By L Ajith
RAMESHWARAM: The two-hour speedboat journey across the shallow but pretty waters of the Palk Straits that divides India and Sri Lanka could very well pass off as a joy ride. Twenty five years ago people secretively crossed the international border - to watch movies of the Tamil star M G Ramachandran on the Indian side and to celebrate the feast of St Anthony on the Sri Lankan side.
For the steady stream of Tamil refugees riding across the straits in recent days, the trip is essentially to save one's life, freedom and dignity. It is certainly no joy ride either, left as they are at the mercy of smugglers and human traffickers and the risk of being arrested or attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy, the Indian Coast guard or the rebel Sea Tigers.
"We were constantly afraid of getting caught or shot dead offshore," said Chandramathi (40), a refugee who came over from Sri Lanka in the past fortnight. "If there is danger of any kind the boatmen who bring us would simply leave us to our fate or even push us out into the water and escape."
In the refugee group that landed on 19 January, James Antony had an exceptionally difficult trip. He broke his left leg in 1997 in a mine blast at the height of the civil war. He now walks with the aid of a walking stick. He is happy to have landed here, though he cannot work.
Surya (36), another refugee, said that the sea is very calm unlike the minds of those who cross it. "It took two hours to reach Dhanushkodi from Thalaimannar, (the usual boarding point in northern Sri Lanka). The 12 nautical mile ride is along shallow waters - just about one to seven meters deep. So no big ship of the Navy or any other agency can reach there."
Many of the refugees said they lived in a housing scheme area allotted by the Sri Lankan government to internally displaced people in northern Sri Lanka. Once they decided to leave they approached traffickers involved in cross-border trade. It takes Rs 2000 to Rs 6000 for one-way travel. The money is paid in advance.
On their return trip the boatmen carry lungis, artificial limbs, two-wheelers (sometimes stolen) and fuel to northern Sri Lanka. During the pre-ceasefire days of trade embargo they used to sell vehicles and fuel at many times the usual price. Contraband sale is not all that hot now, but it still exists.
The Rameshwaram police station has a display of over a dozen boats that were stranded ashore or caught offshore by the Indian Coast Guard while engaged in trafficking or smuggling.
The boats are 22 to 28 feet long, made of light-weight fibre composite material and fitted with Yamaha speed engines. They are far more powerful than the fibre boats of the same length used by the fishermen on the Indian side.
The refugees land at different spots along the coast of Rameshwaram. There are several police checkposts along the coast. For those who land at Dhanushkodi, the nearest point from Sri Lanka, it is a 12 km walk on sand to the Rameshwaram police station.
The police interview the refugees once they land here and send them to the sprawling refugee camp in Mandapam. After that it is a long haul, awaiting an ever-elusive peace amid dreams of safe return.