Keeping memories alive
RAMYA KANNAN
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In some villages in Tamil Nadu, memorials rise faster than new homes
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I leave the sweets and fruits that my children used to love at the memorial. I stay here all day before going back to the shelter
FOR THE CHILDREN: Punitha, who lost her son and daughter in the tsunami, with her adopted daughter in Nagapattinam at a memorial she built. PHOTO: S.R. RAGHUNATHAN
Remembering the dead is a way of life in the mourning hamlets along Tamil Nadu's coast. In the villages of Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari, where hundreds died in the tsunami, memorials rise faster than new homes.
Each family and community has found a way to remember its dead, adding to the State's efforts to pay homage to the victims.
In Nagapattinam, a pillar with a clock whose hands stand at 9.20 a.m. — three minutes after the tsunami struck the district — has been built at the Collectorate. Two boats have been mounted on pillars at the entrance to Samanthanpettai. A total of 6,065 decorative plants have been planted in memory of each victim in the district. A commemorative pillar is coming up over the mass burial ground close to Velankanni. These are just a few of the many memorials in the district.
In Kanyakumari, a massive memorial built by the State sits on the beach — a 16-ft hand stops a wave, while another holds up a lamp. The Catholic Diocese has built an impressive memorial over the mass grave in Colachel.
Simple shrines
People have built small shrines, and planted casuarinas and coconut saplings in memory of friends and families they lost.
In Aryanaatutheru, just behind the lighthouse in Nagapattinam, small coloured shrines have come up where houses once stood.
Masilamani and Punitha have converted their two-room house into a colourful shrine for their two children, Sanjay (5) and Sivaranjani (3). Everyday the fisherman and his wife go to the shrine from their temporary shelter in Kadambakkam. They light incense sticks in front of framed images of the children. "I leave the sweets and fruits that my children used to love. I stay here all day," says Punitha.
All around her, four-foot tall shrines stand solemnly against the sky. All in memory of families that were washed away on December 26, 2004.
TSUNAMI A YEAR AFTER
