It is rare that I get to hear stories of heroism first-hand. It isn’t about men in capes or daredevilry and you may find this story a tad ordinary. But it’s to be told.
A friend’s friend and his family were on their annual vacation visiting their old parents who lived by themselves, like many senior citizens in that part of Kerala, and to experience the rains. They had spent a few weeks in the large house that he’d built for his parents, and were getting ready to head back to the US when it started raining. The river nearby had started overflowing, and they heard that many nearby areas were getting inundated. They didn’t panic since they were in a well-appointed bungalow.
When the water came inside, they shifted to the first floor. By this time, the octogenarian granny started developing health issues.
It kept raining. The water continued to rise. Within hours, the first floor had knee-deep water. The family shifted to the open terrace with a makeshift roof and shifted the by-now bedridden granny too.
When they looked around, they saw most of the surrounding houses almost submerged. There was not a soul around, no phones, no power, no way to communicate out. Panic and fear – real fear as described by them – started to set in. Food and drinking water hand run out and the children had been hungry for hours. Granny had high fever. It was getting dark. And the water was still rising.
Just as they thought their luck was about to run out, they saw a boat pass by. It was full of people, around ten or twelve. They asked to be taken on board. The fishermen refused, but assured the family that they would drop their passengers and come for them. For obvious reasons, nobody believed that they would, but the fishermen stood firm. The boat cannot hold an extra person, they said, you will have to wait. And they went.
The family waited, hoping against hope. But a minor miracle did happen. The same boat came back for them. The fishermen had kept their word. They got dropped at a dry spot were volunteers took them to a relief camp.
The family, rich as they were, were grateful and offered money which was turned down with a little nod. They tried to get a contact detail or a mobile number but were brushed away. They didn’t even have a conversation because they said there were more families that they had promised to rescue, just like you.
For the few days they were at the camp, the men in the family tried very hard to get back in touch with the fishermen but could not. As they left the camp, they finally saw a group of other fishermen and went to convey their thanks to them – this group also refused to take many or contact details.
All they said was: if ever there is a Tsunami that is going to wash away our villages, please don’t ignore us.
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