In distress

The disaster in Uttarakhand is heart rending … I was remembering how Appa and I walked the 14 kms to reach Kedarnath in 1985 and Amma came on the pony. The taste of the roadside tea still lingers and the warmth of the razai at the guesthouse just outside the temple, still feels cozy. The cloud burst and Shiva had his “tandav” in the form of nature’s fury. Once again we were rapped on our knuckles by Mother Nature and told that we had trespassed and she is anyday stronger. We can only learn and adjust to her, not the other way around.

What this tragedy unearthed is a deeper tragedy – the non-existent moral fibre of our nation. Please read the news item from the Kobe disaster in 1995.

The shops were left open and there was no loot and the fight was to let the other person get relief before self.

And now read some of the headlines from the recent disaster –

This is just one example of making hay while the tragedy unfolds – asking for Lakhs of rupees for being evacuated, looting the dead and the living, water at Rs. 100, Netas relatives being rescued first….. I am ashamed and feel really small. What sort of corrupted heart would try and make money when people are in distress ? Do these guys realise that the next cloud might burst on their heads and the money won’t save them. :(:(

I don’t want to talk of the Government – a nation that is spineless and characterless deserves the Govt we have. Thanks to the mothers who bore the armed forces men – you have left us something to be proud of.