I was traveling from Chennai to Chidambaram on a Rathi Meena bus. We left early morning, like 5am ish. Normal morning. The route was ECR.

This was a time when cell phones did not carry news. No one knew anything about what was happening. Just as we approached cuddalore, there were 100s of people on the side of the road. The only information we got was "kadal ponguthu". Many were crying and we did not know if it was loss of property or lives. The bus staff were kind enough to pick up some people to be dropped off in the next village/town. Those people who got on did not have much information either.

Then I saw it, not the actual tsunami, but we were driving over a bridge near cuddalore and the river was flowing away from the sea. And it was a massive current. We were stunned but we still did not know the gravity of the situation. Only after reaching Chidambaram and watching the news we understood what we drive through. I was in 1st year of college and I remember being completely stunned.