Chennai tsunami: Destiny's child
Destiny brought together S.Maria John and M.Manivannan, both aged 25, and classmates
Update: 2014-12-24 04:09 GMT
Chennai: Destiny brought together S.Maria John and M.Manivannan, both aged 25, and classmates in the undergraduate course in nautical science at an academy in Chennai in mid 2007. Three years earlier, their kadal maatha or 'Mother Ocean', as fishermen address her, unleashed a fury never seen before in these parts, destroying lives and property in villages, 600 km apart.
Maria John from Pillaithope fishing hamlet near Muttom in Kanyakumari district and Manivannan from Devnampattinam in Cuddalore district were together in Class 10 when the tsunami claimed their villages. They were among the lucky ones who survived, the ones who would live to tell the horrific tales of that time. A decade later, they are Second Officers on board merchant vessels and have rebuilt their families' economic well being from scratch.
Ironically enough, when Maria John spoke to DC over satellite phone from his ship, 'Nordic River', which was en route to Australia from South Korea, he was crossing the equatorial waters around Indonesia, which was the epicentre of the tsunami in 2004. Both youths from fishing families, their fathers having lost their boats to the tsunami. "Our family's boat, costing around RS 26 lakh then, was completely destroyed. Thereafter, my father worked on fishing trawlers in Qatar to keep the family going," says Maria John, whose cousin, Vennila, died in the disaster barely four days before her first wedding anniversary.
"Nine of us were stuck inside the house with water rising 10 feet high," recalls S. Mary Vimalda, Maria John's mother. "Most houses in our village were barely 150 m from the shore. Maria John was with me while my elder daughter, Jarisha, was in the other room."
Maria John wanted to join the merchant navy even before the tsunami struck, it only helping him become firmer in his resolve. "I had to make quick money to get things back on track and a career in shipping seemed to offer better prospects," he said.
Manivannan, who is in Dubai currently, his ship docked for repair, said that pursuing high school itself was a huge question mark back then. "Forget about graduation and a career in shipping if not for the good-hearted people who accommodated displaced children like me and helped with our education, I wouldn't have become what I am today," he said. His parents, Mayilvaganam and Lakshmi, live in the tsunami rehabilitation quarters. However, he is not complaining. "When the tsunami came, I thought it doomsday had come. I believe I survived it for a reason," he added.
Maria John discovered in high school that 'tsunami' was a Japanese word. "Now, I work for a Japanese shipping company," he said, wondering if there was a connection.
On trail of missing brother for 10 years:
S.Thanveer with U. Farouk. Inset: Photograph of Thanveer when he was 7-yr-old.
Talha was two-and-a half years old when he was rescued from a car floating on the waves in Cuddalore in the aftermath of the tsunami. One week into his first posting, deputy commissioner S. Panneerselvam, then the newly appointed SP of Cuddalore, pulled out Talha from the car and handed him over to the people there to be taken to the hospital.
Amidst the chaos that followed, he forgot about the little boy. Only a day later, after the child's relatives came enquiring about the boy did he realize that the rescued child was missing. Talha is still missing and there is still no closure for Panneerselvam or S.Thanveer, the brother who remembers the day vividly even today.
"My dad, mom, younger brothers Thalha and Bilal (six months old) stayed in a lodge in Cuddalore en route to Puducherry. My uncle Nawaz was travelling with us," recalls the first year engineering student of Crescent College, Chennai. "On that fateful day we went to the Silver beach in Cuddalore. My dad, who had gone to purchase tickets for boat ride, suddenly came running towards us shouting 'run...run..run….'"
Thanveer was just seven years old in 2004, but clearly remembers his father picking up Talha and putting him inside their car parked nearby. "He came back to take us. While my uncle ran for safety, in a fraction of seconds the giant waves engulfed my dad, mum and Bilal. I was washed away and later rescued by a fisherman. I remember his name was Ravi." The police helped him reach the lodge where his uncle was waiting. By then it was clear that his parents and youngest brother Bilal had died in the tragedy.
"When my relatives from Ooty started looking for Talha, they were told that a police officer had saved him," says Thanveer.
"In that melee, the boy was lost," says Paneerselvam, now posted with the traffic wing in Chennai. "In my two years there, I did everything I could to find the boy." Search parties were sent to every house along the 26 shore hamlets there.
Pannerselvam distinctly remembers one incident which happened six months after the Boxing Day tsunami. "I was informed that a three-ear-ld boy was found in Kotta kuppam village. Immediately I called up the family in Ooty and told them that there might be some news about the boy and would inform them after verifying." But the family didn't wait. They travelled from Ooty the next day only to find that the boy was not theirs.
A decade has passed and the family is still searching. The last Paneerselvam heard was that the boy had been taken by a woman fish vendor who was suspected to have sold the boy. "We even traced the woman to a village near Panrutti, but nothing came of it," he says, adding that he hopes Talha is leading a good life somewhere in the world and will get reunited with his family someday. This thought binds him to Thanveer. "I carry on with the hope that one day I'll meet my brother Thalha."