Prayer in the face of a Tsunami

December 26th, 2004 – when the Tsunami first unleashed it’s fury into our collective consciousness! My 35-member family comprising uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces had gathered in our village in Kollam town for our annual get-together. We have a family deity where the entire family gets together to pay obeisance. Our ancestral home which is kept locked through the year is usually only used for a few days in December every year.

This is a picturesque village bordered by the Arabian sea on one side and the backwaters on the other. I was held up by the construction of my home in distant Bangalore and therefore was unable to make it to the function. It was a very exciting morning. The children were busy playing in the courtyard, while some of the adults were at the shrine which was a few metres away. Some others were busy watching television at a friend’s place. The television reports showed that a Tsunami had struck parts of Indonesia, Andaman and Nicobar islands and Chennai. The vivid images of the giant waves striking land was powerful and little did my folks realise that very soon they would be in the midst of a Tsunami themselves.

Soon, my uncle – Parthan went towards the sea which lies directly behind our home at a few minutes walk. When he reached the sea he was stunned to see barren land. The sea had receded! He was shocked. Another thing he realised was that there was not a single soul in sight. The petty shops, the roads, the houses were all deserted…it was eerie. One old man who was also there with him warned him, “if the sea has receded then it will come back with twice it’s force. We’d better run”. What my folks hadn’t realized was that in the midst of the celebrations, and by the fact that our home was the last house in the village and therefore was isolated from the others, a Tsunami warning had already been sounded and the villagers had fled. Nobody had realised that about 35 people were unaware of the danger that they were in. Less than an hour before that a Tsunami had struck a village a few hours from here. Even as the old man was saying this, they could sense the sea coming back. “It’s coming back! Run!” and he ran away.

Parthan had to warn the others, he ran towards our home. “Run…the sea is coming…run” My grand uncle and a cousin – Suresh were at the shrine…when he came panting. ‘What nonsense, relaxe…what are you shouting’ they scoffed at him. “The sea…the sea…” was all that he could say when a very small wave, the height of their ankles swept through the land, right upto our home. “This is natural” my grand uncle re-assured. “Sometimes the sea does this…” although he couldn’t remember of the sea having done this.

Parthan was furious, “I don’t know about you, but I think this is very serious…we need to leave this village now.” My grand-uncle was adamant, “don’t create a panic now…we are in the midst of the pooja and nothing will happen. I have been here all my life and I have never experienced anything like what you are fearing. The sea will take care of us.” But his words were sounding very hollow. Then Parthan realized something very eerie…the silence! There were no birds around…all the animals had disappeared. “Don’t you see, he shouted…all the animals have left..this is something serious. If you want to stay here, you can stay but I am leaving with whoever is coming with me…” and he ran towards the house. My grand-uncle and Suresh followed him.

The people at home were still oblivious of the impending danger. When the first wave had rolled across the land, they had looked at it with curiousity and not fear. As city dwellers, they looked at the event like tourists and did not know that it was a warning sign.

Parthan’s son Darshit is a staunch believer of the Divine Mother. He had accompanied me on numerous times to the Mother’s Ashram at Tellicherry. Barely 17 at the time, Darshit was a tall lanky boy. On hearing his father’s shouting, Darshit immediately packed his bags and carried them out. The other relatives looked on at the scene with amusement. Some others were worried and felt they ought to leave immediately. Some of the members were quickly changing into their travel clothes…while the others simply stood around believing that this was just a false alarm.

Meanwhile the frequency of the waves rolling into the village kept increasing. These were very small waves barely reaching one’s ankles, but they were very quick and in a few minutes they reached our courtyard and then receded. In the midst of trying to get all the members to leave, everybody realised that quite a few members had all scattered in other parts of the village. Some were in the houses of relatives. It was very very tense for the few people who felt that things were not alright. Just when the debate to leave or not to was raging…everybody heard a ear splitting sound! It was not of this world…it was the sound of water…yet it can’t be explained in words…an eerie hollow hair raising sound and even as the enormity of the whole thing was dawning, the Tsunami had struck our village!!!

Parthan’s daughter Priya (20 years) was the one they all saw running…and a few feet behind her were the giant waves higher than the highest coconut tree. She barely escaped and the waves exploded all around them. The family scattered…some ran into the house while others ran onto the terrace of a neighbouring home. The water was brackish and it looked as if it had brought the muck of the ocean onto land. A canoe came crashing into a coconut tree, dragged by the waters.

Meanwhile the water gushed into the home through the open windows and the door was pushed shut by the force. Inside the home, the water kept swirling. My relatives were screaming in fear. The people who were on the neighbouring terrace could see the scary drama unfold itself around them. They were saved by the height of the terrace. Televisions, refrigerators and household utensils and equipment was flowing around freely. The water kept gushing in…their seemed no difference between the land and the sea now…

Darshit who was in the house which was now in darkness and the steadily climbing water, somehow maintained his sanity even as people around him were losing theirs. Caught in this grim situation, he didn’t lose hope. He began chanting the Divine mantra.
Charanam Sharanam Ramambike.
Charanam Sharanam Thrayambake.

What else can you do other than pray and hope…He managed to kick open the door thereby providing an outlet for the water. Within a few minutes, it seemed that the intensity of the water had reduced. By now the water had reached upto everybody’s chest. Soon the waters slowly started receding. They discovered they could now move about as the water receded upto their knees. All their belongings had been washed away. My family members couldn’t believe their luck. “Let’s leave,” they waded through the water, glad to be alive. The sky was dark. All around them was water, a dark water and all their belongings floating.

Every one of my family survived the ordeal. They only had scratches and minor bruises to contend with. 45 minutes after they left the village another Tsunami now struck the deserted village.

Prayer worked. Darshit firmly beliefs that the Divine Mother saved their lives. He tells me, “It was only after I started chanting the mantra that things changed, till then the water was steadily climbing. Our furniture was floating…I was scared that if the water didn’t kill us, the rapidly moving beds, tables and chairs would pose a serious danger for us. Even as I was chanting the mantra, I began to realize that the intensity of the water had begun to reduce and that strengthened the hope in me. We had a window of about 45 minutes to escape and we were able to attract the attention of a motor boat which had been pressed into service to evacuate survivors. I am happy that all of us are alive.”

Whatever our beliefs, our values, our faiths…prayer is the only lifeline in times like this.