Some disturbing stuffs I hear about the Tsunami relief activities are the blog for the day. Most of these are unofficial accounts. There was a training that my mom had to attend (she is an elementary school teacher in one of the Govt. aided schools) on Tsunami relief. They were discussing about the relief activities and the topic of distribution arose invariably. The huts near the beach were actually rented by the fishermen folk and they were the worst hit losing lives and property. But then the owners of the huts have gone ahead and claimed relief materials saying they were the ones affected by Tsunami. Similarly, there is another instance where relief materials and money are being distributed to people not affected by Tsunami. Our maid was mentioning this to me today. Her neighbour (an old lady) had gone to the local temple for her son's irumudi tying ceremony. They stayed there overnight as the son had to leave in the middle of the night. Next day morning, relief team arrived and distributed materials and this old lady was the first to stand in the line. This is how healthy, normal people act.

Too bad. My heart goes to those who are being cheated.

Amitav Ghosh has been writing about what is happening at Andaman and Nicobar Islands in The Hindu. The three part column is ending tomorrow.