Cuddalore
Every year, the the Bay of Bengal generates multiple instances of stormy weather called "Bay Depressions" - low pressure atmosphereic conditions which lead to cyclonic storms that hit the Tamil Nadu and Andhra and Telengana coast of India.
When I was a kid in Madras, Bay Depressions meant cool weather - a respite from the heat, torrential rains with water collecting here and there on the streets - a boon for a kid to go out and play with paper boats and make designs in the gasoline spills from vehicles that pool around in designs of various colors of the rainbow. It meant fireflies, frogs and crickets. It meant power lines being down and roads being waterlogged, so school buses couldn't ply and schools would be closed. Even at home, if pressed to study textbooks or do the homework, I could blame the power cuts and the inability to read in the dark and go out and play. It meant earth shattering thunder and lightning which thrilled me to the core and made the hair one one's back stand on end. I could play with candles and wax and torch lights. We would switch on All India Radio (AIR) on a small portable transistor radio and listen to "Chaya Geet" and "Aap Ki Pharmaish" and Amin Sayani reading out requests coming from far off places ("Bhilai se Mannu, Bunty aur unke papa aur mummy pharmaish karte hain ... "- Mannu and Bunty and their mom and dad from Bhilai request...") followed by the lilting tunes of Mukesh, Rafi, Kishore da and of course always Lata ji. My father would make it a point to tune in to both the National news and the regional news on the hour so we could listen to the weather forecast. Good days when you can be a kid and nothing more...
But as I think back and try to remember, always... always... the meterologist used to mention Cuddalore mavattam (district) as being one of the worst affected.
Cuddalore is a town located in a district which bears the same name in Tamil Nadu state of India. The town and the district of Cuddalore bears the brunt of almost each and every one of these storms. And indeed and unfortunately, Cuddalore bore the brunt of the recent Tsunami as well. [Cuddalore Wikipedia] doesn't mention much about this.
Countless people in this district have sufferred from these storms and the Tsunami. People who during the best of times live in makeshift huts, many people whose livelihood depend upon the morning fishing catch - and many fishermen lost to sea, not many areas even electrified - when you have to boil water to make it potable and to boil it either you need to be able to fetch kerosene fuel through water logged roads or try to build a fire from damp firewood. The malaria menace that follows due to mosquitoes breeding. Very less rescue and rehabilitation infrastructure - at the worst of times, the army gets mobilized a week later to go in to help out.
What would it be like in their shoes? To build a meager living, only to have the sea come and take it away, time, time and time again... - I can't even imagine.
Two people who I am in awe of and who, I am sure the people of Cuddalore district are grateful for are Cuddalore District Collector Gagandeep Singh Bedi who has tirelessly worked to alleviate the sufferring of the people - an IAS officer from Punjab and the top local government official who has, overcoming language obstacles (different states, totally different languages), been the becon of hope for hundreds of thousands of people in the district (More) and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and my favorite tennis icon Roger Federer who recently visited Cuddalore. [Federer: "... promised to come "again and again" ..."]
There are very few people who achieve greatness just by performing their assigned duties to perfection and these two are surely on the top. I wish I were one of them.
posted by terrywhatlee @ 1:00 AM
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