Survival stories:
Sumana Saparamadu has written some interesting survival stories to
the Junior Observer. Here we carry some of them.
A tornado came swirling
A man on hearing that a tornado was coming, was so scared that he
went to bed wearing a life jacket. The tornado came swirling and his
camper was destroyed and he was thrown into a lake far away. He was
picked up by helicopter a mile from where the disaster struck. (Camper
is a motor vehicle used for living in when camping).
Letter to Santa Claus
This is quite a different story and a happy one. A child’s letter to
Santa Claus written in December 1911 and posted up the chimney in her
bedroom was found intact in 1996, 85 years later.
It was discovered among a heap of soot, rubble and the remains of
birds’ nests by Peter Hulbert when he was cleaning the chimney in his
five-year-old son’s bedroom.
The letter was signed “your little friend Mabel.” After thanking
Santa Claus for “the many nice presents brought last year, she wrote, “I
should like you to bring me a story book, a post card album, a box of
chocolates, and a sweet shop”.
“We have a little baby and we would like you to bring her a little
rattle that will blow.I hope you will remember the very poor children in
the slums and in the large towns.I might stay awake for sometime to see
you come in our bedroom to put the things in my stocking. Our house is
on the Common.
With much love, I remain
Your little friend Mabel.
This letter was written on December 8, 1911 by Mabel Higgs then aged
nine. She lived at Bramble Cottage near Trowbridge until her death in
1976. So, her letter was found 20 years after her death. Her only
daughter was living in Trowbridge when the letter was found.
  Floating
on a door for two days
There are many many stories of miracle survivors in the tsunami. Here
is one of them. Meghna Raj Shekar, a grade 10 student, survived by
floating on a door for two days. She was swept out to sea along with her
father Squadron Leader Raj Shekar, her mother, younger brother and 77
others who lived on Nicobar Island in the Bay of Bengal. While the
others drowned, she floated for two days on a wooden door.
The badly bruised girl was found 20 km (12 miles) from her wrecked
home two days later. Trembling from her experience and regaining her
strength she said, “I remember seeing choppers passing overhead 11 times
and many relief planes passed, but they didn’t spot me. At last a wave
threw me back on the shore.
“I fought off sea snakes to stay alive. Today I want to see my home
for the last time.”
Trembling she walked carefully through the rubble near Nicobar’s
golden beaches. Tears glistened as she picked up familiar objects. “Hey,
my bangle and here’s dad’s shoes.”
Her father was an air force meteorologist. “Here’s my coffee mug...
mum used to fill to the brim with milk,” Megha whispered picking up the
bone-china cup filled with snails and sea garbage.
Lieutenant Colonel Chakravarthy who was escorting her broke down.
Chakravarthy’s two children who were Meghna’s best friends also perished
in the tsunami along with their mother.After medical treatment Meghna
was handed over to her grandparents in Hyderabad. |
