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SBL - Article by Rani Cherian

Arabian Sea ! Arabian Sea !

Yes, Arabian Sea is my mother today

She feeds me, she bathes me

She wipes my tears, she cheers my fears

She plays with me and cries with me

She screams with me and roars at me

The great Arabian Sea is my mother now

Why you may wonder and how you may ask

And it's a horror story which makes me tremble still

The great tsunami of 2004

Which left me here with my mother sea?

If you want to hear my story! Listen to me and never cry

My sister and I went to her that day to play

But to my awe she wasn't that usual self

She rose in anger and left us in danger

We ran in fear what's wrong with her today we wondered?

My mother held both my sister and me tight

And trembling with fear we ran away in anguish

Sea rose higher and higher over our hut and over us too

Uprooting trees, houses, boats and buses alike

Oh! She rose above us and my mother held us close to her heart

We were floating and sinking struggling for breath

Soon I felt my mother's hands go loose

I began screaming and shouting but drinking and sinking

The roaring sea devouring me at once

I got hold of something and I clung to it tight

Gathering my strength I climbed over it

It was a huge uprooted tree I realized

I could float with it as if in a boat

Oh! God I saw children washed away with cradle clothes

Animals, people and plants alike crying for help

Fishes and frogs and snakes and dogs

Every thing trying to breathe and live

Don't know what happened to me I just slept

And when I woke up I could see the sea in calm

“Where I was I wondered, for it all looked like a dream

And me still sitting on the tree root which I had held

I could see dead bodies lying around,

Some with open mouths, raised hands, and open eyes

Others clinging to some thing or some one

Some people in uniforms running about with stretchers

Searching for survivals and others

Piling up dead bodies of people and animals alike

Away I saw some digging pits to throw the bodies in

Others bringing in oils and wood to burn them before decay

Dead or alive that's their fate all were burned at once

Mothers and fathers weeping for children

Children and kids wailing and shouting for parents

What a dreadful sight it was I still feel terrible

Some one came up to me and carried me to the shore

My hands and legs were all numb, I couldn't walk

Some brought me food and bandaged my wound

I could hear them murmur, “poor little lad 4 days in water and still alive”

As soon as I could walk, I ran to my hut but there was none

I ran like mad calling my mum and dad and my cute little sister

But soon I realized none were alive, they all left me, left me to be alone

I felt lonely and alone and I cried “mamma my mamma don't leave me alone”

Orphan I am, and I now realize what an orphan really is

I screamed at God and shouted at him

“God why did you snatch them away from me

Why did you save me to be alone?”

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