Nagapattinam: A mammoth wave, a terrible tragedy - when the ocean went mad on December 26 2004, bringing death to thousands, two bundles of joy bounded into life.

The families of the two babies - Krishna who loves water and Amrithana whose parents fondly call her tsunami - can't help but marvel at the fact that their families survived the catastrophe.

Krishna, whose love for water is but natural and the attachment natal, loves splashing around in the sea and starts crying if anyone tries to take him out.

His mother, Kumari, says that when Krishna was born, it was like God himself had come into their house. "I called him Krishna because Lord Krishna is the preserver and it almost seems to me as if my baby's birth had saved my family from being swept away by the tsunami," says she.

Amrithana's story is no different. Just a few days away from her first birthday, her family can't help but marvel at little "tsunami's" survival - especially as her mother had had a premonition of the tsunami a few hours before the baby was born.

"My daughter-in-law had gone into labour and she kept holding my hand and telling me that she had had this dream where she saw the entire village drowning in blood. One of my sons had died recently and in her deirium, she thought that he would take the child away with him," says Amrithana's grandmother Muthulakshmi.

In December, the families of both the children met at the sea shore for the first time and introduced the young ones to their shared fate.

Although their births have become synonymous with the deadly tsunami, their lives will always symbolise the power of human life.