The Hindu : New Delhi News : When a derailed train becomes a shrine

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 04, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

When a derailed train becomes a shrine

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 3. The stories of horror are endless. More than a month after the killer tsunami waves struck, the tragedy still has many heart-wrenching stories to unfold.

Sharing a few such stories in the Capital today was journalist Satinder Bindra, who was in Sri Lanka at the time of the catastrophe. "The night before, the sea was unusually noisy. I remember my wife pointing it out. But I did not think much of it. In the morning when I looked out to the sea, it had come inland quite a bit. I thought it was merely high tide. But there was a crowd of people gathered near the hotel and they were all trying to capture it on film. It was like a carnival,' remembered Mr. Bindra during an informal interaction.

"Later when I went to the beach, I realised it was more than just high tide. When the waves withdrew from the land, I could feel the earth shuddering. And the water would take with it buses, houses, people, trees -- everything in its path," he said.

Recalling all the touching stories that he had come across -- Baby 81, one of the many infants separated from their parents; the derailing of a train that caused the death of more than 1,000 people at one go and numerous tales of resilient people trying to re-build their lives -- Mr. Bindra expressed his grief at the large-scale tragedy.

"For me, this enormous tragedy has been the most moving experience of my journalistic life. What shook me the most was the suffering of Sri Lankan children who were either killed or had lost their homes and families. In particular, the one incident that really touched me was when the train derailed and 1,200 people died in one go. That train has almost become like a shrine today," he said.

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