India - Living in high risk mode everyday
I rarely watch the news everyday as it is plain scary. Yet I need my information and so am compelled to watch at least once a week or so. So today's headlines news(no exaggeration whatsoever) :
1. 20 kids die in a school in Bihar due to food poisoning.
As per the report these kids died after consuming food provided by the school that contained high level of some foreign substance ???? (probably insecticide).Doctors and officials took the incidence lightly and did not react promptly.
Parents will receive 2 lakhs as compensation. For those living in urban India, 2 lacs does not even buy you a small car or cover your 6 months expenses.
This is in Bihar and everyone knows Bihar is a jungle with no law.
2.4 girls raped in Uttarakhand in a hostel (Jharkhand school).
The school/hostel is a shed facility looks like a series of huts. Girls were dragged out, principal and teachers locked and tied and girls raped. The parents want the culprits to be hanged.
This is a Adivasi (tribal village) region, therefore I don't think this will be in news after today.
3.The Himalyan Tsunami is still being investigated and bodies still missing after 1 month.
The weather department is so backward in India that they cannot predict and even if can predict have no emergency response system in place to react to any of these calamities.
What is most baffling to me is that India is a underdeveloped, third world country and it cannot be compared to the first world nations. Agreed. Then how is it that government officials, ministers and everyone who is in power is doing so little. They have so much work on hand and a job bigger than anyone's to do. PLEASE get the job done.
So what will I do.....turn off the television and get on with my life.
However, these things linger in my mind and I pray for these people and hope they find the strength and the means to deal with these tragedies. At the same time I pray even harder to God and tell myself that none of this will ever happen in my life as I am in a much safer city, my kids are going to a better school, my neighborhood is a decent, educated and cultured group of people. Somehow, it is not enough conciliation. I feel so powerless, selfish and almost ashamed to pretend that everything is alright. As if I am fooling myself and living in a make believe world.
But that is exactly what all of India does every single day. They watch Bollywood, cricket, travel abroad and live as foreigners in their own country. I do not blame them as what choice do they have just like me. AND YET..........we do have a choice just need to take the time and effort to exercise it. For if we wont, who will.
We need to demand for a system in place, for regulations and standards to be enforced, for authorities to be answerable, accountable.
Being rich or educated or privileged will not give immunity to problems and even if it does to a great extent, it is not right.
We should want to be right, to be proud, to be honest, to be good. Our children are watching and learning and if we want things different we need to at least try.
My daughter gets her lunch at school and it is mandatory for her to eat school lunch. I am going to ask her school regarding their kitchen hygiene, standards, food preparation and everything that is a concern to me. I know her school will comply as they take such exorbitant fees. What about these poor parents in Bihar, adivasi girls raped, people looking for bodies of their loved ones ????
Leave them to their fate, Indian government and God.
I will watch the NEWS again tomorrow (time permitting) and will get over the OLD News of today.
After all news in India includes movie releases, celebrity gossips, cricket scams all with equal time slots and intensity.
1. 20 kids die in a school in Bihar due to food poisoning.
As per the report these kids died after consuming food provided by the school that contained high level of some foreign substance ???? (probably insecticide).Doctors and officials took the incidence lightly and did not react promptly.
Parents will receive 2 lakhs as compensation. For those living in urban India, 2 lacs does not even buy you a small car or cover your 6 months expenses.
This is in Bihar and everyone knows Bihar is a jungle with no law.
2.4 girls raped in Uttarakhand in a hostel (Jharkhand school).
The school/hostel is a shed facility looks like a series of huts. Girls were dragged out, principal and teachers locked and tied and girls raped. The parents want the culprits to be hanged.
This is a Adivasi (tribal village) region, therefore I don't think this will be in news after today.
3.The Himalyan Tsunami is still being investigated and bodies still missing after 1 month.
The weather department is so backward in India that they cannot predict and even if can predict have no emergency response system in place to react to any of these calamities.
What is most baffling to me is that India is a underdeveloped, third world country and it cannot be compared to the first world nations. Agreed. Then how is it that government officials, ministers and everyone who is in power is doing so little. They have so much work on hand and a job bigger than anyone's to do. PLEASE get the job done.
So what will I do.....turn off the television and get on with my life.
However, these things linger in my mind and I pray for these people and hope they find the strength and the means to deal with these tragedies. At the same time I pray even harder to God and tell myself that none of this will ever happen in my life as I am in a much safer city, my kids are going to a better school, my neighborhood is a decent, educated and cultured group of people. Somehow, it is not enough conciliation. I feel so powerless, selfish and almost ashamed to pretend that everything is alright. As if I am fooling myself and living in a make believe world.
But that is exactly what all of India does every single day. They watch Bollywood, cricket, travel abroad and live as foreigners in their own country. I do not blame them as what choice do they have just like me. AND YET..........we do have a choice just need to take the time and effort to exercise it. For if we wont, who will.
We need to demand for a system in place, for regulations and standards to be enforced, for authorities to be answerable, accountable.
Being rich or educated or privileged will not give immunity to problems and even if it does to a great extent, it is not right.
We should want to be right, to be proud, to be honest, to be good. Our children are watching and learning and if we want things different we need to at least try.
My daughter gets her lunch at school and it is mandatory for her to eat school lunch. I am going to ask her school regarding their kitchen hygiene, standards, food preparation and everything that is a concern to me. I know her school will comply as they take such exorbitant fees. What about these poor parents in Bihar, adivasi girls raped, people looking for bodies of their loved ones ????
Leave them to their fate, Indian government and God.
I will watch the NEWS again tomorrow (time permitting) and will get over the OLD News of today.
After all news in India includes movie releases, celebrity gossips, cricket scams all with equal time slots and intensity.
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