An Experience of Resilience
We left for Pondicherry by road on 27th Dec 2011 to be among close relatives during the festive season of Christmas & New Year. While leaving Bangalore we had no inkling of the Cyclonic Storm “Thane”. Hardly crossed 200 kms from Bangalore, we had calls coming from friends & relatives of the impending cyclone named “Thane”. Nevertheless, we surged ahead to Puducherry! We had left Bangalore at around 7.30 am and reached Pondy late afternoon after a taking a circuitous route (450 Kms) and checked into a nice hotel booked thru www.travelguru.com.
After Krishnagiri we took the recommended deviation on the road to Tiruvannamalai. The road is the NH 66 but not the 4 lane toll road. Stopping for breakfast at Alis for ….this owner guy….(see Photo) persuaded us to go back to Krishnagiri and reach Pondi via Kancheepuram…all the while assuring that though it might be just 50 km more but the road is much better. Some of the hard lessons we learnt was never to depend on good intentioned advise of petty roadside restaurants owners on road conditions…we miserably did 250 kms more of the fast highway almost upto Chennai and crawled the remaining 150 kms at snails space b’cos of bad roads. So much so for advice of guys who are clueless on distances or road conditions one bit. Of course, in life too we experience guys pompously generous with advice!!
Pondicherry was too good. The Auroville forest, the Visitors Convention Centre and its eco friendly approach featured was impressive. The fact that they have been emboldened to blaze a lifestyle trend which is unique for residents who have adopted NATURE as first mantra is adorable & worth emulating all over.
The beach was crowded on 28th and the waves were creating gigantic waves. Many locals told us that the predicted cyclone would pass over and would not affect Pondicherry as it had not done in the past 30 years! How wrong they were!!!
Alas, on the fateful midnight of 29th Dec 2011, the cyclone name “THANE” hovered near the beaches of Pondi and crossed the coast at 7.30 am bringing down all the trees and hoardings of impending New Year celebrations in its path! We could see huge buntings, dish antennas and satellite dishes flying like flying saucers from the 5th floor of our hotel. The fury of the wind of a cyclonic storm has to be experienced rather than described!! The night at the hotel was nightmarish as the roof of the convention centre above our floor had almost fully blown away and what was left was just clinging on the remaining hinges swaying up & down and banging to wind speeds of over 140 kms, creating such a demonic sound that we thought that the sea had engulfed the hotel. Huge trees fell across main roads, felling all power lines, TV cables, Phone lines & made Pondi a dead city in just a matter of few hours!!! We took a lot of photos of the Auroville forest. But it was painful reading newspapers reporting that Auroville forest has lost 70 % of its tree cover!
BUT…the important message in this write up is the speediness with which the people of Pondicherry battered with such a storm garnered in just a few hours to overcome their terrible fate! As soon as the velocity of cyclone slightly reduced…the civic authorities were in action along with hundreds of citizen volunteers…repeat along with HUNDREDS OF CITIZEN VOLUNTEERS to cut / clear the fallen trees, electricity poles (power was shut off), telephone cables thus enabling tourists to move away from Pondicherry. Hats off to the Collector (& District Magistrate) young IAS officer (think, his name is Deepak) who spearheaded the rescue and disaster management initiatives so effectively.
Thank you citizens of beautiful Pondicherry, despite all your problems, you exhibited resilience of high order and assisted outsiders. We will remember you always! It is in times like these that we experience the goodness of people.
Ajit lakshmiratan
