Today Marina Beach itself betrays no signs of the tsunami. Towards one end of the beach looms the Madras Light House, a 150ft, 11-storey building painted red and white. An elevator ride—it is one of the few lighthouses in India that has one—takes you to the viewing gallery on the ninth floor. At that height, the sea appears very far away, an azure haze bound by gritty sand and wisps of sky. And deceptively calm and benign. ( PTI )