By Richa Sharma, IANS,
New Delhi : “I am sure she is alive and will be back home one day. I am waiting to see her,” Sergeant Ravi Shankar says in a choked voice. The hope of meeting his 13-year-old daughter who went missing from the Car Nicobar Islands in the 2004 tsunami keeps this Indian Air Force (IAF) airman going.
He was told that his daughter was abducted from a relief camp.
Shankar, currently stationed in New Delhi, was posted in the Car Nicobar Islands when the tsunami struck Dec 26, 2004, killing nearly 12,000 people on India’s east coast, mostly in Tamil Nadu, and snatched the homes and livelihood of about 200,000 people.
He along with his wife and two children were washed into the deadly waters. His wife managed to catch hold of a tree and cling on to it but his one-year-old son had swallowed too much water and passed away in her arms. Shankar himself lost grip of his eight-year-old daughter Apurva’s hand – and has never seen her again.
There are many others. Former air force man M. Venkatraman is leaving no stone unturned to find his 12-year-old son Arvind Srinivasan, who was separated by the tsunami.
Both the families along with other tsunami survivors were shifted to Tambaram in Chennai, a day after the tsunami struck. After a month, Shankar and Venkatraman travelled to Car Nicobar with pictures of their children.
They were told that both the children were spotted in a relief camp in the islands but were abducted from there.
“Some women told me that my daughter was in a relief camp here and after some days she went missing. Since then I have been regularly travelling to villages in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh with my daughter’s picture. In the past five years, I have managed to meet a couple of people who claim to have seen my daughter,” said Shankar.
Currently in Bangalore searching for his daughter, Shankar said in June this year he received information that Apurva was spotted with a nomadic group involved in robbery in the Kolar area of Karnataka.
“Incidentally, the male members of the group were arrested in a robbery case and the female members escaped with the children. The local people told me there was a girl looking similar to Apurva and when they inquired about the girl, the group told them they got her from a tsunami relief camp in Port Blair,” he said.
Shankar is in touch with the local police and trying to track the nomadic group.
“Police told me they are based somewhere in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Police warned me that the group is very dangerous and could do anything to my daughter. I am trying to get in touch with them,” a hopeful Shankar said.
Venkatraman, however, hasn’t heard much about son Arvind.
“In April 2005, I got reliable information that some missing children were sent to Kolkata for rehabilitation. I proceeded to Kolkata to search for my missing son. While I was there, I browsed the internet and was surprised to note that on the website of the Nirmala School relief camp in Port Blair, details of my son Arvind were displayed,” said Venkatraman.
“I went to the relief camp at Port Blair and was told that my son was handed over to two men who claimed to be his uncles. I was shocked to know that the relief camp authorities did not keep any contact details of the two people and handed over my son to them,” he said.
Despite not having heard anything about his son since 2005, Venkatraman is confident that Arvind will be back by April 2010.
“Arvind’s horoscope says he will be united with us when he turns 18, which is in April 2010. I know one fine day my son will be back and that will be the best day of my life,” a confident Venkatraman said.
Both the fathers have started blogs and online campaigns about their missing children. For any information on their children, Ravi Shankar can be contacted at 09868763263 and Venkatraman at 09710745190.
Said Shankar, “I have developed a network with people who keep me updated about any information related to my daughter. I maintain a dairy having the contact details of over people 5,000 people I met during my search for Apurva.
“I have only one aim in my life and that is to meet my daughter and I won’t take rest until she is with me.”
(Richa Sharma can be contacted at [email protected])