CHENNAI: The sea was not supposed to be there. On the morning of 26 December 2004, 17-year-old S Vishanth watched in horror as towering walls of water surged through Ennore’s narrow streets, swallowing homes, fishing nets, and everything in their path. As neighbours screamed and families ran for safety, the teen shut his eyes and braced for what he believed were the final moments of his life. And one thought lingered in his mind — his upcoming Class 12 examinations.
When the tsunami that killed over 8,000 people in the state finally retreated, it left behind a devastated coastline of communities struggling to comprehend its loss. It also planted a seed that would shape the rest of Vishanth’s life.
Today, more than two decades later, he is known in Ennore for a very different reason. At 39, he provides free tuition classes to students from government schools and helps children from economically disadvantaged families pursue their education. The roots of his service lie in the traumatic events of that eventful December morning. “The only thing I could see was shattered lives everywhere,” recalls Vishanth. “That experience changed the way I looked at life.”
The tragedy instilled in the young student a sense of social responsibility, which led him to work with non-governmental organisations involved in relief and rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath, marking the beginning of a journey of community service. He started by volunteering at the Tsunami Legal Action Committee, surveying the affected coastal belt, documenting losses suffered from Ennore to Thiruchinankuppam. Many displaced families were housed in temporary camps near the Ennore Thermal Power Station, where thousands of tenements recently built by the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board lies vacant. According to Vishanth, many families struggled to rebuild their lives in the years that followed. Through the NGOs he worked with, many of these issues were brought to the government’s attention, and interventions were made. “Every family had a story to tell,” he says. “Even I had one.”
As a beneficiary of the free tuition programme run by Don Bosco Anbu Illam in Ennore, Vishanth received support throughout his school years free of cost. However, he could not immediately enrol at a college. Inspired to give back to society in a similar fashion, he began offering free tuition classes to children in the neighbourhood. He later formalised the initiative by registering it as Anbin Sangamam Charitable Trust. Today, Vishanth, along with five college student-volunteers from the locality, conducts free classes for students from government schools, provides them with study materials, and encourages them to pursue higher education.
“It took me several years after Class 12 to continue my higher education because of my family’s financial situation,” he says, adding that he eventually completed a bachelor’s degree in Physics and pursued a degree in Law. “Education changed my life. I wanted to ensure that children from economically weaker backgrounds received the same opportunity that I did.”
He has also worked with organisations to rehabilitate the homeless. In 2012, the Greater Chennai Corporation established shelters for the urban homeless; Vishanth now serves as a shelter coordinator at one such facility. He has since assisted in rescuing and rehabilitating nearly 1,500 homeless persons, helping many reconnect with their families.
Alongside his social work, Vishanth remains deeply concerned about environmental and public health issues in Ennore. “Nearly 12 red-category industries surround Ennore. Wherever we go, pollution is a reality,” he says. He adds that cancer and respiratory illnesses have become alarmingly common in the region. Vishanth was diagnosed with blood cancer during Class 11 and underwent treatment at the Cancer Institute. “For six months, I stayed in the hospital. Many of the patients I spoke to would not survive to the next day. I recovered after nearly a year of treatment,” he recalls. “I lost a neighbour to cancer. Many residents suffer from wheezing.” The lessons of the tsunami remain relevant to Vishanth even after 21 years. “All we ask for is Ennore to be protected from further pollution,” he says. “The people here deserve a healthy future.”
