January 2005

Of Waves and will-power
January, 2005
December 26th came and passed at my household with very little of the drama that was occurring on the coasts of this country. I was watching the news at lunch and at that point about 350 people were missing and the report was only just coming in from Galle, the big town that was the most affected in the south. Although the news stated that it was a tsunami, my parents and I did not think about whether other parts of the country had been hit. Mostly we were amazed that a tsunami had reached this coast all the way from Indonesia and whether the Indos were affected as well. Little did we know.
As the week began and the news coverage increased, we began to see the footage of the destruction that had occurred over a mere few minutes. I wondered whether the toll would have been so high if the day had not been a Sunday, a Buddhist holy day, a Christian holiday and a national holiday weekend. It seemed too cruel. Each news broadcast on each channel showed the endless swath of damage and destruction, and debris just everywhere. I kept wondering where has all this trash come from, how did all this material just suddenly appear, why does everything look like a garbage dump explosion. It only became apparent when I saw the wastelands of demolished coastal houses and buildings and realised, all this trash, all the debris, not long before belonged to some person somewhere.
When I the hear numerous stories of near misses from my parents' friends and acquaintances, I think about all the 'what-ifs' and I am grateful. Colombo was not affected in the least and in that respect Sri Lanka is very lucky. At least aid operations still had the capital and the international airport to work through. At a time when world news reports just made me unimpressed with human-kind, a global tragedy (and the world's response) has reminded me of those qualities that make me appreciate human life on this planet- kindness, generosity, decency and help.
Life in Colombo continues as per usual. The same as when there were bombs exploding in the North. I think Colombo people are used to getting on with life even though there are still many who get a lump in the throat at the thought of our once beautiful coastline. Now all the news articles are about aid distribution, about reconstruction and restoring and about survival. I know that it will just take time and effort and a heck of a lot of money to rebuild our coast. I know that what once was can no longer be but will be, will be better. I know our people and our shores will smile again, one day.
I go to the field at the end of this month. Perhaps next month I can talk about ants.