Hut Bay (Little Andaman): For 22-year-old Shyam Sundar, a walk on the beach in Hut Bay is a test of inner strength. Right next to it, is his house or all that remains of it.

Last year when the giant waves rushed into this island in Little Andaman, it destroyed his house, and killed his father. It also gave birth to a new Shyam Sundar.

Born into a family where fishing has been the traditional occupation for five generations it was right after the tsunami that Shyam decided his calling in life was elsewhere.

Discarding his fishing nets and the pain within, he decided he must look beyond his own pain to help others cope with theirs. This fatherless boy with a grieving mother reached deep into his heart and became his own healer.

"At least I am educated. I understand my pain. But there are people who don't. They need to understand," says Sundar

In the relief camp where he and his mother were shifted, he started a makeshift-counseling centre. Every evening he sits with people, usually children affected by the tsunami, and helps them come to terms with their pain of losing a loved one.

His heart still draws him to the sea and his fishing nets. He is, after all expected to carry forward the legacy of his father. But instead he is now training to be a primary school teacher. This way he hopes he can reach out to more children in need of help.

Even his mother realises that her son is doing the right thing.

"Maybe its for the better. Look at what happened to his father. The tsunami took him away," says Kamamma, Shyam's mother.

It could have been so easy for Shyam Sundar to have given in to his grief, and carried on, the way he was meant to - as a fisherman. But instead he is now shouldering the grief of other people, making sure that they too like him, learn to rise above the tragedy of the tsunami.