CHIDAMBARAM: Seven years on, tsunami is still weighing heavy on Maheswari, a resident of MGR Thittu, whose five children were snatched away by giant waves on December 26, 2004. Pointing at her only surviving daughter, who is now 21 and married, Maheswari said: “I am still alive only because of this girl; otherwise I would have ended my life on the day I saw the bodies of my five children.” Memories of the dreaded day in 2004, are still live in Maheswari’s mind. As usual, she left home to sell fish at Chidambaram while her husband Selvaraj and children Sonia Gandhi (14), Vallikanthan (11), Durgadevi (8), Subhasree (6), Suganthi (3) and Vasanthakumar (6 months) were at home. At work, she heard that giant waves are sweeping coastal areas. But continued to work. Later when more people inquired about her village, she rushed to her home. There her only surviving daughter Sonia told her that all her siblings had been swept away by the waves.“I couldn’t believe her. As I approached our house, I started shivering. I started searching for my children. I fainted when I found Vallikanthan’s mutilated body, full of thorn injuries,” a teary eyed Maheswari recalled.Sonia Gandhi (now 21) said: “When the tsunami hit our village, my father held children together as I took my six-month-old brother in my hands, but the wave was so powerful, that it swept away the kids. I was rescued by locals using a fishing net 300 metres away.”Maheswari said her husband, who is working in abroad now, is yet to recover from the shock.
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