. The elderly man must have understood our dilemma. He sat beside us and said – ‘Dear children, it may take a few days for us to get back to our villages. Your parents will soon come to take you, now; you can go and have food. Those people from the town have come here only to serve us and not otherwise.’
I looked at Kumar and he shook his head in assent. The crowd had thinned by the time we reached the van where they served food. We took our food and returned to our place. Silence reigned as we ate, thinking of the fish and chicken Amma had promised.
The food served must have given quite some strength to everybody. Slowly people started befriending each other. Their conversations interspersed with occasional sobbing, lamenting and wailing. We refrained from listening to anything – for our only thought was to see our parents. We also ensured that we did not get into a conversation for we were afraid of everything around.
The shadows started growing longer. The birds were returning home. As the day bid goodbye, so did our courage and strength. Our heart beat faster with every moment. If we do not see Appa & Amma before nightfall, where do we spend the night?
I started pleading to the Gods. In all these eight years, I have never been away from my parents. We grew as a closely-knit family, loved and cared for one another. Appa is a disciplinarian but not the sort that kids hate. He made us understand the necessity of growing up into disciplined, civilised and well-mannered individuals. Amma is the typical, strong, loving and kind-hearted village woman.
Suddenly, we heard a loud voice. It was an announcement from the Tashildar office requesting everybody to leave for the nearest ‘relief camp’ where we could spend the night. I wondered about the idea and asked Kumar whether we could go or should wait for our parents. He thought for a while and said – ‘let us wait for some more time and then go.’ I agreed. People started moving in groups. As time passed by, my heart started pounding louder and faster.
It was almost dark. The elderly man was around with us and waited for us to join him for the camp. He had taken the responsibility of caring for us though we did not accept nor deny his feelings. We decided to move to the camp. As we rose to go, we noticed a man and a woman frantically running towards us. They came closer and called out our names. A chill ran down my spine – what could it be?
A closer look revealed that the man and woman were none other than Appa and Amma! Good heavens! We could hardly recognise them in the dark, they were looking haggard, clothes torn and faces tired of tears…
Later, Appa recalled how they had been helping people to safety and searching for us. They were running all the way, scanning faces of children – alive and dead!
On seeing us, they hugged us tight and broke into loud wails. They smothered us with kisses. When they mellowed down – I asked them, ‘Appa, what happened, why you asked us to run to safety?’ He heaved a sigh and said – ‘you are asking for a long and tiring story – shall tell you later, I’m too tired for it now’.
The elderly man had been a silent spectator of our family reunion. He walked up to my father, patted him on the shoulder and said – ‘I have been with these children since morning – they behaved as mature adults and you two grown-ups are now behaving like children!’
My father acknowledged his compliments amidst sobs. With a soft laugh, he told Amma & Appa that they could be proud of us. He started walking towards the camp. I gazed at his distant figure and wondered why we had not befriended him!
It is time to get out of bed. The household is waking up. Amma is already in the kitchen. Appa is beside Athamma enquiring about her health. I get out of my bed to start on the vacation routine of work and play.
Last night Athamma gave us a few anxious minutes. She is not well these days and has a pack of medical disorders which is difficult to cure says Appa. She is my father’s aunt and I have always known her to be an energetic woman. She has never been sick though she nurses sick people very well. I chance to see the calendar on the wall and realise that exactly four months ago the killer wave struck. Since then, Athamma’s health has been deteriorating. Before long, I was diving into thoughts about the Black Sunday.
On that fateful morning, I was playing outside our house with my brother Kumar. Our house is close to the sea. Suddenly there were frightening noises and people were shouting ‘Water! Water!’ and ran past us. My father who was just leaving the house told us ‘Run! Run away to a safe place!’ As disciplined children, we asked no questions, and started running.
Soon we saw many people running from all directions towards the main road that goes to the nearby town. Some were yelling, others crying. All these panicked us further. We ran quite a distance on the main road towards the town. Kumar tripped and fell down and was not able to get up immediately. I looked around in terror and asked a man standing there ‘are we safe?’ he gave me a weird look and said ‘nobody is safe my son!’ and broke into a sob. I struggled to hold back my tears and hurriedly tugged at Kumar to get up and we continued to run though at a much slower pace.
We were now really far from our village. We were exhausted. We saw small groups of people standing here and there. They were wailing and talking loudly of which we could not decipher much. Kumar said that he would not be able to budge an inch and so, we sat under a tree nearby. After minutes of gasping, we regained normal breath and slowly felt pain all over the body. We had bruised our legs and hands and had some bleeding injuries too. Nevertheless, the feeling of being in a safe place and with my brother comforted a little.
As time went by, more people started gathering on the road and the place was becoming noisier. One woman walked towards us, looked intently into our faces, and turned away wiping her tears. Then, she turned around and asked for our names and about our village. Initially I was hesitant to reveal our identity to a stranger, but Kumar gave her the full details. Kumar being two years elder to me, he probably felt that she could be of some help to us. However, no, she was not of much help. She went away.
I started feeling hungry and by now, the sun had risen high up. Amma said that we would have fish and chicken for lunch. However, we had started on the run even before breakfast. Kumar must have read my thoughts or probably he was also hungry, he put his arm around my shoulder and drew me closer to him. Slowly, I curled on to his lap and lay wondering what we could do now. I had dozed off for a while. Something jerked me and I woke up with a start. I sat up, saw Kumar covering his face with his hands, and crying! I was shocked. I made frantic attempts to stop him. I wanted to know what had gone wrong when I was asleep. First he said he was hungry and then about his aching limbs. I knew that it was something more, beyond… I scanned his face and looked into his eyes - an attempt to read his feelings, but he shied away.
My thoughts wandered in the wilderness and suddenly stopped short. Where are Appa & Amma? My body trembled, could this be the cause for Kumar’s tears? Oh, God! No, everything should be fine with them! If I start crying, Kumar would join and who would console us? I squeezed his hand and said – ‘Kumar, Appa & Amma would be safe. We’ll meet them soon’ and he chipped in ‘Oh yes! Appa is the village headman and he is strong – he has to take care of the entire village so we can be sure of his safety.’ Saying this he hugged me tight and held me close to him. I was relieved that my effort to control my tears was successful and effective in boosting our spirits.
It was late afternoon and many more people sat along the main road, but none from our village. That made me a bit uneasy. Suddenly there was a flutter and we turned around to see some cars and vans coming. People started moving towards the vehicles. Only a few of us stayed back. We wondered what the vehicles had come here for – but feared to leave our place and go enquire. We decided to wait.
Soon, the commotion cleared. Some cars and ambulances drove further towards the villages while a group embarked from a jeep and a van, which parked in a clearing off the main road. Again, a crowd gathered around the vehicles and the place became noisy. We watched for a while.
An elderly villager walked towards us. He was holding something in his hands. He came closer and called out to us saying – ‘hey, boys, they are serving food – go on and get some.’ We looked at each other. Though we were hungry, we were wary of taking food from strangers. The elderly man must have understood our dilemma. He sat beside us and said – ‘Dear children, it may take a few days for us to get back to our villages. Your parents will soon come to take you, now; you can go and have food. Those people from the town have come here only to serve us and not otherwise.’
I looked at Kumar and he shook his head in assent. The crowd had thinned by the time we reached the van where they served food. We took our food and returned to our place. Silence reigned as we ate, thinking of the fish and chicken Amma had promised.
The food served must have given quite some strength to everybody. Slowly people started befriending each other. Their conversations interspersed with occasional sobbing, lamenting and wailing. We refrained from listening to anything – for our only thought was to see our parents. We also ensured that we did not get into a conversation for we were afraid of everything around.
The shadows started growing longer. The birds were returning home. As the day bid goodbye, so did our courage and strength. Our heart beat faster with every moment. If we do not see Appa & Amma before nightfall, where do we spend the night?
I started pleading to the Gods. In all these eight years, I have never been away from my parents. We grew as a closely-knit family, loved and cared for one another. Appa is a disciplinarian but not the sort that kids hate. He made us understand the necessity of growing up into disciplined, civilised and well-mannered individuals. Amma is the typical, strong, loving and kind-hearted village woman.
Suddenly, we heard a loud voice. It was an announcement from the Tashildar office requesting everybody to leave for the nearest ‘relief camp’ where we could spend the night. I wondered about the idea and asked Kumar whether we could go or should wait for our parents. He thought for a while and said – ‘let us wait for some more time and then go.’ I agreed. People started moving in groups. As time passed by, my heart started pounding louder and faster.
It was almost dark. The elderly man was around with us and waited for us to join him for the camp. He had taken the responsibility of caring for us though we did not accept nor deny his feelings. We decided to move to the camp. As we rose to go, we noticed a man and a woman frantically running towards us. They came closer and called out our names. A chill ran down my spine – what could it be?
A closer look revealed that the man and woman were none other than Appa and Amma! Good heavens! We could hardly recognise them in the dark, they were looking haggard, clothes torn and faces tired of tears…
Later, Appa recalled how they had been helping people to safety and searching for us. They were running all the way, scanning faces of children – alive and dead!
On seeing us, they hugged us tight and broke into loud wails. They smothered us with kisses. When they mellowed down – I asked them, ‘Appa, what happened, why you asked us to run to safety?’ He heaved a sigh and said – ‘you are asking for a long and tiring story – shall tell you later, I’m too tired for it now’.
The elderly man had been a silent spectator of our family reunion. He walked up to my father, patted him on the shoulder and said – ‘I have been with these children since morning – they behaved as mature adults and you two grown-ups are now behaving like children!’
My father acknowledged his compliments amidst sobs. With a soft laugh, he told Amma & Appa that they could be proud of us. He started walking towards the camp. I gazed at his distant figure and wondered why we had not befriended him!
It is time to get out of bed. The household is waking up. Amma is already in the kitchen. Appa is beside Athamma enquiring about her health. I get out of my bed to start on the vacation routine of work and play.
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