An entire city gone

One week ago, it was common to associate New Orleans with Jazz, Mardi Gras, the smell of gumbo and historic French Quarter. Tonight those are distant memories. Instead New Orleans is a ghost town, with only a few determined stragglers wandering its forlorn streets. What a difference a week makes!

I can only imagine how shocking these past few days have been to this great city's inhabitants. The few and the lucky who survived and escaped the wrath of Hurricane Katrina, find themselves in distant cities, in unfamiliar towns, amidst strangers, forced to start a new life from scratch. Many others who shared some bond or other with New Orleans are orphaned.

I have a fleeting connection with New Orleans. New Orleans was where I first tread on US soil.

I landed in New Orleans when I flew to the US as a young student for the very first time. It was a bitterly cold day in April. My flight was originally headed to Atlanta, but had been diverted to New Orleans because of a snow storm that had blanketed the East Coast. For many on the flight, this was an inconvenience. For me it was fortuitous turn of events, because I was scheduled to catch a flight from Atlanta to New Orleans later on that day. As I waited patiently for an acquaintance to pick me up at the airport, I remember watching the snow fall outside. It was the first time I had seen snow. I remember leaving the terminal in search of fresh air and being slapped by a rush of cold wind that I had never experienced before. I remember rushing back in to the warm comfort of the building feeling a little stupid. And in between I remember being confused by the revolving doors that controlled entry into and out of the airport terminal.

I went back once; to visit the amazing Aquarium of the Americas in downtown New Orleans. I wonder what's become of the acquarium. I have scoured media reports for some mention of the acquarium and its condition and have found none. It was situated in an area that was affected the most by the flooding and that gives me little hope.

Nature's fury is stunning. The brutal strength of its lethal blow invites disbelief. Tonight it has claimed an entire city as its victim.

As human beings we yearn for the ordinary and the normal. We are comfortable with the routine. Six months from now, maybe earlier, maybe later, there will be stories of lives being rebuilt, of people returning to places they called home, of a city springing back to life. There will be stories of people searching for the normal, but when it happens it will be anything but normal.