Tsunami

I nearly never lived to write this tale.
But now, it seems merely insignificant.
We were meant to stay over at GRT's Temple Bay Resort at Mahabalipuram overnight Saturday and then drive back, leisurely on Sunday evening. We nearly did. But then we did not. Thanks to my sister, we had to come back late Saturday night. Like I already said, in the light of the great tragedy that occured this morning, so trivial.
It did occur, though, to my journalistic mind that had I been there and survived, there would have been an excellent story to tell- what we call "first person account". But that is just my journalistic mind. It is used to thinking this way.
But another part of my mind also numbed as I watched the Coast Guard helo pick up survivors from the sea, it cringed when the bodies of children playing cricket were brought to the Government Royapettah Hospital, it sighed when news came in of early-morning walkers being swept up by the tidal waves, it heaves when it contemplates the number of bodies that are likely to be washed ashore in the next few days...
How unawares we were caught. It shows us, does it not, the Tsunami, that Coastal Regulation Zone is for OUR saftey. Violating it has probably been responsible for the catastrophic nature of lifeloss. The question, though, is how long we will remember the lessons Sunday's Tsunami taught us... whether we will once again build our greed houses over the watery graves...