by Amit Varma
[This is a short but heart-breaking story. The victims of the tsunami are unable to sleep. They are living in a nightmare that the rest of the world, far away and relatively comfortable in their homes, cannot even begin to fathom. Eds.]
On our way back towards Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu), we stopped again at Pudupettai. We saw a group of people from the Ananda Marga Relief Team (AMRT) distributing medicines. We went over to them and started chatting. They were medical doctors who had traveled from West Bengal to Tamil Nadu to help the victims of the tsunami. They had brought both allopathic and homeopathic medicines with them.
I asked the doctors what are the common ailments people are having at this time and how they are treating them.
"Sleeping," replied one of the doctors.
"Sorry," I ask. "Sleeping?"
"Yes," he said sadly. "They come and they tell us, 'We can't sleep, please give us something that will help us sleep.' We give them Avil 25, an anti-allergy tablet that causes sleep as a side-effect."
For days I have heard talk of vaccines, paracetamol and oral rehydration salts until they have become almost meaningless words to me. But now I am jolted into attention. These people are not able to sleep. For now, the pills can help. How long will it be before they can sleep on their own? And what will they dream of?
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Amit Varma is in Pudupettai and sent this first-hand report about the suffering victims of the tsunami.
