Friday, June 25, 2010

Missing You ..



..Today I really missed those 3....infact..I missed we 4..

I have never written anything about them, even when they have asked 100 times...
I thought I will spoil all the fun in our group if I try to put all those moments in words...Now also I feel the same but I missed them so much that I got only this page to express...

It was ,of course ,"malayalism" that clubbed us together and it was the sheer fun of being together that made us friends...It was like back in college and sometimes more.......

If I start giving words about each...Hmm...Mm....

Starting with the most loud and noisy guy I have ever seen…
Though bubbling with energy, we see him often sleeping in office…Laziness and energy,two weird combination ..thats him..
Please beware of his tongue and his wicked smile...
but when it comes to friends, no one can be more supporting than him…

Then comes the lively and sensitive one. Big brown eyes are what you first notice about her. The impression she will give everyone is of a bold girl but in truth she is very sensitive and value friendship more than anything.Being broght up outside Kerala ,her malayalam is something that have made us laugh a lot.Her accent is perfect but some words she confuse the meaning and use at most unpredicted situatons..(Scenarios not included due to fear of "consequences"!! he he)

.. The best words that suits the next one will be, with no doubt,the "most"annoying & irritating ..Don't ever go by his gentlman look !(especially girls)!he he....Mad about sweets and grumble about short breaks ,he is very caring and I think most patient one in our gang...

& finally, me, as usual, chatter box…

…2 Guys who talk only about movies and girls & 2 girls, who use to sneer, shout and scold them for whatever they speak. …We were different like 4 seasons but together we made a year full of fun...

….Our gang was noisy yet very much bonded...even if we don't talk everyday that string of bond will always be there...

If I am in some trouble, I will dial only there number...If I am upset I could call up them and talk all rubbish for hours without even once hearing an uninteresting sigh… even after 30 years it will be like that only. That’s the confidence we all got….

Change is the only thing that remains unchanged…

…2 have moved out & one got shifted to another location… I simply feel bored to be with others just because I miss my friends a lot. Its more that 2 months and my work life seems so different now..

Miss you guys..really....

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Bad Day





I hate this day.......................

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Father's Day..

Hi,

Today is Father's day!I got to know that only by evening when I got a forward message from one of my friends.

"A great man who spares his life..Hides his feelings..Ignores his happiness...Accepts the pain...Forget his comfort ..Struggles at work..All to make us comfortable and happy ...to make our life without struggle..
So don't hurt that gentle dad..Think of you dad..I 'm proud to be my daddy's kid."

I didn't forward that message to my dad though I felt like ...
Anyway,I don't need a special day to remember my dad nor to tell him that he is very special to me ..He knew it..

I am very of proud of my dad and he is my hero,from the time i can remember till now..Almost all girls will be like that only but, anyway for me, my dad and the bond we share is very special...

Everyday we will talk and not even once he missed to ask me "when are you coming?..this weekend ,eh? And every time I hear this ,I will feel like packing my bag and rushing back home ..he he

Earlier ,in college and now in office, I used to get so much comments for going home frequently..But ,I always feel good to consider myself like that...Only very few could understand in real sense the value of those attachment and sentiments which others mock as "silly home sickness"...
Almost all we see around are attached to their family but the difference is, whether they consider spending time with their family as something interesting ...Most of the people (I know) thinks opposite...
I have heard my friends saying "It is good to stay at home for 2 days,more than that,it's boring ..."
I am happy that I don't belong to that group..I am in Bangalore and in a month, more than twice I used to go home...

Oh..Wait ..I have to go now..I ll complete and post the blog after one hour...

Hey,I am back..again some problem in keeping the time..Its almost 2 days gone..:)

Keeping in mind ,my favorite quote "Better late than never", let me post this ...

Monday, June 14, 2010

What to comment?

It was mere curiosity that prompted me to know what actually happened behind the world’s biggest Industrial disaster, Bhopal Tragedy -1984, which occurred even before I was born.

From the little knowledge I have, I perceived it as a major industrial accident occurred due to some sort of negligence from the management.
But now I can’t reason all that happened under a single term “negligence” nor I can describe it in one sentence.

I will be quoting directly some text from few of the articles I have gone through because I don’t know how to put all this in my own words, without hating the country I belongs to.
So, let it be more factual……

Those were the beginning of the age when India greeted foreign investments as a part of “National & Industrial Development”. There was absolutely no question of rejecting a proposal put forward by the biggest chemical companies in the world – Union Carbide to start a plant in India.

From the day 1 of its entry, all the rules and regulations were changed to accommodate the giant fish without even giving a glimpse on the basic safety and security measures to be followed in starting a chemical plant in an urban area. India was an easy place for them to buy and start the unit because all our authorities cared for, was some extra cash in their pockets.
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As per the records:
• In 1979, zonal regulations in Bhopal were changed so that Carbide could set up a plant, manufacturing deadly pesticides in the heart of the city's most densely populated areas.
• In December 1981, a gas leak at the Union Carbide plant killed one worker.
• A year later, in January 1982, there was another gas leak in which 25 workers were hospitalized. Workers protested that there was design defect in the plant that made it unsafe but the protests were ignored.
• Two years later Union Carbide sent its US experts to do an audit. The team noticed leakage in the plant.
• Union Carbide CEO, Anderson knew about the 1982 safety audit of the Bhopal plant, which identified 30 major hazards and that they were not fixed in Bhopal but were fixed at the company's identical plant in the US
• In September 1982, UCIL de-linked the alarm from the siren warning system so that only their employees would be warned about the leakage, and not the neighboring residents.
• A year later, another leak was reported from the plant which left 100 residents hospitalized.
• On March 4, 1983, Bhopal lawyer Shahnawaz Khan served a legal notice on UCIL. But on April 29, 1983, in a written reply, UCIL's Works Manager denied the allegations as baseless.
• Between 1983 and 1984, the safety manuals were re-written to permit among other things switching off the units that cooled the Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas and prevent chemical reactions.
• On December 3, 1984, the disaster occurred when gas leaked in huge amounts. No warning given to the residents of the leak or what precautions to take.

For three years, Bhopal journalist Rajkumar Keswani kept warning the administration that the Union Carbide plant was unsafe. His last article Bhopal Sitting on a Volcano was published just months before the tragedy.

In fact, the then Chief Minister Arjun Singh assured the Madhya Pradesh Assembly that he personally inspected the Carbide plant, and all is well…………………



On December 3, 1984, the extremely toxic methyl isocyanate started leaking from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Close to 800,000 people were exposed to the deadly gas, 3,800 people died and thousands became disabled, with many dying thereafter.

So this is the story about the biggest industrial tragedy in the world. There are no comments to put because the feeling this tragedy have kicked in you or me is a mixture – a mixture of shock, grief, pity, anger, fright and frustration .

Humans can easily forget and forgive, especially Indians. The great Indian value system!
So we chose to forget and keep everything to ourselves…

Going on… What happened next??

Circulation of various newspapers and magazines increased for few months with colorful cover pages. Stories after stories came with pathetic pictures of victims, debates carried out on every corner scrutinizing the reasons and impact and government busy handling to ‘normalizing’ the situation.

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Anderson flew into Bhopal four days after the gas leak. On the same day, 7 December, 1984, he was arrested on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. A few hours later, Anderson was escorted like a visiting dignitary to Chief Minister Arjun Singh's plane and was flown to Delhi. Soon, he was out of India, never to return.
The United States has declined to extradite him, citing a lack of evidence!


Court actions so far:

Dec 4, 1984: A case is registered against Union Carbide. The chairman Warren Anderson is arrested but later released on bail by the Madhya Pradesh police.
1985: India claims $3.3 billion from Union Carbide in an American court.
1989: Indian government and Union Carbide strike out-of-court deal, Union Carbide gives $ 470 million
1992: Part of $ 470 million disbursed among victims. Anderson declared fugitive from law for ignoring court summons
2001: Union Carbide refuses to take responsibility for former Indian arm’s liabilities
2004: Supreme Court orders government to pay out rest of $ 470 million paid by Union Carbide as compensation
June 7, 2010: The verdict: Eight persons comprising the Indian management of UCIL convicted; Warren Anderson not named.

It took 25 years to convict eight persons, with a possible jail sentence of a maximum of just two years.

They were held guilty under Sections 304-A (causing death by negligence), 304-II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 336, 337 and 338 (gross negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.

Inside Story:

A Bhopal judge ordered that Union Carbide's properties should be attached to court because their executives were ignoring court summons. Two years after,
Justice A M Ahmadi reversed that decision. The company was allowed to sell its properties. The agreement was that the money would be used to set up a trust and a 500-bed hospital which would treat victims of the tragedy at no cost to them.

CBI had filed a charge sheet against Anderson and all the other accused under Section 304(2) where the maximum punishment is 10 years. But the case was converted to 304 A - which is meant for car accidents - by then Chief Justice of India A M Ahmadi.

Two years after that, in 1998, Justice Ahmadi became the chairman of the hospital trust for life. Ahmadi claims the Supreme Court asked him to chair it. But in truth,
the appointment was made by the Trust constituted by Union Carbide.

At present, the hospital set up for the victims has become a super specialty medical facility for the rich …….


Now, all are trying to find out the person who helped Anderson to flee from the country!!

Isn’t it obvious that all the supreme authorities at that point of time were helping him?
Be it Prime Minister, Chief Minister or Chief Justice!!!
Why pointing figures on each other and try to search in dark when all know the answer?
Why rehabilitation of the suffered people still not complete?
Why we are investing crores on researching Moon & Mars when 1000s are dying here like worms?
Why are we not trying to solve the current issue rather than trying to make headlines?

• Company abandoned the polluted factory site allowing it to poison Bhopal residents.
• The company won’t disclose the composition of the poisonous gas (the company still claims this is a trade secret), thus preventing doctors from properly treating the 120,000 people who are still sick.
• Company lawyers ensured survivors only got between US$300-500 compensation each, if they were 'lucky', for their ruined lives.
• Dow Chemical took over Union Carbide in 2001 but it claims Union Carbide has 'settled' the issue of Bhopal
• Despite being wanted in India and by Interpol, Indian and the US authorities have been inactive for the last 18 years on extradition of Anderson.US authorities claimed they could not find Anderson and India has not pursued his extradition from the US for fear of damaging US investment and trade.

A US journal wrote empathetically on the situation:

“Possibly spurred by Anderson's discovery and growing protests at home, the Indian Government has formally filed an extradition request with the US. Better 18 years late than never. The order is likely to be ignored by the US and, no doubt, India hopes it can relieve pressure at home while relying on the US inaction”

This is the image the Great India reflects………

Be proud to be an Indian……

Saturday, June 12, 2010

It's raining....




How could I miss to write a line in my page when it's raining outside..


It was when my friends started teasing that I stopped writing about it in my blog..But, sorry my friends ..this time it's too tempting.. i can't stop myself..



My first memory of rain is of a day when I was small..I was making paper boats and crying when it got drowned in rain...That day my dad and brother taught me how to hold an umbrella and save my pretty little boats..I was so happy n excited to hold that umbrella .following the boats till our gate..

Then it move on to so many pictures....

Faces of my old friends...when we waited excitedly in the school varandah for the rain to stop....to start playing..

Confusing college days ..wondering whether to enjoy the feeling of the rain or to be bothered of the dress I wear...

Laziness to get up and go to office when it's raining...

Days when I forgot to take my umbrella and got drenched..(Secretly, I loved It ,though my hair looked horrible and my sneezing shocked my friends...he he )

Above all it's the longing to go home that hurts ..missing my mom's scoldings ,dad's loving voice and sweet fearsome quarrels with my brother...I don't know..Rain make me miss my home and dear ones so terribly ...

But its only thoughts that take you back to those days not the time..

Then my mind will scroll to future..plans and dreams ...100s of them ...dancing in each raindrop that I count...

It's very easy to wait and hope for good things to happen when it 's raining..

That's why I love rain so much....


Athira

Friday, June 11, 2010

Just Words....

Life is moving very fast...days flips like pages...
Sometimes I feel that I have left so many pages blank ...in my diary too...I know..that's life..We can't make everyday a part of our memory just like the people we see around ..only very few remain...

It's raining outside....Here in Bangalore ,rain is a mess...making dirty pools and traffic jams...Making everyone grumble as the sky darkens...still i love it...