N - Damage

DAMAGE

These coconut palms still stand tall. They are the few that remain from
the huge cluster that once stood in this garden.

That night ----- year 1999, month October, day 29, time round 11 p.m.
The wind started and picked up speed as the night stretched. The wind
howled and growled for 36 long hours causing havoc over the place it
tread upon. This was the 'Super Cyclone' as it was named. The people
along the coast of Orissa were ravaged by nature's fury.

Like a demon at work, the wind banged the doors and the windows, blew
away the thatch and asbestos roofs, razed many houses to the ground,
snapped the electric and telephone wires, drowning the whole area into
complete darkness. The wind was very harsh to the trees that stood out
in the open to face the ravage. The strong winds had left the branches
naked with no leaves on them, just the skeleton with no coverings. The
stronger ones had struggled to survive and the weaker ones uprooted by
the mighty cyclone.

The aftermath was incalculable. People died leaving behind orphans,
widows, near and dear ones, and many more left traumatized. Even large
number of animals lost their lives.

Time is the best healer. Within days aid started pouring in and the
restoration work was carried on. Life started returning to
normal.

The suffering of the trees can well be seen in these surviving coconut
palms. The leaves did come back after sometime getting back the
greenness in nature. The trace of fear still exists in the coconut
palms. They no longer bear the flowers which can turn into fruits. The
cyclone has left behind the fear from which these palms are not able to
come out. They have become 'barren'. No one can repair the loss of
these dumb living palms. Who can estimate their sufferings? For years
to come, they will stand there as a proof to the irreparable damage
caused to them.