English: November 2012

The beach has always been a matter of immense fascination for me. I have told this a number of times, but would re-assure. During my morning walks (which I am judiciously following for several years, come rain or come sun), every day is an experience. You can see some hundred people warming up for some charity run...................,

or someone taking a loud pledge on ‘World Heart Day’ (you have so many ‘days’ these days what with brother’s day, or sister’s day friendship day, or valentines’ day, and their hundreds of cousins in all shapes and sizes),

or someone venturing on his motor bike on an All-India drive in 41 days or so, aiming for a Guinness record, or some volunteers of the less known hospitals stopping you for a ‘fat’ check up, luring with a 500 ML mineral water bottle, or a copy of the day’s Deccan Herald, or Times of India. Sometimes, it will be a Beach Volleyball tournament between some of the reputed corporate houses in Chennai, or may be a ‘Frisbee’ tournament on the sands. And, if you are lucky, you can even witness some film shooting with your favorite heroine drenching and dancing to background cacophony, in the artificial rains……

But today was different. As expected, the regular beach walkers, most of whom exchange a ‘hi’ or a half hearted smile with me every day, had taken a detour, ignoring the usual 1 km stretch of the beach road. Destination was Urur Kuppam, and beyond, towards Foreshore Estate, along the unwieldy and unhygienic beach sand with the fisher folk hutments on one side and the frothy waves kissing your feet on the other.

Everybody wanted to get a close glimpse of the grounded Oil Tanker “Pratibha Kaveri”.
I too joined the crowd, but despite a two kilometer walk straining your calf muscles, the ship, though visible, looked more like a mirage. Apparently, the tanker which was pushed by the storm last evening was drifted close to the Besant Nagar beach, but slowly moved away in the massive waves when “Nilam” crossed the shores near Mahabalipuram in the late evening hours. And the ship quietly settled down in its present position near Foreshore Estate.

Obviously, the public was extremely disappointed that they got only a ‘distant’ vision of the ship. They had come with the hope of a closer encounter, having come in all types of conveyance – cycles, mopeds, scooters, bikes, cars of all shapes and sizes & colors….

How sad !!!!!

A lone helicopter and another barge was hovering around, hoping against hope to locate the 5 ‘missing’ crew of the ill-fated ship. I too returned, with a heavy heart – not because I was unable to get a closer view, but because I was able to empathize with the unfortunate inmates of the sea bird.
I could understand, and clearly visualize the panic and pathos of the moments, when the ship’s anchoring mechanism failed when the mammoth waves hit her from the ‘port’ side and ‘starboard’ side. I could feel the ‘roll’ and ‘pitch’ during those dark moments when the generators might have failed….

HEAVY HEART, BECAUSE..............., BECAUSE I TOO HAVE GONE THROUGH SIMILAR CHILLING EXPERIENCE – NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE……….. AS A FIFTH ENGINEER IN A SHIP, WHEN I STARTED MY ENGINEERING CAREER WAY BACK IN A SHIPPING COMPANY IN CALCUTTA.

I shall tell you about it all in my next blog

“Calm after the storm – Part 2”