The land of the Ghost.....

Slightly less than 50 years before (precisely 5 months short), a township that was bustling with activity, which had road, rail and sea transports went down to the fury of the nature. Dhanushkodi, the Ghost town, stands today as a land and not much ruins are left there for anyone to imagine what sort town it could have been. 

I travelled to the this place as part of our pilgrimage trip, but it was not easy for me to hide the apathy. If one could turn the clock and travel back in time, consider themselves as a person who loved in that town, he or she can possibly visualise the dreadful events that unfolded on that fateful day of 22-23 December of 1964.

This was the track that the passenger train was moving along, few kilometres away from its final destination. The remains of the track is still there to remind the future generation of how the train was consumed by the giant waves that turned it like a turtle.

The beach shows no signs of the township that existed 50 years back except for small ruins here and there. A small stretch of harbour road can be seen today which the local fishermen staying in a hamlet nearby use.

A dilapidated building that housed the post office and the railway station that existed at that time were only the symbols of human occupation that can be seen now.

It is unthinkable that how can the area is totally wiped out of everything that the township had before, the buildings, market places, temples etc. Eerie silence engulfs the area and one can hear the death cries of the people humming in their ears. If anyone recalls the history while visiting the place would definitely shed tears in sympathy for those unfortunate lives.

I saw a Sivalingam lying stranded in the beach. Did He remain the mute spectator for the destruction? possibly yes, as he was the destroyer, can feel proud of his act. Today he is lying there with no one worshipping him, with no shelter and rituals, expect the mentally retarded old man sitting nearby.

The sea lies quietly as if it knows nothing about the calamity that it has caused or is it repenting for what it did to the thousands of the people?

But one request to you. Please do not play with human lives for they worship you and depend  on you for their living.