… as big as ever and twice as ugly … I always wanted to say that. And a very happy and prosperous New Year to you all. At this time please keep the Tsunami victims in your prayers. For those of you who had wanted to know about my family. They have are doing good and have not been directly affected by the tsunami.

I had wanted to start of with a bang but the tsunami knocked the wind out of any such plans. This hit close to home and made me realize that we need to be thankful for every minute we get to live. The beach that was hit in my city of Madras (new name Chennai) was the one that I frequented very often with my family on Sunday evenings. It was the one free place that we Madrasians(chennaites) had in our vast concrete jungle of a city. And most important of all it didn’t need any money in your pockets to enjoy it. Now it has an eeriness about it that cannot be shaken. A friend of mine who lost her aunt to the waves and was herself saved by being late is yet to come out of the shock. I myself who am half way across the world shudder at the though of the place that I used to have so much of fun. I am scared of the water now …

Many of you who know me or know about India would know about cricket – the greatest game on earth (because I say so!). Sunday mornings on the Maria beach (the second longest in the world) you would see a scene repeated all along the coast of India, kids using sandal’s/shoes for bases and using a wooden stick for the bat playing the game with the greatest abandon. Black Sunday proved to be the death knell for thousands of those budding players. Nearly 2/3rds of those killed on Sunday were kids.

If this tsunami had hit on Sunday evening instead of Sunday morning, the death in my city alone would have been in the hundreds of thousands. We must be thankful for that fact. The response to this great disaster has been better than I ever imagined it would be. Whoever said that the world is going to the dogs has got it all wrong. The good people still outnumber the bad by 99 to 1. If any of you would like to be directly involved with the rehabilitation process of the affect people get in touch with me. Please do not forget to keep them all in your prayers.

At the end of the game, the pawn and the king go back in the same box – Anon

P.S: for those of who don’t know, I am in St. Louis Now