PROVIDENCE. It’s the only explanation both Nivedita Kanitkar and the Dighes give for coming out unscathed. And both aren’t about to let Black Sunday throw a wet blanket. While Kanitkar is back at her Kothrud residence and looking at going back to work next week, the latter are continuing their trip of South India.
For Kanitkar (25), a house manager with Taj Exotica in Maldives for the last seven months, the horror is fresh. Reconstructing the mind-numbing 45 minutes she went through to Pune Newsline, Kanitkar said: ‘‘On Sunday morning, around 6.30, my room-mate said the door, cupboards and floor were thumping. I didn’t pay attention then. But around 9.45 am, I was at the jetty to clear some rooms — the hotel is on an atoll, and 34 of it’s 64 rooms are on sea. With me were a golf cart with driver and roomboy Enayat,’’ says Kanitkar.
She continues : ‘‘As we were working, the water turned muddy. Within a minute, the level had risen, submerging the jetty. We started running for our lives. We stopped the cart and held on. Enayat had a mobile, and I asked him to call someone for help. At that moment, the first wave struck from behind, and Enayat disappeared.’’
‘‘Even as he was being washed away, the second, much stronger, wave struck. The cart disappeared. I tried to swim, but the current was too strong. With nothing to hold on to, I was swept away. I hit the seabed and my nostrils, mouth, ears began filling with water. I thought I was going to die.’’
‘‘Somehow, I surfaced and clung to a pillar. A colleague perched on a coconut tree then came with others and rescued me,’’ says Kanitkar.
Even as she was fighting for life in the Maldives, the Dighes — Atul (34), Meenal (30) and daughter Niharika (5) — met the killer tsunami on Vivekananda Memorial off Kanyakumari. From Munnar, Kerala, now where they’re carrying on with their vacation, Atul and Meenal told Pune Newsline that it was the ‘‘scariest morning’’ of their lives.
Recounts Meenal: ‘‘We were about to return to the shore, about 200 metres away, when the water separating Vivekananda Memorial from the mainland receded completely. One moment, it was high tide, and the next, we could see the bottom — sand, rocks, everything.’’
She adds: ‘‘Three ferries were available, but on the far shore. I called my brother in Pune from my cellphone, and learnt about the massive morning quake. By now, everyone was rushing around.’’
‘‘Even as we looked on, a huge wave emerged on the horizon. We had climbed up to the Parvati temple, at a higher elevation, when the tsunami struck. The stone railing and a huge statue broke its impact, but on the far shore the water swept houses, possessions and people into the water. Everywhere, people were praying, many to Aiyappa, we to Sai Baba. The sea would periodically ebb and surge.’’
Then began the wait for rescue — no communication with the shore, a helicopter that arrived hours late and couldn’t land, no food.
Says Atul, ‘‘In the end, the local fisherfolk came to us in boats with some food. Since we and another couple had the youngest children, the others magnanimously allowed us to get to safety first. After dropping my family to the hotel, I returned to lend a hand. I’m so glad we’re alive.’’
NEW YEAR PROGRAMME ON THE EVE OF NEW YEAR AT RSI : CANCELLED
Even as the city readies to ring in the New Year, one place has decided not to host the party. Rajendra Sinhji Institute (RSI) has cancelled its New Year’s Eve bash. Sub Area Commander Brig J S Kohli says, ‘‘The tsunami left many defence personnel in the southern Coast and in the Andamans & Nicobar Islands dead and several families homeless. To express our sympathy and to pay homage, we will not celebrate the arrival of the New Year at the RSI this year.’’ Since a large number of the defence personnel reside in Salunke Vihar and patronise the RSI club, a notice has been put up on the society board (right) . Also, the 241 AMC anniversary cocktail party on Saturday has been cancelled.
On the other hand, Pune Hoteliers’ Association secretary Pali Anand says, ‘‘All the New Year parties will be on, but we are meeting soon to contribute for the tsunami victims.’’