I had of course seen the ravages of the '04 tsunami - on TV. But coming face to face with the devastation it had caused is still unnerving. The ocean of water that stretches over old Pillumedu comes as a shock, and it is hard to take in the fact that an entire village had been washed away by that disaster.

Mangrove forests in the area worked two ways, I heard. Those who managed to catch and hold on to the top branches of the mangroves were saved. On the other hand, the ones who got stuck among the mangrove roots drowned, apparently. And, as villagers in these areas point out, if the tsunami had struck a couple of hours earlier, the loss of life would have been even greater, as most of the fishermen would have been out on the open seas. As it was, the tsunami struck Pillumedu at around 8:30 am in the morning.

Leave alone Pillumedu, the entire area is changing, locals say, and the sea has become unpredictably choppy. Some of them even expect another tsunami to strike. But alongside this uneasiness and worry, the people here are moving on and some of them have even forged a better economic equation for themselves, aided by the innumerable NGOs working in these areas. Ironically, the tsunami has fostered one forward movement - gender equality -- as NGOs have been focusing a great deal on women to spearhead the revival process.