Well, cyclone Phani came and went, and here in West Bengal - especially in my district - it was a gigantic non-event, though the scare had been spread so widely, intensively for so long (a whole week, whereas at the time of Ayla back in 2009 we hardly got two days' notice, and far more lowkey at that) that the whole state went into holiday mode, so several million mandays of work were lost for nothing. I must admit, though, that if that rainstorm had struck Kolkata head-on the story might have been quite different.
But Odisha bore the brunt, and came out with flying colours. The last time a supercyclone struck - that was in '99 - ten thousand died; this time, thanks to early, strenuous and intelligently coordinated government efforts (how we blame them for every little peccadillo, yet are strangely stingy with our praise when they do wonderful things!), just three people died, and one of them of a heart attack. Shows we can do wonderful things when we really want to, and I certainly want to insist that this is a far more significant and praiseworthy achievement than sending a Mangalyaan up into space - honestly, which of us ordinary Indians have benefited a busted nickel from that non-event: something that the Americans did more than forty years ago? (our PM's boast is that we did it far more cheaply. He forgot to mention that that is largely because Indians are paid a tiny fraction of what Americans, laborers and scientists alike, are paid for the same work). Even the most advanced countries cannot do better when really big natural disasters strike.
Two other good things to note. In our state our CM personally supervised all planned relief and rescue operations all through the anticipated crisis, and it went like clockwork - so I am cocking a snook at all those envious idiots who keep ranting after her eight years in office that she was a very good opposition leader but is hopeless as a ruler. And secondly, I was delighted to read that in the face of a vast looming natural disaster, the BJP officially called a truce in the midst of the election season and joined hands with the TMC government to do their best for the people. Maybe there is still hope...
1 comment:
Dear Sir
You said it right we blame the goverment for every single matter but when they do an great job then no one will praise their strenuous efforts this clearly shows that how hypocrites we indians really are, and then some people will say that our goverment is fully corrupted and so india can never be a developed nation.
I remmember once you told us in class that the persons who became political leaders are from our society only they don,t come from some other planet so if we ourselves are not good then how come we expect our ministers and leaders to be good.
Regards
Siddhartha
Post a Comment