The disaster taught me to be empathetic to travails of people'

(Left) This was once a classroom on MGR Thittu; (top) The islanders now live on the mainland in Chidambaram | EXPRESS

- BAGALAVAN PERIER B @ Cuddalore

ITH rundown buildings straight out of an Edgar Allan Poe novella and dense thickets, this ghost island tucked away in the Pichavaram backwaters hides within a glorious past. As the legend goes, M G Ramachandran was shooting for the blockbuster 'Idhayakkani' at the backwaters in the early 1970s, when a nearby island bustling with life caught his eye.

He visited the place and unsurprisingly, from that day onwards the island came to be known as MGR Thittu. The area became more populated over the decades. A school, an anganwadi, and other facilities cropped up. The lush green island spanning 60 acres, with nearly 5,000 coconut trees and other vegetation, near Chidambaram resembled a paradise on earth. That is, until that cataclysmic Boxing Day of 2004.

The waves swallowed the whole island, killing 56 people, including 28 children. Those who were destined to live with the burden of loss, managed to swim to a nearby casuarina farm.

They now live in a village on the mainland, still struggling to recover emotionally and economically from the devastation. "I will never forget that day," said K Anbazhagan, a 70-year-old fisherman.

"I was in Pazhaiyaru for some work and rushed back soon after I heard the news. As I neared Killai, I heard that my village had been destroyed. Soon, I found out that my mother, sister-in-law, and nephew were among the dead."

Memoirs of isle community It was once home to 160 families. Most men in the village were involved in fishing, while some worked abroad. Women primarily earned a living by selling fish and making karuvadu (dry fish). T Kalaichandiran, the local panchayat chief, recalled that families from Muzhukkuthurai had moved to the Thittu (sand dune) around 70 years ago as it was ideal for fishing and they could dock boats close to home.