Waves of tears and fears after tsunami in her life

Twelve-year-old Varsha is mostly a happy schoolgirl who wants to become a pilot one day. But unlike her classmates she suffers from hydrophobia.

“I cannot stand water,” says Varsha. “I feel scared. I fear I will drown and the water will engulf me and swallow me.” Behind this irrational fear lies her memory of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004. That day she saw her family members get pulled into giant waves at Poompuhar in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu.

“It was early morning,” she recalls. “My grandmother, my father, my mother and my brother were all together when tall waves hit us. In the commotion, my hand slipped from my father’s. I saw my brother and my father being pushed away from me by the waves. The waves pulled us and pushed us along with many people, who began to topple over each other.”

Soon, two more huge waves hit them. “Water entered our eyes, ears, nose and mouth,” she says. “We were surrounded by water but my grandmother, who was holding my other hand, didn’t let go of me. We could not feel the ground and it was difficult to swim, too. But we kept kicking and trying to find some foothold.”
At least 170 people were reported dead in the tsunami in Poompuhar. Most of the dead were fishermen who had gone to sea.

“When someone finally spotted us, they pulled us onto a boat,” Varsha says. “They were fishermen. When we thanked them, they pointed a knife at us and asked my grandmother to give them all we had. My grandma gave them the jewellery she was wearing and begged them to take us to shore.”

After hours of battle with the waves, they managed to reach the shore. Rescue workers and the police had reached the beach by then.

“The police enquired about what had happened,” she says. “My grandma was very scared and crying for help. We told them that our family had been dragged away by huge waves and that we were looking for them. They helped us in our search. Three days later they told us that our family members had died.”

The police and rescue teams, meanwhile, contacted Varsha’s uncle, Panju, in Bangalore. Panju and one of his friends rushed to Poompuhar after news of the then five-year-old Varsha being alive was shown on television.

“We contacted the police, and they helped reunite us with Varsha and my mother,” Panju says. “My brother, his wife and their son were all washed away. But their bodies were recovered. After we all came to Bangalore, Varsha felt depressed for some time. We have a son and we wanted a daughter. So, we decided Varsha would be that daughter and adopted her.” Today, Varsha and Panju’s son both go to the same school.

Varsha has rallied well after her loss, but still finds it hard to forget the “giant waves that took my father away”.