Three Natural Calamities

1. Flood !

Nobody would have missed making this guess, seeing the title line. These floods are just like pink slips. You dont get to the seriousness of it, until u get a first-hand experience of it. So while we sit here on our cozy sofa, "enjoying" every bit of the TV news visuals, blaming the Government for not having 'foreseen' this happening, and for not taking the right steps to curb it, we dont really get the real picture. If a page of your passport gets wet with a few water droplets and the prints wash away, then that is serious thing ! Imagine the plight of 100's of 1000's.. Their immediate life, their near future, their far future all washed away in the furious waters..

When water entered a unit of our office in the vigorous rains of last year, it was only a few machineries and data that went lost. But then we had backups and everything was fine. To top up things, everything was insured. Do the farmers of the lesser known areas have all these priveleges ?

I heard a colleague who had returned from a home visit this week. Should be of a funny bone. He said "All silk sari's of mom are gone". If the sari's kept safe in the almirah are gone, then what in the house would have remained intact ?

Alright, 3 long paragraphs. What is the point ? Read the flood-articles in Sunday Times (Oct 11, 2009). The writer asks "Is it a natural calamity or a manmade disaster?". The CM's of the affected states were quick in crying at the top of their voices to get relief packages - 1000 crores each. Where this money will is anyone's guess, in a corrupt country like ours. But havent we heard this proverb over and over again, so many different occasions ? "Prevention is Better Than Cure". The article talks about possible (highly possible and altruistic) causes that led into the flood of this kind. The article also highlights the reasons for death and devastations of this kind, and how it could all be minimized, if not, avoided..

2. Thekkady Tragedy

Not a calamity, but a tragedy of sorts. Thanks(?) to the above flood calamity, this one went reasonably unnoticed at a national level. A much hyped enquiry, a suspended driver. The story ends, at least to most of the print/electronic media. Everyone would be in one voice, advocating the usage of life jackets, safety measures and what not. If you go to the place on a normal busy day, then you would know reality is very far from theoretical talks. Standing in queue for hours to get a ticket, one would simply want to get into the boat and get the best seat on it, preferrably on the top. Who would want to listen to the safety talks ? When was the last time you paid attention to the on-flight safety announcement ? The first time u travelled in a plain, that is..

The bottom line, make it a compulsory thing by providing infrastructure - larger boats can accommodate more people (oh really?!) and can be a good tonic to beat the rush.

3. Mayawati

If the calamities listed 1 and 2 could have been averted, I wonder if a slight ancestral foresight would have helped us do away with this (bigger) one! How can a person sitting in the supreme seat of a state act so outlandishly by creating monuments of herself at busy streets ? Let her do that if she wishes, but please, not with our tax money. Pity to the electoral role of UP to have placed this "calamity" high up and not down under !

Update[Oct14, 2009] : Mayawati issues order to check unproductive government spendings !!!!

Tail:

1. A very very grim face, full of make up , hair-do , lipstick and glare "Our reporter Maya Gupta is present at ground-zero with more info on this unfortunate event". And what we see next is a fat lady in salwar standing dipped into waist-high water and delivering lines in an even grimmer face (but this time, no make-up. where do you find a beauty parlor in a flood hit land?). Another "ground-zero" reporting was during the Chennai Marathon (or was it Mumbai?). The reporter Mr Gonsalves is seen running along with the participants - all aged retired gentlmen - holding mic in his hand. And asking questions and getting answers even while they are all running. How innovative ?!! Will there be a ground-zero reporting of a volcanic eruption ? I would luv to see that

2. The close-up Ad is doing rounds! It was Sow who first pointed out the ad and the song, I guess. Now the song has become such a big hit that they hav launched another ad with a remixed version of the same song. Way to go :)

3. Long time no movie, and post wedding first movie - Wake Up Sid. The regular team - Sand/Soo, Gas, Bin, Sow, Mridul - and my doctor. Good movie !

4. Cousin had been to K.Gundi. 300km from here. Looks heavenly! So what's next ? :)

(Or in a non-syntactical Samsung manner, Next is what ? :D )