Suriya is looking forward to this weekend. And no, it’s not because a film of his is releasing.
He’s part of Yaadhum Oore , a two-day conference this weekend, organised by The Hindu , Puthiya Thalaimurai and Agaram Foundation, to bring together experts, administrators and volunteers under a single platform. In a chat with MetroPlus , the actor talks about what the recent floods have taught us and the road ahead…
You’d posted on social media that you were out of country when the floods happened. You’d tweeted, ‘Feeling helpless for not being able to reach out to you in this hour of need. Desperate to get back!’ How did your family handle the situation?
The day the flooding happened, I was out of the country, but I kept getting calls from my parents in T. Nagar. They sounded very upset as the water-level was threatening. Soon it was seeping into the house. My children were also staying there that day. We were wondering what to do, because vehicles couldn’t enter the street, when luckily, a friend brought his car and took them in. We thought about checking into a nearby hotel, but my five-year-old son wanted to return to our second-floor residence in Adyar, as he thought it would be safe there. If this was the situation in the heart of Chennai, I dreaded to think about how it must be in low-lying areas and localities near lakes. I wanted to come back to Chennai fast and help.
Once here, you were involved with relief work through your Agaram Foundation…
Almost every couple of hours, the needs were changing. After a couple of days, it was blankets and shelter that became the priority.
Through the Foundation, you decided to adopt three villages in Tiruvallur district that are home to Irula families. Why those particular villages?
The 800 families there don’t even have ration cards. So, they were unable to receive even any official aid. Once we spotted these villages, we organised a medical camp — with a 100-member team from Apollo Hospitals — to help them out.
What do you feel is the biggest lesson that the floods have taught us?
The power of unity; that if we are united, we can achieve a lot. I saw many people come out to volunteer, out of love and not out of compassion. They wanted to support. It was amazing.
What’s the way forward now that the waters have receded? Tell us about the two-day conference, ‘Yadhum Oore’ that you’re a part of…
Chennai needs to be sensitised, and this could just be the right time. The conference will see experts in the area of water conservation, environmentalists, administrators and volunteers come together on a single platform… to pool in their collective expertise to arrive at scientific solutions to prevent future disasters. A movement needs to be kick-started. It’s already on all over the globe, and even in Tamil Nadu, you have Siruthuli in Coimbatore that works to rejuvenate water sources. Their members avoid buying plastic bags at shops; they take cloth bags. In the conference, we will be discussing ways to make Chennai a greater city in the future, and would like this to become an annual affair henceforth.
(For details and registration, log on to yadhum.in or call 90256 01332 or 73586 86695)
