Day after Yesterday

May you live in interesting times


This is an ancient Chinese proverb (or that is what I was lead believe from somewhere), and its certainly working for me. Before I started blogging I always used to wonder what to put in a blog. And once I did start now I've a lot to say.


Saturday dawned very early for me (surpisingly..). After a long time I was going to play cricket !! with a few of my colleagues and friends. I enjoy playing any game (sort of like the destination does not matter as much as the journey). I don't particularly like playing cricket infact my favourite is football (or soccer for any americans).


Only 9 of us turned up and we managed to play 3 matches with me in the losing team in all the three :( My only defence is I haven't played for a long time and not quite so good either. I'm the kind of player who is not exactly a match-winner of his own right but can be quite useful for scoring singles and keeping the scoreboard ticking.


Now, the whole point of this whole story of playing cricket is that I was dog tired on Saturday night and was asleep through the earthquake that struck Chennai at around 6 AM on Sunday.


I was awakened finally by my neighbour ringing the doorbell, after my parents who had unsuccessfully tried to call me from the morning soon after hearing the news of the quake. Once fully awake my neighbour filled me in about the entire quake episode which caused most of the residents of my apartment come running out to the open in panic.


I turned on the television to see the news of the tsunami striking the Chennai shore. Different news channels claimed the incident a Black Sunday and Bloody Sunday. One of the anchors of the local news channel even claimed that viewers should not panic and run out to the streets, instead he suggested that they watch the telecast for the latest information. What a pathetic ploy to boost TRPs.


By this time the telephone was ringing off the hook with friends and relatives calling in to know about the situation. It is important to note here that I live quite near to the sea but not quite so close probably about 3-4 km away. So being stiff from the previous days play I spent most of the day answering the phone and watching the news.


At around 5 in the evening I decided to take a walk and see for myself what is the exact situation. So laboriously(and painfully) I trudged to the nearby Beasant Nagar/Elliots Beach. It was a good idea to have walked because no vehicles were being allowed in that side and a police barricade had been erected to keep out snoopers.


Coming to the sea shore I saw Elliots beach as I've never seen it before. There were no vehicles parked on the road, no people walking on the pavement, no people in the beach; was really weird. Police and fire engines were present at regualar intervals and kept the public to the far side of the road median, by the way did I forget to mention there was a good crowd gathered there to watch the sight. The actual beach itself looked pretty undisturbed to me. The posts where balloons are strung out to be shot with air rifles were still standing with most of the other entertainment infrastructure we have come to associate with a vibrant beach. The business was brisk for the mango/sundal hawkers which is fair enough considering the hour of panic was past and people had come to sight-see. I admit I'm guilty of that too.


By this time a little of the stiffness was wearing out and I decided to walk the strech of the beach from the far side of the median ofcourse. What I noticed was that the usual beach crowd of walkers, loving couples and families was present and doing pretty much the same as usual, taking in sea breeze and munching sundal.


The local fishermen had transformed themselves into some sort of guardians of the beach, patrolling on the pavement usually occupied by seasoned walkers and keeping any straying individual off the beach. Which I thought was pretty considerate of them considering the fact the most of them would have lost some portion of their homes/possessions in the tsunami's disasterous visit to Chennai. One particular conversation I overheard really bothered me.


Some brave(?) fellows who had got to the pavement were trying to get to the beach and one of the fishermen stopped them (there wasn't a policeman nearby as usual !) here's a small snippet of their conversation.


Fisherman: Don't come near the beach it is not safe.
Brave fellows: We know what is safe for us, we don't need you to tell us that.
Fisherman: Sir, I'm a fisherman and know the sea a lot better than you do. Please don't enter the beach.
Brave fellows: Yeah ! Yeah ! We can see.


At this point thankfully a policeman came in dispersed the arguing group. It is indeed difficult to understand how mindless people can be even when you are trying to warn them of danger.


I probably went too late since I saw no sign of a panic anywhere. There was one lone incident where I saw a lady(whose appearance suggested she lived in nearby slum area) who was dragging a battered suitcase. I was in the moment and thought she was moving her belongings to a safer place but now, I'm more skeptical and think she was probably a roadside hawker packing up for the day.


Chennai has long since been enamoured by its beach as a source of endless and free recreation. But from yesterday's events Chennaites will be haunted by the apocalyptic power that the sea wields over them which they never had a chance to witness (except probably some flooding during monsoons). This thought sets me thinking that why intelligent life did not evolve on the sea which covers 3/4th of the earth and instead evolved land.


Infact the ocean is home to the most diverse flora and fauna many times that found on land. Then why is that intelligent life is found on land and not in the sea. This is really interesting and has set me thinking will update you on this soon.