Prayers for Kerala
My thoughts and prayers, (as insignificant as they might be vis-a-vis the magnitude of devastation wrecked at Kerala), is with the people of Kerala. I cannot fathom what they’re going through. All I can do and as bleak as it might be, is donate to a few institutions and pray for this unprecedented, horribly grim situation to end.
In Gabriel García Márquez’s book, One Hundred Years Of Solitude, the setting of which is in a fictional town called Macondo, an unending storm ravages Macondo for years. An excerpt from the book reads; “It rained for four years, eleven months and two days. There were periods of drizzle during which everyone put on his full dress and a convalescent look to celebrate the clearing, but people soon grew accustomed to interpret the pauses as a sign of redoubled rain.” Life came to a standstill at Macondo and the inhabitants of the town did everything they possibly could to stay dry, afloat and away from the afflictions of boredom. In this particular novel, the deluge depicts a mourning for massacred banana plantation workers. Marquez uses the same theme of heavy downpours and floods in his book, Autumn of the Patriarch and I think a few other short stories as well.
Márquez’s writing style is Magic Realism which, when loosely translated means, reality ensconced in exaggerations. The point I’m trying to make now is, when you take away the exaggerations and witness a similar catastrophe in real life, it is terrifying! It has been raining in Kerala for months—it isn’t normal rains. No matter what our inventions and progress in Science and Medicine, we are hopeless against the forces of Nature. Mother Nature’s fury, as we see happening world over today, is destructive on unimaginably massive scales. The irony though is that it’s all man-made. Climate change, urbanization, deforestation, constructing over marsh-land etcetera. At this point, I doubt if we have a solution to fix the damage we’ve caused but I hope to God the Governments at least formulate Emergency and Rescue protocols. By the looks of how Global Warming is unraveling, we have to expect and be prepared for dealing with extreme weather and its consequences; often.
Kerala, aptly called God’s own country, is resplendent with temples and powerful Gods and Goddesses. I’ve so far, only had the fortune of visiting Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple at Trivandrum. There’s something very comforting about the main deity at this temple; the grandeur notwithstanding; it almost feels as though Perumal is lounging on an easy chair, waiting to answer our prayers. I’m positive the Gods will grant the people of Kerala relief soon. At times like these, faith, hope and prayers are our only solace. The weather reports say the rains will rapidly abate from 19th August.
To sign off, a verse from Aditya Hrudayam:
एन मापत्सु कृच्छ्रेषु कान्तारेषु भयेषु च ।
कीर्तयन् पुरुषः कश्चिन्-नावशीदति राघव ॥ 25 ॥
“During Calamities, during Hardships, in Forests and when Afraid …
By Praising Him no person sinks down, O Raghava”
May the Sun God’s force be with all at Kerala!
