It is my habit to look out for bird life in our garden after a heavy rain fall and wind. When I saw a grass hopper hiding behind a bud in the above photo, I felt even more intrigued by the shelter, nature provides to sustain life!
During the last three days, the landslide in Wayanad, about 80 kilometres away from where Anna and I live, brought a shocking news of how a mountain range fell to the fury of rain in a massive landslide, washing away homes in three human settlements in the darkness of a night!
I carried this anguish as I walked into the garden during the short dry spell. I watched a butterfly under a bush, sunbirds, leaf bird, grater coucal amidst the foliage, and pairs of Warbler, Bulbul, and Myna.
The picture below of a family of Bulbuls at their feeding station on a teak tree, caught my attention. Even amidst the rainy days, the nature gives its offerings to sustain life. The nature's habit is to sustain life.
If nature's habits is to sustain life, how can we fathom a landslide which displaced about 2500 people to transit shelters, having lost their homes! This is apart from residents who had already moved out of the place when the incessant rain threatened them. They have no homes to return to! About three hundred lost their lives and another two hundred or so are still missing. This is a puzzling question and one would not be able to come to the heart of the matter easily. Yes, Wayand is a landslide prone area geologically.
What was outstanding amidst the grief and sorrow of this huge human and property loss was the life giving gestures of the relief workers, about 1200 of them. A column of the Indian army rebuilt a 100 meter long prefabricated steel bridge in 20 hours, restoring the connection to two settlements. The rescue operations since then got activated to a new level of intensity.The dog squad seems to aid in finding bodies buried in the soil. Let me offer the rose flowers below, to all the rescue workers toiling day and night for the last 72 hours! I have noticed in the screen, some rescue workers wiping away their tears, while gathering the human bodies trapped in the debris of their damaged homes. They worked thoughtfully and tearfully to bring relief! They gifted their love while working!
There are about 2500 people living in school buildings, and other public places in about nine relief camps. They having lost their houses, loved ones, and all that they owned, are bereft of all that is normal to life and living. I want to remember all those who care for them, who are in shock, grief and sorrowful! The post traumatic experience would be another challenge ahead. The passion fruits below is a symbol to me, of the hope I carry, of provisions that those who are displaced and those who care for them would receive from well wishers!
One family, who has two children, one of them still being breast fed, happened to hear about breast feeding children, who lost their mothers in the landslide. This family has arrived at one of the relief camps. This mother has volunteered to stay in the relief camp and breast feed one or two babies! What a moving illustration of a mother's heart that cares for a stranger's infant! Anna and I send the rose flower below to that family who demonstrates the heart of love and a humane response to a infant's need!
Thank you Mrs Priyanka Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi who visited Wayanad yesterday. You came to visit to feel the pain of those who lost their loved ones, home and all that is earthly. When we saw you embrace people in grief, we saw in your eyes sorrow, similar to what you felt when you lost your father in a bomb blast. Anna and I offer you these two rose buds from our garden, as you bring the human touch of feminine and masculine love to those who are bereft!
The bunch of flowers below from our garden is for those who are in the hospitals receiving care and treatment. May you recover and return to life, restored! You have a long journey to recover from your losses. May you feel supported by those who would stand with you as you rebuild your lives!
Anna and I want to remember surviving children, who lost one or both of their parents, brother, sister, or grandparents, or others who were near and dear or their pets. The flower and buds from our garden, be a symbol of hope to you, as you look into a bleak future ! We hope you would feel carried forward through this painful journey of loss and grief!
I
As photos flash in the screen of a landscape of huge loss, one wonders, how life can ever be built back! Most of those who lived in this area were people of meagre income and limited resources. Where will people return to, from the relief camps! Anna and I want to offer the bunch of flowers below to all the policy makers, administrators, political leaders, philanthropists, and social activists who would become foster family to these people who are waylaid! May you feel guided to bring semblance of wellness to these people, whose future is otherwise bleak!
There is an uncertainty ahead!
I saw the Myna above, moving slowly while looking forward!
I want to remember that the latter years are often better than the former years! So we move on, remembering that taking sides of those who are ready to move on, is our calling!
M.C. Mathew (text and photo)
Touched by the mother offering to breastfeed other babies who have lost their mother. If she is not God in disguise who is. I bow down to her.
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