My trip to Nagapattinam

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya

The telephone call from my friend in Bangalore helped me to take an

immediate decision. He would reach Chennai by Tuesday afternoon and

we take the night train to Nagapattinam.

 

Tickets by Tambaram Nagore Kamban Express were easily available. By

the time we reached Nagapattinam there were only five persons in S1

compartment the two of us, two army men and the TTE.

 

My friend, a journalist from a financial daily, got his story even

before we reached the beach. Dozens of fishing boats thrown more

than a hundred meters into the hinterland. They were shattered and

so were its owners. One of them told us that a new boat would cost

around 15 Lakhs. He didn t have the money and the catch in recent

times was bad.

 

At the beach, Palani and his wife were sitting on an overturned

boat. We are getting food and clothes but no house and no work. He

pointed to the teenager with tonsured head also sitting on the boat.

He lost his mother. The look on his face was blank, absolutely

blank.

 

We walked on the railway track from Nagapattinam to Nagore, totally

smashed by the tsunami. Repair work is in full swing on the 7.5 KM

stretch. The engineer in charge said that he is not authorized to

speak to the media. However, he mentioned that the Nagore Tiruvarur

passenger train which normally carries over two hundred passengers

would have been on that stretch at the time of tsunami. It wasn t,

because it runs only six days a week, except Sundays.

 

The AMRITANANDAMAYI people are doing a great job, he said answering

a question I wanted to ask, but didn t, since I reached

Nagapattinam. About four kilometers from here, he continued, you

could take a bus or an auto

 

We were there in about 20 minutes. Rows of temporary accommodation

under construction. Work was going on a frenzied pitch. The

volunteer with a badge explained that there are 100 units with a

common kitchen and common toilet facilities. We are planning 1000

houses but Government has still not allotted the land. The

volunteers here are from Amrita Viswa Vidya peetham in Coimbatore and

I am from Vadakara, he said. AMRITA VAHINI vehicles were bringing in

supplies and volunteers on motorcycles, bicycles, further transported

it to the interiors.

 

Where are the affected people? we asked him. He pointed towards

the beach and told us that at a temple there relief materials are

being distributed.

 

The crowd was big near the temple and inside Brahmachari Abhayamrita

Chaitanya was handing over packets of rice, sugar, oil etc. to those

who required it. Several volunteers assisting him were chanting

 

Om namah Shivaya,

 

Om namah Shivaya

 

Om namah Shivaya

 

Shiva om Namoh.

 

Outside, a young girl opened large water container and splashed

water over her and smiled. My friend took the photo and said it was

exactly what he was looking for. I saw despair and I wanted to see

hope he said. Look at that child s face it says WE SHALL OVERCOME.

 

I do not think he was referring to the Communist International

song. He was indicating the signs of change. 17 days after the

gruesome tragedy, life was slowly but surely returning to normal.

People were realizing that there is help at hand. There is also

affection, there is love . And there is AMMA.

 

AMMA might have cancelled Her trip to Tamil Nadu, but She is there

in the hearts of tens of thousands of people in Nagapattinam .. And

elsewhere.

 

Aum Amriteswariye Namah.

 

Ever in AMMA s service.

 

C R Vijayan

 

 

 

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