The first time I experienced tremor was in 2001. I guess that was the first time there was a tremor in Chennai after a very long time. I was studying for an exam in a room with the door closed. I was sitting on a chair and suddenly I felt as though someone was shaking my chair. I thought my sister had silently come and was doing that! Crazy me! I turned back only to find no one. I got up from the chair. Since I didn’t feel the shaking, I sat down only to experience it again. Even then, it never struck me that it could have been because of a tremor. I thought I was imagining things and went out of the room only to find everyone at home happily watching TV. I didn’t tell anyone about my ‘shaking’ experience. That’s when a girl in my complex came out of her house shouting at the top of her house asking everyone to come out and I realized that I had experienced a tremor! And, to think that I thought I was imagining things! LOL!
The second time was on 26th December, 2004, the day of Tsunami. I was lying down on the floor and was trying to study something. (Look how every time the tremor had come, I had been studying. Naane padikkaraennu tremors vandhudhunnu nenaikkaraen 😛 ) This time when I experienced the shaking, I felt that it must indeed be a tremor. I was alone at home with my sister at that time. She didn’t feel anything. Then, I showed her the door of the room that was shaking. We immediately went to our neighbour’s house and they said they didn’t experience anything. That’s when my relative called to ask if I felt anything and it got confirmed that there had been a tremor. But, at that time, little did I realize that the tremor was the result of a massive earthquake and tsunami.
It took just one killer wave to make millions of people orphaned and homeless. Watching on TV the destruction caused by the tsunami was shocking. It took quite sometime to digest the fact that the same beach/sea where you had had so much fun ever since childhood (wasn’t going to beach something we all looked forward to as a kid and still do even today?) had now shown its other darker side and taken the lives of thousands of people.
When a tsunami warning was issued yesterday, it brought those dark memories. When even though not being a directly affected person I felt my heart shudder at the thought of tsunami and my heart went out for each and every one of them who had lost someone or something in tsunami, how would those affected have felt when they heard about the warning?
What can man do when nature decides to show her fury? An earthquake may last hardly a few minutes but what about the destruction caused by it? When man does not even know when he will next be subjected to nature’s wrath and whether he will be alive or not the next second, why should man himself make his fellow human beings constantly live with the fear of not knowing when and where there will be a bomb blast next or when there will be an attack by terrorists next? Will there ever come a day when man will stop inflicting fear on his fellow men and will stop killing people mercilessly?
Good Post 🙂 I was playing cricket in besant nagar beach during Tsunami. I will never forget that sight. And later the same day myself and 3 other friends went all the way till Mahabs on ECR. We didn’t know the impact then. But it was one dark day!
26th dec 2004 is unforgettable.I remember i was sleeping when the tremors struck.Think it was a saturday around 8 o clock.I felt the bed shake n i got up.it stopped.Again i went back to sleep.Again it shook.I thought its one of those falling dreams I get and slept soundly.Its only after getting up n watching the news did I realise what I had experienced.Even then I just brushed it off as yet another earthquake.Only as the day progressed did the impact really dawn on me.Wouldn’t suffice to say anything here,in words.Hell hath no fury like nature spurned,maybe..
First quake i was at a computer center – Computers started approaching me … Lol … left the center and found grp of ppl standing in front of my house… they were discussing how bad an earthquake can be … it was around 9:25 or so and when ppl heard “Chitheeeeee” – Streets were empty !!
Second quake was sleeping – and i thought my mom is waking me up … i was the only person who walked out sleeping and walked striaght to terrace when the building shook. took few bad words to awake me and run out !!
but that day the scenes of the Deluge and situation at Nagapattinam and Cuddalore was something i cannot forget. infact i knew that i will care much for people somewhere else that day … Hope it doesnt happen again !!
> Naane padikkaraennu tremors vandhudhunnu nenaikkaraen
???! ???? ?????????? ??????? ??? ?????????! 🙂
> I was alone at home with my sister at that time
LOL!
The last para seems to be a good mash-up of things which I cudn’t even imagine. 😛 Mankind cannot have beliefs & a life based on unpredictability of events. Thats why there is a saying like “Live a life today as if its your last day”. Life becomes predictable here. Probability is about making predictions. When you toss a coin up, you’ll know for sure that the coin will return back to you & it’ll be a head or a tail. Since you know this already, you were confident enough to toss it. 🙂
And infact, earthquakes & terrorist attacks can be predicted. We don’t have the required intelligence, for both. 😀
Nice post. What can man do, yes? But so much of nature’s fury itself can be traced back to human activity!
Sathej
I was in bangalore and woke up early. I Dont know about this till 10.00am. I came to know when i went to my cousin’s home and saw the TV and i was shocked to see those high tides. As the day progressed felt the impact of the waves. But in the very next week, crossed nagapttinam and it shocked me verymuch.
Personally i feel, its human who always disturb the nature who bounces back very hardly. Nature-a spoil panratha kooda nature poruthukkum, but if mankind tries to spoil the nature’s cycle, it cant. It will give it back that disturbance.
Last para is good. Manushan manasa lesa vaichunda intha kodumai ellam nadakkathu. Anbe Sivam is the one which is needed right now !
[Quote]Will there ever come a day when man will stop inflicting fear on his fellow men and will stop killing people mercilessly?[/Quote]
The short answer to that is a NO. Since the inception of human kind the concept of “me, mine,my, I” has been around. I can’t see that changing. And till that changes *someone* is going to say “I’m right, you are wrong”. That’s where it starts and in some cases tragically ends!
And Sami – The world *needs* to be full of Ambe Sivams:) And still someone will find a way of messing *that* one up 🙂
Cynic? Maybe. As Sir Humprey says in Yes Minister [if you haven’t read or seen it, please do], a cynic is what an idealist calls a realist 🙂
F e r r a r i,
Thank you. Oh God! You were on beach at that time?!
Sangs,
>it was a saturday
It was Sunday
That day was a nightmare. With every passing minute, watching TV became a horrible experience 🙁
Sreekrishnan,
>Computers started approaching me
>when ppl heard “Chitheeeeee” – Streets were empty
LOL
All we can do is pray such thing don’t happen again.
Ranjhith,
Feels great to know that you read each and every line of my post properly 😛
The part about predictability that you have written is good 🙂
>We don’t have the required intelligence
True
Sathej,
Thanks. Yeah
Sami,
Yup. But when are going to stop being a disturbance to nature?!
Mahesh,
Well we all know the answer is no. All we can do is vent out our feelings in posts like this 🙂
yeah, I had a very similar experience! was watching tv, and I thought my cousin was shaking the sofa.. turned around and saw noone.. freaked me out for a sec!! then everyone ran out, and I found the whole colony on the road 🙂
Shiva,
Oh 🙂
Kali muthi pochu… 🙁 seriously tend to start believing that..!!!!!! they say mother nature is so patient… but we human beings have tested her patience enough i guess and she has started showing her wrath more often and in large scale these days.. and for terrorism.. only one word… inhuman…!!!!!!!!!
Siva,
>showing her wrath more often and in large scale these days
Yes 🙁