‘‘Weathering the Storm in Ersama’ is a story written by Harsh Mander. An Indian author, Harsh Mander is a well-known researcher, columnist, and social activist and has worked for the welfare of victims and survivors, who are homeless and orphans due to mass violence.
The story is about the cyclone that took place in the Ersama district, a coastal region of Odisha in 1999 and how a courageous nineteen-year-old boy called Prashant managed to come out and help others in that disastrous situation very well.
When the cyclone occurred Prashant was at his friend’s place, witnessing the destruction made by the disaster from the rooftop.
After a few days, Prashant decided to return to his home as he was worried about his family. With the help of a stick, he waded through the water. Everywhere it was surrounded by water and he saw a lot of destruction on his way due to the cyclone, and finally he manages to reach his place. On his way, he witnessed uprooted trees, shattered houses and floating dead bodies. When he reached his place he could only see the roof of his house.
Prashant decided to assess the destruction caused by the natural calamity and then organized a group of youth and elders who were willing to help the survivors of the disaster. The group arranged food by convincing the local merchants, organized shelters for survivors, and cleared the waste from the surroundings, sending signals to helicopters for help in such situations by putting empty vessels on the stomachs of kids and many more things like working for widows and orphans, to help them cope with the grief of such a disastrous situation.
In this way, he emerged as a great leader and social worker for the welfare of his community. Even several months after the disaster, Prashant continued to work for the welfare of widows and orphans. After six months Prashant realized the transformation of his life due to the cyclone, earlier he hardly used to think about his problems but now he was working for solving the problems of the community.
Q. What havoc has the super cyclone wrecked in the life of the people of Orissa?
Ans. The storm was so destructive that it shattered a large number of houses and took away the lives of several villagers. A huge number of trees were uprooted and dead bodies of animals and humans were floating all over there. The effect of the cyclone continued even after the disaster as it persisted for almost 36 hours and destroyed the life of each and everyone in the village.
Q. How has Prashant, a teenager, able to help the people of his village?
Ans. After reaching his village, Prashant saw the miserable conditions all over there. Possessing the qualities of a good leader, he took initiative to help people instead of just saving or thinking about himself. For this purpose, he made a team of youth volunteers, who were willing to serve others in order to reduce the stress among people. They managed to convince local merchants to feed people, lit a fire with wet tree branches for cooking, cleared the garbage and excretory waste, and put temporary shelters for homeless people.
Q. How have the people of the community helped one another? What role do the women of Kalikuda play during these days?
Ans. The people of the community helped each other by willingly joining the group led by Prashant for serving others by performing tasks required at that situation. Realizing the deeper grief of women of Kalikuda due to the destruction done by the storm, Prashant convinced them to keep themselves busy by working in a food-for-work program initiated by an NGO and taking care of orphans of the village.
Q. Why do Prashant and other volunteers resist the plan to set up institutions for orphans and widows? What alternatives do they consider?
Ans. Prashant and other volunteers resisted the plan to set up separate institutions for orphans and widows because they knew in that case both of these communities would be in deep pain. As it would be difficult for orphans to grow without parental love and widows would be distressed for being lonely and missing their partners. Therefore, Prashant’s group decided to shelter them in the same rehabilitation, where childless widows could take care of orphans.
Q. Do you think Prashant is a good leader?
Ans. Yes, without a second thought Prashant is a good leader. In spite of his own deep grief, he took the initiative to serve people in order to take them out of such adverse circumstances. He organized a group of such volunteers, who had the same zeal for their community. He showed that young people have the power to help their society and they can channelize their energy and enthusiasm to help grief-stricken people during natural calamities.
Q. Why did Prashant find two days as two years?
Ans. When he was in his friend’s home and could not go back to his house due to the flooded rain, he became so helpless and was concerned about his family in his village. He was eagerly waiting to meet his family back in his village and found those two days as two years, which were not getting over for him.
Q. Where was Prashant’s house? Whom did he spot first during the cyclone?
Ans. Prashant's house was in Kalikuda in Odisha. While returning from Erasma to Kalikuda he spotted his grandmother first when he went to find his family in Red Cross.
Q. Mention the first successful mission of Prashant’s group.
Ans. The first successful mission of Prashant’s team was that they managed to persuade food merchants to help people by providing rice for people
Q. Comment on the scene Prashant witnessed when returning to his village.
Ans. While returning from his friend’s place to his own village, Prashant’s heart began to sink as roads were flooded, dead bodies were floating, many villages were completely devastated and hardly any single house was visible in his village.
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