the morning' after

The twentysixth of December
Boxing day
Last year around ten in the morning I was in Patna
catching up with some old friends whom I had last seen in Shillong
And around that time, Dominic said that he had planned to go with his family
to Vailinkanni... a pilgrimage spot by the Tamil coast
to light a candle at teh feet of the Virgin... and he also spoke of the many memorials to
those who had gone to visit the Virgin in the hope of recovery... but died there
about that time... a huge tidal wave had hit
the shores of Vailinkanni.... and several pilgrims must have lost their lives...

The tsunami... as the media called it...
a huge tidal wave that obliterated everything...
even the very identities of the people who survived...
bank records... gone
ration cards... gone
School leaving certificates... washed away
Photo-identity cards... swallowed by the sea....
and so... I become nameless...
who am I? Do I exist? How can I tell you that I do exist?
Money in the bank... but how do i prove that I am me???

That's what the Tsunami did to so many thousand people
and all we good meaning middle class folk did
was to send in truckloads of used garments...
as though an old castaway pair of trousers
could compensate for a lifetime washed away...

This 26th of December
All I can do is remember
and salute those many people
who had the courage to survive
Those who rose above their personal grief and loss
to help others .

Starry starry night......