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This was posted on my other blog in 2005 - now since I intend to keep just one blog so posting it here...
I had earlier thought of putting the title as "My Honeymoon" but then thought it would be really misleading for adventurous souls looking for some erotic reading.... I got married in December 2004 and was wondering where to take my wife to HM... we have known each other for years.... and had long discussions where to go.... and like most others we had our monetary constraints... We chose Sri Lanka... since my frequent flier miles could get us almost free air tickets to SL... and business class at that.... and thus we could use the money to stay at better hotels...
We left for SL on 22nd Dec and it was cursed from the beginning... the flight was 5 hours late and that meant that we reached Colombo late evening and thus could do no sightseeing... the next day we were off to Kandy via the Elephant Orphanage.... and after a couple of days.. we went to Nuwara Eliya (a Hill Station)... so far so good... was enjoying the SL hospitality, the great weather and the company of my wife... but what I was looking forward to was our stay at the beach... after all... that’s the best part of having a HM in SL...
We left for the beach from Nuwara Eliya on 26th morning and were on our way when we came to know about Tsunami... at first we could not comprehend the extent of devastation and were not too worried... since our chauffer's home was at a beach side... he was receiving calls from his family and came to know about the incident... but then the phones were not working that well.. actually it was really difficult for him to make a call... he could only receive calls... and then slowly we could gather that things are seriously bad... We then realized that the news would have started flashing on the TV at home and that our families and friends would be worried... we made calls to our homes to let them know that we are OK... By this time we had realized that it would not be possible to go to the beach and that we would have to make our arrangement elsewhere... and we decided that we should stop at Colombo... we reached Colombo in the afternoon at around 1:00 PM and the city was deserted.... we could hardly see a soul on the roads...
National emergency had been declared.... we were still unaware of what has really happened.. only thing we knew that there were some giant waves... we had no idea what 'giant' was till we saw it on TV at a restaurant (the only one we could find to be open).... and there we were.. looking at the videos / photos of such large scale destruction... such devastation...
It made me thinking that how aloof we were just a few minutes ago... not aware of the size.... of not being a part of the suffering... we were just not able to comprehend... but slowly.. it sank... and with it was a feeling that we were extremely lucky to be alive.... the hotel we were supposed to stay had suffered major destruction.... and that it was only by one day that we were saved... as were earlier planning to start our HM on 21st instead of 22nd... had we done so... I am not sure I would be writing this today...
Though I did not see the actual destruction (not that I want to)... but could see the total disarray the things were in.... In the hotel we met a family (European tourists) who were coming from the beach... all there belongings lost... but they were thankful to the God as they were safe and so were theirs kids... the younger of the two kids was less than year old while the elder was around 3... and it gave me shudders just to think of being in their position... with my kids... I could just feel the tension they must have gone through... and they were the lucky ones.... just think of those who lost their loved ones... of being in a foreign country... on a holiday... enjoying one minute and having lost so much the next... I can not claim to be able to understand their dilemma of whether to try to save their life or look for their loved ones... and once things subsided... of looking through the debris... for dead bodies of their loved ones... such a loss and no one to turn to... cause all around would be people like you... trying to get their lives together...
I had earlier thought of putting the title as "My Honeymoon" but then thought it would be really misleading for adventurous souls looking for some erotic reading.... I got married in December 2004 and was wondering where to take my wife to HM... we have known each other for years.... and had long discussions where to go.... and like most others we had our monetary constraints... We chose Sri Lanka... since my frequent flier miles could get us almost free air tickets to SL... and business class at that.... and thus we could use the money to stay at better hotels...
We left for SL on 22nd Dec and it was cursed from the beginning... the flight was 5 hours late and that meant that we reached Colombo late evening and thus could do no sightseeing... the next day we were off to Kandy via the Elephant Orphanage.... and after a couple of days.. we went to Nuwara Eliya (a Hill Station)... so far so good... was enjoying the SL hospitality, the great weather and the company of my wife... but what I was looking forward to was our stay at the beach... after all... that’s the best part of having a HM in SL...
We left for the beach from Nuwara Eliya on 26th morning and were on our way when we came to know about Tsunami... at first we could not comprehend the extent of devastation and were not too worried... since our chauffer's home was at a beach side... he was receiving calls from his family and came to know about the incident... but then the phones were not working that well.. actually it was really difficult for him to make a call... he could only receive calls... and then slowly we could gather that things are seriously bad... We then realized that the news would have started flashing on the TV at home and that our families and friends would be worried... we made calls to our homes to let them know that we are OK... By this time we had realized that it would not be possible to go to the beach and that we would have to make our arrangement elsewhere... and we decided that we should stop at Colombo... we reached Colombo in the afternoon at around 1:00 PM and the city was deserted.... we could hardly see a soul on the roads...
National emergency had been declared.... we were still unaware of what has really happened.. only thing we knew that there were some giant waves... we had no idea what 'giant' was till we saw it on TV at a restaurant (the only one we could find to be open).... and there we were.. looking at the videos / photos of such large scale destruction... such devastation...
It made me thinking that how aloof we were just a few minutes ago... not aware of the size.... of not being a part of the suffering... we were just not able to comprehend... but slowly.. it sank... and with it was a feeling that we were extremely lucky to be alive.... the hotel we were supposed to stay had suffered major destruction.... and that it was only by one day that we were saved... as were earlier planning to start our HM on 21st instead of 22nd... had we done so... I am not sure I would be writing this today...
Though I did not see the actual destruction (not that I want to)... but could see the total disarray the things were in.... In the hotel we met a family (European tourists) who were coming from the beach... all there belongings lost... but they were thankful to the God as they were safe and so were theirs kids... the younger of the two kids was less than year old while the elder was around 3... and it gave me shudders just to think of being in their position... with my kids... I could just feel the tension they must have gone through... and they were the lucky ones.... just think of those who lost their loved ones... of being in a foreign country... on a holiday... enjoying one minute and having lost so much the next... I can not claim to be able to understand their dilemma of whether to try to save their life or look for their loved ones... and once things subsided... of looking through the debris... for dead bodies of their loved ones... such a loss and no one to turn to... cause all around would be people like you... trying to get their lives together...
2 comments:
good one :)! mistake mjs pointed out is a starking one...how could you...would u need any help on saving u from mjs..ashu n i can oblige...LOL!!
C'mon.. if wrote the blog in Apr 2005, it can't be 2005 Dec shaadi..
Plus it is a good sign, it just seems like yesterday..
BTW I had corrected it, don't know why it was not saved.. now corrected..
I also realised yesterday that that it was incorrect all along on my other blog.. He he
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