ehind the low sand parapet, the sea in Akkarapettai is calm. At any time there are just two or three people walking at the water's edge; whatever little activity takes place is confined to the other side of the sand divider.
This evening men have recovered a motorcycle from the water. In spite of being submerged for a month, its red paint is intact, gleaming in the evening sun.
Every day women from the village water the saplings planted by the sea a few weeks ago. The plants will provide a tree cover to protect them from a future disaster and bear the names of children who lost their lives to the tsunami.
Visitors to Akarapettai expect to see a museum of destruction. There are a few who get off their cars to 'see' the devastation -- the 'disaster tourists' as one newspaper called them. A month after the disaster, the village has been cleaned up of the debris. Broken boats lie under a fragile bridge and damaged homes stand out, but the residents of Ground Zero are trying to get back to life. Slowly, but surely.
On the day the villagers were scared that a tsunami may strike again, 25 children showed up at the village panchayat school.
For Akarapettai, there couldn't be a better symbol of recovery.
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