Cyclone
Kolkata and West Bengal suffered a devastating cyclone on May 25, 2009. As reported, at least 80 people were killed and over one lakh people rendered homeless.
The storm which is named Aila had a wind speed of 100 kilometers per hour hit the city at around 2 p.m and, thereafter, blew through Howrah, Hoogly and Burdwan districts and moved towards further north into the hills. The scale of devastation were so severe that the Army was deployed for rescue operations in affected parts of North and South 24-Parganas.Several thousands of houses washed away in tidal waves in the coastal areas. The city witnessed uprooting of hundreds of trees which blocked roads for hours dislocating traffics for the day. Air, train and tram services got disrupted for hours.
Ananda Bazar Patrika, the Bengali daily, informs from the available records that this city witnessed cyclonic devastation of this extent only on September 30,1737 and October 5,1864.I observed that the report had overlooked the incidence of another cyclone which hit this city and the state exactly fifty years ago.
That was a Thursday. I clearly remember the date too; May 21, 1959. I was a student of sixth standard then and on summer vacation. It was a sultry summer afternoon. It all started at around 4:30 pm. In minutes the sky was covered with cloud as if a gloom evening arrived much earlier than usual. Thunder roared and wind started blowing at a tremendous speed. We had too many windows in our erstwhile home at Kalighat. They had to be closed in haste. Rain accompanied the storm immediately afterwards. Finding all the windows closed the rain took its route through the ventilators and entered all our rooms. We were advised to remain confined to the master bed room of the house with closed doors and windows. For quite some time we listened to unheard of sounds of whistling and roaring of the wind and nothing else. We learned later that meanwhile the family staying next to us called us several times as the corrugated roof of their house was uprooted and they badly needed shelter. Unfortunately, as all of us remained confined behind closed door we could never hear their shouting.
While it all ended we opened the window to have a brief glance of the immense devastation the cyclone caused. We could only saw the uprooted and folded corrugated sheet roofs of two of the nearby houses and the picture came clear the next day while we went out. Every where there were uprooted trees and electric poles on the main streets. The corrugated sheet roof along with ceiling fans fitted of a nearby primarily school was lifted by the strong wind and dispatched to a park around 100 meters away. I do not really remember the quantum but there were reports of casualties and washed out houses in rural Bengal. Fifty years, we had only print media to report the disaster. They were also not as sophisticated as of now. Still it appears from whatever we saw around and read in the reports the magnitude of the loss suffered then was similar to that of today.
What surprises that though the nature of calamity or the magnitude of the loss does not differ, to-day's Bengali, by now, are a different lot altogether. We all are too self centered and do not really care for others. Whatever may be the situation, politics finds the priority over others. Without bothering to do our part we come out to expect unattainable under the circumstances and create havoc while the expectations fail to mature.Our attitude towards social problems or social benefits underwent a sea change and that can no way benefit the society.
Fifty years back, the infrastructures were poorer and, therefore, relief came much late. Several voluntary organizations, local clubs, and social groups came out to collect subscriptions, either in cash or in kind and went to the affected areas to provide relief to the affected. They never hesitated to work alongside the public service agencies. The Government also did their best in spite of their limited abilities. Last of all, people at large understood the limitations of all who provided relief and showed extreme restraint.
As far as saving the situation after the disaster the things are absolutely otherwise this time. The civic authorities feigned helplessness stating they did not have sufficient preparedness to combat this disaster. This is unbelievable. Senior officials of the municipal corporations periodically visit affluent eastern and western cities to gain knowledge of their arrangements. Municipal Corporation has now access to foreign technologies and funds to acquire accessories and equipment. How can they afford to make such a declaration? It is sheer inefficiency on their part. The electric supply corporation showed utter indifference to the problems of the consumers. They could hire more agencies to work on war footing but they failed to do so.
The role of the opposition leaders in the face of this unprecedented disaster is also shameful. While the situation demanded relief work in unison, they got into the usual blame games and diplomatically organized the road blockades for hours throughout the state which disrupted the normal life of common people and grossly affected the relief work. They no doubt are in the process of gaining grounds for the next assembly election and nothing wrong in that. But why trade corpses and rubbles for political gains? I am sure that the sensible voters of the state who gave such a massive mandate for their favor deserve more maturity and senses.
My good friend Mr.Sudip Ray reminds me of a similar cyclone in Chennai about 10 years back. He was posted there during the period. They were without water and electricity for four days. He observed that neither people of Chennai nor opposition was interested in blaming the state Government. Instead, the local people took the initiative in clearing waterlogged areas themselves and supplementing corporation's deficiency. Actually, during such natural calamity, no Government machinery proves adequate as no Government body is built to take care of such exigencies. Till now, none of the television channels or the newspapers reported serious involvement of any local clubs, citizen's group or voluntary organizations in providing relief to the affected.
We tend to forget one fundamental truth. None can survive alone. We have the onerous responsibility to keep the society going. By avoiding this responsibility even in the face of disaster of this magnitude, we are inching towards destruction of the social fabric.
The state of affairs reminds the destruction of the tribe of Jadavas (Jadubangsha) as depicted in Mahabharata. The group of drunken Jadavas stated fighting with some non-issues one day and skirmish turned in to a battle. Ultimately they killed each other in a fit of rage and that lead to their annihilation.
While even a disaster of this magnitude fails to instill senses in us, shall we wait for destruction of similar kind?
Comments
1. The politics of opposition for the sake of opposition or for short term gains has become a tremendous scourge, and is threatening our wellbeing, if not our existence. You are right: we might see a repetition of the destruction of the Jadava Dynasty.
2. The self-serving vernacular media, particularly the TV channels, add fuel to fire. The more the excitement, more viewers they get; hence they have a vested interest in continuing tension. During the fire at Nandaram Market last year, for seven days, Bangla TV channels prophesied that the building would collapse any moment. Finally, when the building decided otherwise, these reporters clearly looked downcast and disheartened.
3. I often say that with their kind of work ethic, the government and CMC employees can never meet the challenges posed by any disaster, even a minor one, let alone the worst cyclone in 50 years. You and I have seen many a time, for an average babu in any government office, taking out a file from a cabinet means a lot of work. And often he or she expects us to pay him/her for their effort. Most of these employees have never worked in their lifetime and have completely lost their ability to work.
4. But these creatures are not out of practice in one area. They harass ordinary people who go to an office to renew a ration card or to get an SC/ST certificate, or to mutate their property ownership. For the simple things that they are paid to do, the babus consider they are conferring a benefit to the people.
5. After this harassment goes on for decades, people lose their faith in the establishment completely and go out on the road to protest when all the channels meant to redress their grievances are proved useless. This happened at the time of the recent movement against ration shop owners in rural Bengal some time back. This has happened after the recent cyclone in Kolkata.
6. I agree, the opposition politicians, particularly the rabble rousers of TMC, have exploited the situation. But had there been no groundswell of anger among people, they couldn’t have organized so many road blockades.
7. The politicians ought to behave more responsibly, but I don’t know how that will happen.
8. Finally, we the people! We too have become, as you rightly said, self-centred creeps, who do not know what collective action is. After every natural disaster, people in our villages have only one thing to say: “Sarkarne kuchhu nehi kiya.” As if they have no responsibility towards themselves and their children. The Chennai incident that you have mentioned is an eye-opener.