From Chernobyl to Bhopal

Sitting on the crouch and flipping through the channels often lead you to complete passiveness and absent mindedness. For a change, yesterday while surfing through limited channels accessible in airwaves of Madras I finally paused on BBC and landed on something related to a place called Chernobyl.

It was 20th anniversary of Chernobyl disaster and Ukrainian government was commemorating the occasion by paying homage to millions of people who were severely affected. For people who are unaware about Chernobyl disaster, admittedly I never knew about it till yesterday, it was the worst human-engineered-disaster to struck mankind. In former Soviet Union exactly twenty years ago on 26th April 1986, one of the four nuclear reactors at Chernobyl power station exploded killing thousands, contaminating millions and crippling many more. It’s said the radiation was 100 times stronger than the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The closest event that I can relate to the Chernobyl is that of Bhopal Gas tragedy. The fallout of uninhibited industrialization without control in under developed India. Despite the disaster striking the man kind in same fashion, how two different civilizations treat the magnanimity of the issue is quite contrasting. Entire Ukraine still stands for cause of people displaced or still settled in and around Chernobyl. The Head of State of Ukraine acknowledges the tragedy yet in no way the country restrains itself from harnessing its resources for further development. “We are blessed with Uranium and we have to live and die by it.”
An old lady refuses to leave her plot of land near the nuclear reactors for she considers it as her child.

May be when I consider my own country been struck by such disaster, the lack of sensitivity is alarmingly of high proportion. It was not until I tread through the pages of Dominique Lapirerie’s vivid description of the Bhopal catastrophe in “Five past midnight’ the enormity of event struck me. Yet it’s difficult to imagine India commemorate for the deceased in such large scale that it draws international media attention. I suspect how many of us actually know when such calamity of gargantuan proportion struck us. May be that’s how simplistically and spiritually we live in India.

Earlier in the show on BBC, there was an interview with Bollywood actress Priety Zinta on diverse issues crippling India. When she said that “In India Life is cheap”, I couldn’t find a better exemplification to substantiate the point. 9/11 has become a jargon, a fad to describe world prior and after a certain event. I presume none of us would associate Indian industrial dynamics with 3rd December 1984.

Yet amidst the difference of civilization and sensitivity, one thing strikes is the interminable resilience of survivor is remarkably similar. Be it Chernobyl or Bhopal none of the survivors want to get displaced from their roots. They still pledge to live and die for the land The still fight several ailments and post traumatic disorders in similar way. May be that’s what unite human beings across the race and civilization.

When writing for Trust...

Trust is the word which invariably rings our ear drums when the word relation comes. People proclaim trust to their life. They crumble to ashes when it’s fractured. Often the repercussions are deep and stigma leaves an indelible impression on heart and mind. Relations inadvertently start metamorphosing trust into other form of emotions: belief, care, love, affection, martyrdom.

I often wonder what makes people trust each other. For we all have certain degree of veil surrounding our realm which evades us from exposing certain quarter of our consciousness to others. Whether it’s impish or innocuously charming, certain thoughts simply stay deep rooted within ourselves Even at the moment of reckoning we fear it getting exposed to the next human entity. Still we claim to be trustworthy. I sense between emotions of two individuals there is a void or perhaps conglomeration of feelings which is beyond comprehension. The void arguably treads the way of Boyle’s theory or Archimedes principle. Greater the trust, lesser is the void. Still it exists.

We as a human being often seek trust as an excuse to end a relation and perhaps apprehension to kick start a new one. We fear that some one else too might tickle those deep rooted thoughts which causes uneasiness for few and emotionally volatile for many. Yet amidst those deep rooted mystique corners there is a wish that is lurking about someone coming and reduce the void ness .How often we fell in for a much stronger bond or relation after someone has let down our trust. Perhaps the eagerness to cut loose ones inner consciousness which might have inhibited the past relations enables us to cross the boundaries

There are times when I surprise myself on hearing from people’s admittance that they trust me. It levies as an Atlas across my broad sub-consciousness with a bold question brazenly displaying “What if?” I take the solace from the fact that even I do not live up to expectations of some one may be I can hope to try harder to erase the mistrust I Frankenstein-ed. Still the questionable mind of human being becomes doubly conscious before providing those small peek to their inner periphery of thoughts.

People often claim to be let down by one and vow never to get into relations with other. But I promise each one of us secretly wishes that some one trusts us and someone whom we can trust. May be we are not bold enough to admit this simple human want. I remember a heart rendering story about one of my close associate and friend. Invariably I narrate this one to people who believes their trust has been burst like a bubble.

This friend of mine was a typical middle class north Indian easy-go-lucky girl who never knew bounds of her creativity and romanticism. An affable company often attracts jealous glares and dodgy remarks. Yet whoever use to be in her company often left bewildered how easily she mingles with people and allow others to express their mind. During third year of her graduation, she came in touch with her intern lead, a handsome young man.
The mutual consensus and liking for each other developed into strong relation between the two. Within a year it became difficult for us to think one without the other. We often used to talk how the pair complies to an ideal couple with immense understanding. My friend skipped her academic minors to take care for her beloved when he was down with viral infections. We all had presumption that anything short of marriage between the two will be under achievement for this relation.

Three years down the line I met this friend of mine on my way to Kolkata. With an impish grin, I asked about the guy and their relations. Her terse word came as shock when she said ‘He is dead.’ Before I could recover she continued ‘He is dead not for this world but for me.’ In spite of serious mental restraint, I couldn’t help myself without asking the reason.

The girl got engaged with this guy on completion of her graduation and went home on vacation. For days there were no calls, no mails, and no communication from her betrothal. Sensing something inexplicable she kept trying to contact him through his friends, relatives but all in vain. Then one day she decided to visit the guy’s native to figure out what the problem actually was. When she entered the guy’s house a young married girl greeted her who was this person’s wife for last three years. Hell broke loose on my friend on unraveling the truth. She left the place without meeting the guy and till date she hasn’t seen him again.

I presume from a female perspective trust reaches beyond quantifiable limits the moment she allows the person to take charge of her physically and mentally. Seeing my friend’s mental state I couldn’t gauge whether she was angry, hurt or fuming with vengeance. I wasn’t sure whether she is going to ever enter into any other relationship. Recently I came to know she is married to a Tamil Brahmin hailing from Madurai and have a sweet little kid. Presumably it’s a love marriage and perhaps a better person is in her life to soothe her sufferings and create a new glimmer of faith and TRUST