Japan Tragedy: A wake-up call?

FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND people have lost their lives in 2010 to natural disasters. Mother Nature has struck, and struck hard again. The devastating earthquake at Japan has caused massive damage to life and property over major parts of Japan. All the development, all the technological advancements there are can do nothing, absolutely nothing to combat the might of nature. Perhaps, it is indeed these developments that are causing these natural disasters.

The year 2010 was a disastrous year with calamities taking lives and causing destruction without respite.

• Nearly half of the victims of the total 2010 casualties were from the Haiti earthquake alone.
• Chile suffered a terrible 8.8 magnitude earthquake with more than 500 killed and 300,000 homes damaged.
• Almost 12 million people were affected in the floods in Pakistan with around 1200 losing their lives to the waters.
• Wild fires in Russia caused smog killing an estimated number of 15,000 and causing health problems to thousands more.
• A raging snowstorm struck the north eastern part of US in late December (though now that seems merely inconvenient as compared to the rest of the list).
• An Icelandic Eyjafjallajokull volcano (how unpronounceable is that!) spewed gas over Northern Europe disrupting flights and travel for an extended period of time.
• New Zealand was hit with a 7.7 magnitude earthquake causing damage of millions. Even as the recovery progressed slowly, further tremors though lesser in extent hampered recovery efforts.
• Indonesia suffered another earthquake and Tsunami causing damage though not as massive as the others.
• A cold wave struck the usually not-so-cold Peru and Argentina killing several hundred unaccustomed to the cold.

Plodding through the Snowstorm in NE America

While the world grappled with disasters in 2010, nature did not relent in 2011.

• 2011 did not start too well either, with the Brazil floods causing landslides and taking many lives.
• Australia experienced the same problems with major cities being inundated for several days.

This list very unfortunately is not an exhaustive list and there have been many cyclones which have been terrible too as unexpected that they were. I pray for all those affected to pick up the pieces and restart their lives.

Increased urbanization, deforestation, depletion of the ozone layer, global warming have now started perpetuating the debilitating effects of human ‘progress’ and several lives are heavily paying for it. If terrorists can’t get one, there is indeed no telling when these natural disasters will. Ofcourse, I don’t want to predict any doomsday or acocalypse, but one can’t help feeling a sense of utter helplessness when tragedy strikes. However, I do feel, that it is indeed high time, that the industrial community, governments, and individuals started to understand the evil that is happening because of the consumerist and the selfish progress that has been made by mankind to disrupt the ecological balance that has kept life on earth alive for several million years before the advent of the Humans.

Industries need to stop spewing noxious fumes and toxins depleting the ozone layer. It is necessary to reduce CO2 emissions and going green whether it is green vehicles, power or manufacturing. Individuals need to use less disposable things such as paper products, napkins, use less electricity as far as possible and preach the message as they practice. More trees need to be planted and population needs to be reduced! Whew, I guess, writing it, makes it sound pretty difficult considering burgeoning populations and lack of space and increased consumerism! But, notwithstanding the immensity and the challenges of the tasks, everything possible has to be done with a sense of urgency.

If the ever increasing list of natural disasters is not a wake-up call then what will it ever be?

To Spend or Not to Spend

I recently read an article on Mukesh Ambani’s One Billion dollar splurge on his 27 storey home and some readers’ reproachful comments about him frittering away wealth instead of feeding 68 million kids for 20 full days! Mr Ambani is the fourth richest man in the world, has built a vast empire employing several thousand people and still people expect him to be charitable as well as though it is his responsibility to eliminate poverty in the world! Eliminating poverty is certainly not as simple as all the rich people in the world donating their wealth to all the poor. If they choose to be charitable, it certainly helps in some way, however that is not something that should be imposed on them and it certainly is unfair on them to be judged because they spend their money the way they like. And honestly, I wouldn’t even call living in a beautiful home a splurge (even though I found the Ambani mansion pretty ugly!) Everyone has that one dream of having a beautiful home and a comfortable one. Why then deny Mr Ambani that pleasure and insist he live in a 3 bedroom house just because the even wealthier Mr Warren Buffet does. Who is John Galt after all. (for those of who may recall Ayn Rand’s tome Atlas Shrugged)

Well, those were my views on this one rich man spending his money on his dream house. However, this article brought to my mind the other stuff the rich and famous buy and which I don’t approve of! I know, now I m being judgmental just after all those statements above about each to his own. . I completely endorse buying something that would lend value, a technologically advanced car with more features, a large home that’s in a prime location with the latest gadgetry and comforts, to some extent for creativity in outfits and accessories, but I fail to understand how people can actually pay the ostentatious amounts they do for objects that are as ephemeral as passing seasons and stuff that they may not use probably twice. My case in point is handbags

The Luxury bag market is a multi-billion dollar industry and luxury brands Hermes, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Chanel all jostle for space as new brands try to entice rich gals with their expensive goodies. Well, I was astonished that salaried people even bought these bags at all but apparently they do! Check out the prices of these bags below. Don’t be taken in by the simple design you have probably seen on the roadside purse shop as well! For starters this seemingly simple wallet from Hermes costs $2,600 or Rs 1,16,000.

Now if that ain’t too bad, how about a fancier and larger purse from Hermes for you? Well that costs $7,600 or Rs 3,40,000.

I continued this eye-popping exercise of checking the prices of these bags till I reached a magic figure of…. 1 Million Pounds or or $1.6 Million or Rs 7 Crores for the world’s most expensive bag!!!

Well if Mukesh Ambanis wife, Nita Ambani buys 600 of those bags, it would cost as much as her home would! I guess, the new home is a good bargain after all then!

Hostages to fear

I am a hostage to fear. I fear going to crowded places for shopping during Diwali, fear travelling by public transport, fear festive throngs during Janmashtami, fear going to the movie theater. Now I shall fear going to even so called up-market restaurants, and minimize whatever time I spend out-doors. Time and again, my ‘mighty’ and ‘fast developing’ India has proved that it is utterly incapable of handling terrorist activities. Here I am not talking about lame bombs kept by nameless cowardly faces that disappear after the dastardly act that others pay for. I am talking about an act that has had conniving, planning, gathering of huge resources that include well trained terrorists, machine guns, grenades and RDX bombs, and the brazenness to attack openly and get away with it. The mindless firing at Taj, our nation’s pride, and at several other places of national importance, left me shaken. Our intelligentsia had not a whiff of what was to come. This operation left me stunned. Something has snapped. The faith that things will get better, and lives will not be lost anymore due to these motivated but demented monsters was shattered.

India has supposedly a strong army which is proudly flaunted on the Republic day. But, it is sad that we can be so vulnerable, each time, these monsters come out and attack us. Do the officials really expect these monsters to come and intimate them of their plans to come and attack, in order to preempt these attacks? I am tired even to repeat the same things over and over again and condemn the monsters, condemn the government, condemn the opposition parties, condemn the intelligence agencies. I have no more words. I have no more hope.