Life does go on.........in 2005

So much has been said by so many of the tsunami, there is nothing left to be said, especially by someone like me who lives thousands of miles away.

And yet, it haunts me. I am unable to get away from it. It pervades the atmosphere at home. And at work. It gives me nightmares.

When we friends talk, it is only about this. With Indian/Sri Lankan friends, we talk about places and people we know and hope they are safe.

With Kiwi friends, it is the same, only in a more general way. They are very kind, for they all know that I am from India. Many even know that I am from Madras (as it is still known as here).

Aid relief collection is on here. We have done all we can. Yet a sense of guilt _ is that all there is to it? Just flinging some money? How about those who are actually doing the work _ working with the homeless babies, the rotting corpses? I know I can't do it. But still........

All our squabbles, our wars, seem so petty in comparison. Mother Nature is the ultimate, in beautiful and ugly.

I feel so silly and ashamed, when I think how revolted and scared I was when I saw slugs in my kitchen. What is it compared to all this horror that is going on in this world. It is like comparing the pain of a scratch to that of labour pain. But, still, both are varying degrees of pain.

I just can't get over my gross and deep-rooted revulsion for slugs and snails. {I don't have to worry about snakes and lizards here as they can be found only in zoos.} Much as I can't get over the images that the TV brings to me daily about the tsunami.

I am only human, after all...and hats off to you, Ramya, if you are reading this, for actually going there and being part of it. I do know it is part of your job, but still, I don't know if I could have done it had I still been there.............

However, to end on a note of hope _ today, for the first time after I got my driving licence, I drove on the motorway, all the way from Lower Hutt to Wellington. Life goes on!