The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : A holiday that will haunt them

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 07, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A holiday that will haunt them

By Saptarshi Bhattacharya

CHENNAI, JAN. 6. A stay on the beach will no longer be an exciting holiday idea for the Sharmas and the Gaurs. The group, 12 in all, were among the lucky few who survived the fury of the December 26 tsunami.

Though they escaped the big waves with nothing more than a few bruises, the fear of the sea would haunt them for several years. "It was a miracle," said Shikha Sharma, a commerce graduate from a city college.

Recalling the traumatising moments, she said, "We were on the Golden beach, close to our beach house. The children were playing in the shallow waters. Suddenly, I noticed that the waves were getting rough and the water was turning very cold. I asked the children to get away from the water." Only seconds after Shikha's warning, a big wave swept them all to the sands.

The five children, aged between seven and 15, took to their heels, with help from Shikha, her sister Pooja and friends Lavanya and Priya. They were chased by a huge wave that came all the way on to the lawn of the beach house. The compound wall facing the sea collapsed in the surge and the whole house was under water instantly. "We ran out through the backdoor and scaled the wall. The waves hauled our cars several plots away in a jiffy," says Shikha.

Lavanya and Priya were trapped inside the house as the water level rose. They ran upstairs and telephoned home. "The noise around was deafening and we had to scream to be heard," said Lavanya. "The lawn outside had disappeared and there was seawater all over." All the others by then had managed to get to the top of a service room of the adjacent house that stuck out from the gushing water.

Soon, whatever remained of the boundary wall collapsed. That was when 15-year-old Sakshi fell in the waves. As she scampered to safety, Mayank, all of seven years, jumped down to help her. "I was being pulled away towards the sea by the receding water and latched on to a snapped electric wire," he recalled. As the water receded, all of them waded to dry land.

As he held onto the electric wire, Mayank saw a boy being sucked into the sea by the retreating waves. "He perhaps did not make it," he said.

"They all ran to the main road in their swimming costumes," said Ayush Gaur, Shikha's uncle, pointing at the children. "The waves swept away my shirt," mocked Mayank, perhaps to ease the mood. "But I saved mine," replied Rajat (10), Mayank's cousin. They were later picked up by their relatives and taken to hospital for first aid.

"Just the previous night, when we were having a party on the lawn, I was telling them how the sea knows its limits and stays in its place," Mr. Gaur said. "The tsunami proved how wrong I was."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu