Learn to clean up your mess


Note - My little cousin sister of three years recently learned to say sorry when she does something wrong. The next thing my masi (aunt) is teaching her is to clean up the mess she makes after playing with her toys. Okay, now, go ahead, read the post.
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As a part of my journalism course, I've got a chance to visit Bhopal and see the place where the world's biggest ever industrial tragedy took place in 1982. Frankly speaking, it's a trip. And I would have preferred to visit some beach or go camping to hills as a part of my trip. But the discovery of some very disturbing facts made me convince that I should not miss the trip to this not-so-happening place. A lot has happened there which we need to be aware of.

For people who don't know, Union Carbide Factory, a franchise of a US company came to India with the intention of setting up a fertilizer factory in Bhopal.
The Indian government was happy. They were happy that foreign investment and revenue was coming in. They were happy that good quality fertilizers would be available to our farmers. What they did not expect to receive in the bargain was a seething loss of millions of lives.

Twenty-five years have passed since that night of terror and death in Bhopal, which saw a cloud of deadly gases explode out of a faulty tank in the pesticide factory and silently spread into the homes of sleeping people. It was a night which has never ended.

Interestingly, the tragedy occurred because of a very, very minor fault, i.e. of a gas leakage. The gas stored in the tank was supposed to be stored at a temp of minus five degrees or less, for which proper refrigeration was provided. Till one fine day, the then-CEO of company, Warren Andrews decided to turn off the refrigeration valve in June 1984 as the maintenance costs were crossing their budget.

Although several safety warnings were issued to the factory, no heed was paid to them. And then, on the night of December 3, 1984 when all the workers had returned to their homes, the gas valve started leaking around 12 am. At that point of time, it had 45,000 kg of poisonous gas which was unleashed on the sleeping city of Bhopal. The temperature in the valve had reached a good 45 degree celsius.

I do not need to get into all the details, as I believe that my informed readers do have an idea about this tragedy. It will be suffice to say that people were choked to death in their sleep, pregnant women suffered sudden miscarriages, lung cancer, burning sensation in eyes, breathlessness et al.
It was India's very own Hiroshima and Nagasaki. People born in that area of Bhopal still suffer from deadly breathing diseases, lung cancers and women still end up losing their child while it's still in their womb.

On that fateful night, the CEO was arrested, released on bail and flied to Delhi via a State-owned plane from where he was secretly departed to US, never to return again. The factory is today owned by Dow Jones, one of the biggest players in world economy. The current CEO still lives lavishly in sub urban New York and is indifferent to the tragedy.
The company was asked to pay damages to the victims. After 12 years of long legal battle, the company shelled out 12,000 to the kins of deceased. Rs 12,000 each, was the price paid for millions of innocent lives lost.

Interestingly, the govt today does not hesitate to announce compensation of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh even in some minor rail accident. And the world's biggest industrial tragedy got weighed at 12,000 grands wonly.

I wonder if a similar incident would have taken place in US in some Indian owned company. Would it's Indian CEO be able to escape in the same manner? Bah, we all know the answer too well. Don't we?

Headlines like "Brown-skinned Indian held for murdering several first world citizens in their sleep" would probably do the rounds of USA Today and New York Times. (Man, i really need to stop imagining now).

My little sister knows how to clean up her mess, I wonder when will the CEO of the biggest company in the world will learn to do that!






14 comments:

AB | December 14, 2009 at 10:11 PM

What's more tragic than this! Nothing! Seriously.. we as a country have failed miserably in some areas! What's left to say!

Anonymous | December 14, 2009 at 10:40 PM

us dominates the world . its a fact . contrast to dis ceo cd be mr.buddhi , an iitian and scholar at purdue who has been held in u.s prison for unproven charges since 2005 ( continued ) , what wd u say abt the held up of shahrukh khan at the us airport for 8hrs when his identity was taken skeptical,unidentified us vessel carrying toxins docks at gujrat . innumerable incidents like dese happen. the bottomline : life of ppl in underdev countries is cheap .countries whose governance and ppl dont wrk to make the life of themselves better eventually have to pay the price for it. no human rights , no international pressure comes to the rescue then .
"we ll die like rats till we ll reproduce like dem "

Anonymous | December 15, 2009 at 8:40 PM

hats off grl. it is vry well written with all info wch i wld hv never known!!! tis is a vry serious issue smtng need to be dne !!!! oohh me gettin soo serious abt tis.any waz add smtng mre after ur trip ....i wld luv to knw mre.bye

The Crystal Heart | December 25, 2009 at 9:47 PM

Hey Genius Angel In this X-mas,
In the daytime if sun shine so shall Ur expectations come true,
At night when moon comes out so shall U receive blesses,
then if rain fall so shall it going to carry all your problem away from U..

Somehow, not only for Christmas,
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others,
Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing,
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart’s possessing,
Returns to you glad.

Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.

"Happy Merry Christmas"

Mads | December 30, 2009 at 8:12 PM

1) i love ur template..its so cute n pretty :D
2) why is this anonymous line maaring on u :O
3) loved this post...i had read abt this issue loads of times but first time on a blog. i never thought ur blog wud have such a post. expected some happy go lucky stuff. well written :)
4) dont mind if i blabbered a lot :D me like that only :D
keep blogging :D

pb | December 31, 2009 at 12:31 AM

hey happy new yr prianca ...

Prianca | January 3, 2010 at 9:51 PM

@ abhinav

nothing much is left to say...i'd thought about coming up with a follow up post after the trip...an then, changed my mind.
It's just too much tragedy to bear.


@ anonymous
u're right.
and yes, i do remember that case of Mr. buddhi. would appreciate if i could know your name

Prianca | January 3, 2010 at 9:52 PM

@ anonymous
**blushes**
thanku for commenting. being anonymous didnt help your case dear.


@ the crystal heart
aww, that's such a sweet poem. kahaan se maari? ;)

Prianca | January 3, 2010 at 9:55 PM

@ mads
1 thanku for d compliment. d tempelte is my personal fav.

2 dat anonymous is line maaring on me coz he is my bf, trying to be anonymous. (I'm not kidding) ;)

3. and yes, i did not mind at all. thanks for visiting my page. glad you liked it. :))

Anonymous | January 4, 2010 at 10:54 AM

nt knwing is d best when ppl knwingly make u unkwn.....

Prianca | January 4, 2010 at 11:09 AM

@ anonymous
although i do have a faint hint of who you are, i would not deem it certain and thus, request you to muster up some courage and post with your identity.
happy new year to u too.

Anonymous | January 4, 2010 at 5:58 PM

u wish it ws dat simple.. i bet its nt .. its bou loss ...nd neg vibes r bad, rnt dey , ppl wd dem eva worse ...its lil bit bou concern too then
best as it is ..

The Crystal Heart | January 5, 2010 at 12:54 AM

Genius After Read Your Comments..I m laughing crazily

R.O.T.F.L.M.A.O

Yar now you understand me So Well...Yar I always learnt with ur blog...Maybe I improved my Language...Maybe because of You..Now I m Thinking Creatively...All Credits Yourz..Thank You So Much..Now I also write some article for newspaper free of costs lolz.....

The Crystal Heart | January 5, 2010 at 1:16 AM

Hey We All know Our Justice is So Stricted....Our Judges Policy Thousand Criminal Saved but Innocent Person Shall be punishable Any Costs....In India Lots Of Criminal Cases..Where Crime Punishment is only 1 yr But They Innocent person Suffered in jail for judicial custidy more thn 5 yr.without any hearing ...Wat a joke..but i still proud to be indian ...

Yar Now U Teach A new Word To Your Cousin Princess..That "Forgive"..

Now She Learnt Cleaning Up The Mess.,You Will Give Her Barbie Doll Sets As A Gift..I m Serious..Getting.??..& Million Dollars "Royality" for using her name without her written permission lolz...Stay Khush..Cya