“I was very, very lucky”

In the misery and mayhem of the tsunami last December, some Zoroastrian stories were to the fore. There were also those whose survival was little short of a miracle.

Advertising and sales executive from New York City Usheen Davar had strange qualms before she set out for her vacation of sun and surf at Phuket. In a first person article in Hamazor she records the strange hesitations and unease at the prospect of the journey as the vacation drew closer, prompting her to take measures unknown to her frequent traveler status. For the first time in her life she says she wrote down two pages of important/confidential information documenting her bank accounts, pin numbers, work IDs, car parking, etc. Something prompted her to bank her jewellery in a safe deposit locker, provide her landlord with her sister’s telephone number in case a water pipe burst. None of these had ever occurred to her before. "Living in New York City, my life operates at 200 miles per hour every day. Between work, going out to dinners, events, community service projects, attending concerts, traveling and being involved in numerous other organizations, I truly live the life of a Manhattan woman,” she writes.

Davar: the tsunami impact

The daughter of Dr Virasp and Kamal Davar of Metuchen, New Jersey, writes too of the amazing strength of body and mind that helped her survive the disaster. Watching the water rising from the roof of her hotel, finding the roof crumbling under them, deciding to make a quick dash to higher locales, "Our instincts gave us the tools for survival and our strength made us get through it,” she notes.

And not merely survive, but the will to help others in worse predicaments. Describing herself as a girl prone to faint at the sight of blood, unbidden came the strength to help injured women in neck-deep water, lead a bleeding man to safety. Davar discusses the episode with gratitude and wonder, marveling at the instinct that comes into play when there is no time to think. In the upshot she has learnt of the need "to give yourself some personal time to understand your thoughts for the day, listen closely to your instincts, trust that your strength can get you through your daily challenges, and create time for your family (her family includes sister Ushtavaity, brother Urmez and his wife Rovena) and friends, as this will prove to be priceless.”