A Moment's Silence
I have lost two friends and their families in Sunday's tragedy. Two lovely people, with lovely families.
The sad part is not only the fact that they died, but how it all happened. Soup lived in a ground floor flat of a TNHB apartment block. She and two members of her family went missing, two drowned in the next flat. Two others were thrown against the wall of their home, by the force oft he water, and watched the water immerse them, as they lay helpless with broken bones. The one surviving member of the family was her 12-year-old brother, who was also slammed against the wall by the water, but was thrown onto their showcase upboard, instead of on the floor. It's worse for him because he saw his father and grandmother die in front of his eyes.
The last dialled number on Soup's phone was mine, and so the relief workers called me to check if I could come by to identify bodies. I did, and also spent nine hours last night moving bodies from the shores to waiting vans.
My other friend Gaurav, and his family too were washed away by the waves. Their bodies, bloated almost beyond recognition, were found washed ashore five kilometers away, on the Marina Beach road.
These were people who, till a few hours ago, led normal lives. Smiled, laughed, danced, ate, and played cricket on the beaches.
Please, if you read this, pause a minute and if you're the praying kind, send one up for everyone that has been left bereft by Sunday's incidents.
posted by La Eposa @ 10:44 AM
