Nature's fury and Us.

I have been very lucky. Third year in a row that I got to go to desh...bharat, India, "the land of a million mutinies" and she still teaches.

As with Jan 26, a terrible atrocity was unleashed by nature on Dec. 26, days before my landing. A massive earthquake triggered a tsunami that engulfed thousands on coastal area of South-East Asia. India too was not spared, coming a unenviable third in the list of casualties. Unlike the US, the tsunami remained till the day of my departure a short 2.5 weeks later on the front pages.

While people will readily agree that rehabilitation counts more than anything and discussions will galore, I want to log the gist of a few stories here before memory fails me:

* India giving: Common man and corporations both doled out donations generously. Gujarat govt. was proactive in sending relief supplies within 2 days of the tragedy (something to be said about the planning of the much maligned CM Mody) with the support of nearly 200 NGOs in the state. The Kutch earthquake experience of '02 seems to have left some positive changes in governance. Overall in India, within 10 days contributions to the PM Relief Fund of over Rs. 410 crores overcame the amount collected in a full year after the Gujarat earthquake.

* Call of duty: From IE:

Minutes after the earth stopped shaking, and the first wall of water
collapsed on Katchal Island, Deepika remembers seeing hundreds of families
running in blind panic towards high ground.Then she saw her own husband. He was running towards the waves.
Two weeks later, Sub-Inspector Sanjeev is still ‘‘missing’’, but his defining act of courage is shining through from under the rubble. The 34-year-old Station House Officer saved four lives that Sunday and went under while trying to save a fifth.

Official apathy has delayed informing the wife that her brave husband was no more. Salaam to Sub-Inspector Sanjeev and many more heroes of the day.

* Hearts and homes open for orphans: As of Jan 11, there were 1,500 in adoption queue. The kind would-be foster parents ranged from bachelor volunteers to coconut sellers. Salaam India.