Ten years ago, the Indian Ocean tsunami washed away everything that T. Arulanandu held dear. The associate professor of history at the Bishop Heber College, Tiruchi, lost eight of his family members in what used to be an annual winter vacation visit to Velankanni in Nagapattinam district.
“December is a month of terrible memories,” says Mr.Arulanandu as he recounts the harrowing events of the day that snatched away his wife, Arokya Arulrani, a mathematics lecturer in Holy Cross College here and two-year-old daughter Thangam, along with his wife’s parents, and among others, his college-going brother-in-law whose December 27 birthday the family used to celebrate regularly in Velankanni. Of the 10-member group, only Arulanandu, and his younger sister-in-law Antasi, survived the tsunami.
Arulanandu, a native of Michaelpalayam in Dindigul district, had been the last to join the family outing, as he had been held up by work in Tiruchi. “We finished the second mass on the 26th at the Our Lady of Health Basilica, had breakfast and then went to the beach,” he recalled. “My sister-in-law was telling me how dead baby crabs and starfish had been found washed ashore two days ago. Suddenly, we heard someone asking us to run.”
Mr.Arulanandu remembers removing his slippers to escape the towering wave as it hit the shore, but lost consciousness soon after. When he regained consciousness, he found himself tossed against a lamp-post. His wife and daughter were nowhere to be seen. Like the thousands of people caught up in the aftermath, he spent the rest of the day looking for his loved ones. He eventually was able to identify them from photos of the dead people given a common burial on a subsequent visit to Velankanni.
Mr.Arulanandu has suffered a dislocated hip and left shoulder as a permanent reminder of his ordeal. He resumed work on January 3, 2005 and consciously decided to forego any kind of surgical or psychiatric treatment. “I didn’t want to feel disabled and lose my will to live,” he says.
Living down the tsunami’s after-effects has been a struggle, even though he decided to move on, says Mr.Arulanandu. “I married again in 2005, and we had twins the year after. My new family has realised that my first wife and child will always be dear to me,” he says.
He acknowledges the role of his students and colleagues in helping him come to terms with his loss.
Quite aware of his story being one of the many footnotes of a natural disaster that made history, Mr. Arulanandu marks the birth and death anniversaries of his daughter Thangam by sponsoring a meal for orphaned children every year.
