One year on...

One year ago, on this day, a killer tsunami struck the coast of Southern India causingmassive loss to both life and property. I was watching NDTV just now, and they carried a special episode from Karaikal, on the eastern coast of India. Actually, all through the day, NDTV has been airing specials on the aftermath of the tsunami and taking a look at how life moves on for the people affected by this terrible terrible disaster.

Even though I wasn't in any way affected by the wave, I know a classmate of mine, originally from Cuddalore, whose family business was ruined by this wave and its taken them quite a while to rebuild it from scratch again. Another friend of mine had a narrow escape on ECR on Dec 26th 2004. There have been numerous people who were affected both directly and indirectly by the tsunami. As I was watching NDTV, A.R.Rahman and his troupe of singers including Sivamani, the percussionist were performing in Karaikal free of cost, just to bring some joy among the locals living there. It was really nice to see the children smiling again, the people thoroughly enjoying the music and for a few hours atleast, leave their troubles and agonies behind and savouring the moment. Another story that I saw on NDTV Profit was from Nagapattinam and how the government had set up a fixed deposit of Rs.5 Lac for children who had lost both parents in the disaster and Rs.3 Lac for all those who had lost one parent. Also, many offers have poured in from generous minded folks willing to sponsor a child's higher education. I believe that adoption is also an option, but the government is playing safe and letting NGO's, and reputed ones at that, handle the entire situation.

In Cuddalore, there was a story of a 9 year old boy, who had lost his entire family except his little sibling,all of 3 years old. The problem here was they had been separated on the fateful day and the baby was handed over to the first person who was willing to take her. Now, Tanveer, is on a mission to find his sibling.

On one side, we have families trying to rebuild their lives, and moving on with things, living in government provided shelters and waiting to move into permanent houses, and on the other side, the darker side, we have stories like Tanveer's, for whom the bitter and painful memories of Dec 26th 2004 haven't diminished. Such stories do tend to move you and I can only hope that no further hardships occur and that these people will also be able to lead a normal life and most of all, enjoy living! Sometimes, I wonder, at how fortunate we are.

Today has been a day of mixed emotions, some good, some painful, a day of remembrance, a day spent in saying thank you to the Almighty for having helped these people tide over the last one year, a day of hope, a hope that the souls of those unfortunate people rest in peace, a day of sorrow and grief for some, a day of happiness for some, happiness in the sense that one year has passed and that things can only get better from now on!!! Its a sad memory indeed!

One year on....

IBN

IBN has been launched and is officially on air from last friday (16th of December). I don't get it in Chennai and I am calling the cable operator to find out why!

For the uninformed, IBN is the 24 hour english news channel started by CNBC and at the helm is Rajdeep Sardesai, the journo who quit NDTV last April. His wife, who is also a journalist is helping him with the channel and the website is pretty well designed as well! Slight touches of NDTV, but then, some of NDTV's men are working here as well! Bhupendra Choubey, who used to cover the BJP in NDTV is chief political corrspondent (or some thing like that), Anubha Bhosle is another familiar face, Prabhakar Kumar is another. Also, ex headlines today man H.R.Venkatesh is with NDTV and works the parliament beat.

One interesting section on the web page is the blogs section where some of the people at IBN blog about their job. Incidentally, Rajdeep also has one and his first post is on the launch and the behind the scenes work involved in starting a news channel!! And it gets updated everyday! So, give it a read when time permits!! There is also a section named your voice in which blogs are quoted! So, yeah, seems a nice initiative from IBN.

Cheers

Googlism

Its something that I found online.
Googlism is a site using which you can find out what Google.com thinks of you, your friends or anything!

Try this! Its fun!

Yeah, also, my exam has been deferred again! What else is new??

Fanoos

Fanoos - What a name to give to a cyclone/storm. Wonder which language and what it means??
Fanoos has advanced and is likely to hit the Tamil Nadu Coast soon. I just hope everyone is geared up and no loss of life or property occurs. But seriously, I don't think this state can take another bout of rains! Its already cloudy as I type this!


Click here to view the cyclone three days ago!

Cheers

Another One??

Reports are saying that one more low pressure region is forming in SE Asia and may move in the direction of India and strike the coast of TN and Andhra (don't know where).

Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't happen and the weather men are wrong like they always are. Seriously, this city can't take another bout of rain! Its already overflowing!

But, the satellite picture doesn't look too good, does it. :-(

P.S - I have circled the areas which look scary!!

Tagged

I have been tagged by Archana and here I go!!

7 things that I plan to do:

Study for my exam on monday
Back pack through Europe
Climb Mt.Everest
Start playing tennis once again
Understand the significance of the number 7 in tags
Watch a football game at Old Trafford
Complete this tag

7 things that I can do:

Talk non stop on any topic
Prepare for monday's exam
Watch the Lok Sabha proceedings without getting bored.
Solve the hindu crossword
Spend hours online playing scrabble
Tag atleast one more person
Finish this tag

7 things that I can't do:

Understand the significance of the number 7 in tags
Play Quake
Dance well :P
Stand next to a bird ( The flying kind!!!!)
Drink plain milk
Understand the purpose of the GRE
Understand how the US university admission system works

7 Words I use most Often:

LOL
Ok
ahhhh
alright
Hey
Oh
Yeah

7 blogs(untagged ones) that I wish to tag:

Camphor
S
Zydar
Brownie

and anyone else who is willing.

Cheers

Cricket in the Rains!!

The last three matches in Chennai have been disrupted due to wet weather and its high time the BCCI took note of this fact. Matches should not be scheduled in Chennai during this time of the year.

Sharad Pawar is the new president and I hope that it makes a difference. There is another test match beginning in about 7 hours time. I sincerely hope that Cyclone Baaz either finds an alternate route or stays put in the Indian Ocean for a few days.

Cheers