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Denis Giles

27 December 2022

Port Blair, Dec. 26: Chinthe Long Range, Brichgunj will be used for Firing practice on Dec.28, 2022 from 9.30 am to 5 pm. All concerned have been warned to keep themselves and their vehicle/livestock away from the firing range during the above mentioned date and time.

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Denis Giles

26 December 2022

Revisiting the Past in the hope of a better future

By Sarpreet Kaur

Narration and Exclusive Photographs by Denis Giles

A vivid memory-

A smile escaped my lips looking at the familiar newspaper. I can remember all those birthday listings, retirement announcements and situation vacant columns that formed part of this paper. Coloured from the front-back and the time-tested black and white print towards the inner side. A balcony, a cosy chair, a newspaper and a cup of tea- what could be more perfect, but suddenly a gloom overshadowed the day- It was 26 December 2022. The paper was filled with a long list of Remembrances by families for their loved ones who lost their lives on that dreadful day. I could see a glint of sun here and a wrinkled grey of clouds somewhere on the canvas of azure water but my mind was not contemplating the beauty of this sea, it has already flown 18 years back- the cries of women, the heart-wrenching silence of kids, hopeful eyes in search of families, those shrieks to get as less as a glass of water, the echoing wails and what not. That day how fickle human life was, how harsh nature was, how devious some humans are and how godly some of our human mates were, all this was demonstrated in mere few hours. Who did this?

This very sea. This very sea did it. I am sure the sea must have had valid reasons. I can still feel the same shiver running down my spine. On that fateful day of 26th December 2004, this sea was furious, not serene as now. It was fuming with anger, ferociously.

The houses on Andaman and Nicobar Islands are all decked up with big stars and shimmering lights, the faraway humming of carols has started accompanying the sea breeze, the winds are not humid anymore, it’s a calm breeze, the thunderous clouds have said goodbye and gave way to the clear starry nights. There is an air of general merriment all around but still, there is something- no actually, that one thing which will always bring in the dark shadows no matter how many bright stars are hung over the doors. That fateful night of Christmas Day was followed by a heart-wrenching Tsunami and marred a big hole in every house on these Islands. Someone lost a mother, someone a father, many lost everything and for a few their whole generations got wiped out by the sea. This year on the 18th dreadful anniversary of the Tsunami, which we hoped would have never occurred, we will rewind the horrors. Now one might think about what is the need to do so. Why are we doing it? What's done is done and above that the famous zeal that these islanders have, had made it a past. But we must remember because remembering our past is the only way to learn to have a better future.

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Revising what happened

The first tremors were felt early morning, my whole family leapt out of the bed and went straight to the road and then the nearby playground. I could see dozens of people coming out of their houses, all with blank expressions about what was happening. Then after a few minutes of heart-tightening tremors, they stopped and we all gave a smile of relief to one another.  Then the news started pouring in. How a newly constructed house on a pillar gave up and crumbled like a house of cards. Another one said how the old building in Haddo wharf collapsed to the ground and one can hear the wails of people stuck inside it, luckily it was of people on the out and there was no one in.

The ships were being sent to the sea to avoid damage. The ropes from the bollards were being ferociously untied. One merchant vessel, in all the clamour and chaos, cast off with one of its ropes still tied to the Bollard. This Bollard via the rope pulled it back and under the fast swell of the sea it rotated 180 degrees to one side, everyone shouted from the jetty as it was about to crush the smaller wooden ship with people on it.

But God does exist because, by the miracle of God, the miracle of brakes or wind or something unknown, the ship stopped and drifted forward just a few inches of the tumbling boat, though it scraped it badly but not to the point of irreparableness. The sheer force of the water had moved a Maruti 800 upright with one side towards the trunk; some people hastily tied it to the trunk itself with a rope to stop it from going into the sea.

Dinghy boats were floating in the middle of the roads, a few others were already upside down and you could only make out the flat surface. One could see remorseful faces all around. They were not sad; they were a hell lot of scared. Some were curious about what was happening, the Islands had never seen or felt such a thing ever. The Chatham bridge was underwater, the ships were floating to the level of a jetty, and the cars, autos, scooters everything one could see was floating. There was only chaos and chaos around.

Every second everyone is inching closer to his/her grave and it is said that when we witness something as crude as a Tsunami, humans tend to come together and show their humanity. But Tsunami showed that it was not true. We, humans, are the worst kind of animals because on that fateful day, just when the Tsunami hit the Islands, a few shopkeepers doubled the rates of Paan, tea etc. Some of the elected local representatives went into their burrows and the people who chose them were left off to fend for their own. The next few days saw no electricity, no water and no food.

“Grain to bhut pada hai sahib. Kya karein Pahunchayein kaise? Labour e nhi hai kahin.”

“Ek glass bhi nhi bacha. Bas apni jaan bacha sake par abb iss jaan ka kya karein. Saari umar ki kamayi to chali gyi.”

“Tsunami se to bach gye par ab ye bhook aur pyaas pta nhi kitno ki jaan legi.” People cried.

Wards were filled with casualties, and the parking lot of GB Pant hospital had turned into a waiting room. These were the condition of the people around Port Blair. We have not yet reached Nicobars- The ground ZERO. What was happening in Katchal, Nancowry, Champin, Great Nicobar, Campbell Bay and many other small islands in the south was something no one could ever imagine. Whole villages were being swept away, the bodies were being gulped down, and the terror of sea was being witnessed.

In Nicobar, the devastation was unimaginable. 50% of the trees had been uprooted, Trinket island was torn in half, Champin island was lost beyond communication and Kamorta was thirsty and hungry. The Scene- battered houses, hanging roofs, crying infants, stranded grounds, tumbled life and floating bodies. No amount of words and adjectives could ever do justice to what the people of the Islands witnessed and suffered because of Tsunami.

Not only the devious side of beings was witnessed that day but also how godly we humans can be was also seen. First, the angels came in the form of crew members of MV Sentinel. The ship was the saviour of that time and bought hope to the people of Nicobar that yet there is someone out there for them. The crew worked tirelessly for saving precious lives, dinghy after dinghy was unloaded by the crew, the kids and women were the first to come, they boarded and were fed on the ship.

Amidst this full chaos when the administration locked horns with humanism, these very people of MV Sentinel without worrying about their jobs and their own families, negated the orders that came from high above and continued helping their people.

On these Islands, many influential people fled first on the crafts of money. However, some leaders like Ayesha Majid outright rejected the ghastly idea of leaving her people behind to go on safer grounds. Till the end, she stayed.

Air Force helicopters, Coast Guard and Navy ships and Army troops in conjunction with the administration worked together in these hours of difficulty carrying out relief, Search and Rescue operations to their maximum capacity.  However, it must be remembered that this was the first time the local people, administration and the armed forces were witnessing a disaster of such sought.

I still remember the Tri-Services along with the administration paying rich tributes to the jawans, their families and the natives on the first anniversary of Tsunami, who could not survive the Boxing Day. A memorial was erected at the Air Force base in Car Nicobar not only to remember the ones we lost but to also remind us how nature can hit back.

Many accusations were made on the duties of many in the position of power at that time without understanding the due pressure under which each and every one was. This makes it much more pertinent to remember those days so that due precautions and arrangements could be made to revert future tragedies as well as be self-equipped to face them be it a local man, administration or the armed forces.

Without getting into too much of technical wordplay, we need to look at the reality of Tsunami, which was all about behind the scenes. It is a well-known fact that the TV showed only selected pictures, trimmed numbers and blurred ideas to people out there. The tragedy of the Tsunami is imprinted on the heart of that lady who was shouting from the dinghy down below “Mujhe mera bacha vapis de do. Mujhe mera bacha vapis dedo bs” when her child was taken away by the rescue ship onboard but suddenly the Captain refused to board any more passengers. The real horror is known by that bunch of humans who were waiting in the dinghy in the middle of the sea waiting for their turn.

Real heroism was portrayed when the crew members of MV Sentinel said, “Hum ek bhi aadmi peeche chorh kr nahi jayega. Ye sab hmara log hai. Agar captain bhi roka to usse kaat daalega.” How slowly time goes by was known by that girl waiting in GB Pant for her parents to arrive and the real shock was sensed by the people on a stranded island who were listening to the radio, “Rescue teams have reached and all our people have been fed” while these people under that cotton sheet in a stranded island were peeling the last coconut they had in their tattered bag.

At that time in that place and in that condition, people were looking out towards the shore with keen eyes, not for food, not for clothes, not for water, they were looking for hope, some sign of hope that yes someone is looking out for them, hoping that their existence matters. Hope was all that they wanted.

Many many years later, one could wonder how the sea which is a treasure for the fisherman, which is a mate for the sailor and which is home to the maximum of our living organisms could be so cruel. Then the other picture slides over showing the battered down forests, deforestation over acres, those oil spills, poachers, floating garbage, plastic entangled Dugongs and almost extinct species. We leave no stone unturned and give plenty of reasons to the sea to be angry with us and once in a while nature understandably loses its cool.

We sure have come a long way since the first Tsunami, we have all the sensors, ships, rules and a detailed mechanism to handle such a situation and everything, but still, ARE WE READY TO BEAR THE NEXT HIT? Have we prepared enough to take head on the sea as the opponent? NO! no matter how technologically advanced we get we will never be ready to take on nature. The only thing that we can do is be respectful towards it. Yes! Development has to go side by side and change is the only constant law of nature but we should not let our greed dig our own grave. Let the development be sustainable in its true measure not just on paper. This earth is not ours, we are mere tenants. Let us mend our ways before the owner loses his cool again.

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Denis Giles

27 December 2022

Port Blair, Dec. 26: The vessel MV Swaraj Dweep will sail for Port Blair to Chennai on Dec. 28, 2022 at 1000 hrs. Excess baggage will be loaded from 1400 Hrs to 1600 hrs on Dec.27, 2022 i.e. one day prior to sailing of the vessel.  Embarkation of passengers will commence from 0800 hrs to 0900 hrs on Dec.28. The embarkation of passengers will be closed one hour before the schedule time. Passengers reporting late will not be allowed to board the vessel. The vessel will sail soon after the embarkation of passengers and completion of other formalities from Haddo Wharf.  Excess baggage will be subject to double the rate of freight.

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Denis Giles

24 December 2022

Diglipur, Dec. 23: An incident of illegal earth cutting and transportation was reported in Subhasgram village of Diglipur Tehsil where an estimated quantum of 2125 cbm of earth material has been extracted from hilly land bearing survey no 49/P and was then transported to and dumped over land Sy. No 292/1/3/2 by R Rajashekharan.

Read more: Incident of Illegal Earth Cutting & Transportation Reported in Subhashgram, District...