Humpi Through my Camera

Carved Pillar

Balancing Sister Rocks

Beautiful carving on Black Stone

Bangle Pattern

Pushkarni

Humpi Famous Chariot

Rock Formation Found Everywhere

Rocks & Rocks

Balancing Rocks

Sunset at Humpi 2011- Dawn of New Year-2012

                  WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR.

                                    

                                   

                                  

       
                                        

                               (Photos taken by me during visit to Humpi this year end, Karnataka)

Another Towering Inferno

The devastating fire at the AMRI hospital in Calcutta where more than 90 people have perished once again raises a basic question -Why are we not prepared to handle such calamity where many precious lives were lost in panic and suffocation. There was utter chaos and people inside the building had absolutely no clue to save their own lives. People were running halter shelter to find a way out.Windows & doors were closed. None of the supporting staff had any idea about the emergency exits. Probably they  were also not aware of the water spots, fire safety valves and staircase exits. Doctors & staff were reported to have fled.The worst part was still to come when the fire brigades arrived 2 hours late.They had no high raised ladders to reach out to the people.

For some time now, there would be review of the causes of the fire and about the violation of rules and regulations by the competent authorities. Then the blame game would start to reach a point of no return. The local authority, Hospital management  and the Fire department would put the blame on each other as well as the builder, builder would abscond, common men would be writing ‘letters to the editor’ and finally the life would return to normalcy as if nothing has happened. In Delhi, the ‘Uphar Cinema’ fire case is still struggling to come to a final shape in court even after a decade.The devastating fire at the Carlton towers in Bangalore can not be easily forgotten.

According to the National Building code of India, high rise buildings need to have open space around the building, a proper and continuous pathway to safety as well as should have roof exits in a place which can be accessed from the ground but nothing existed in this case. There seems be no annual inspections of the building either by the fire department or by the emergency services officials. There is urgent need to sensitize the occupant of such high rise buildings to handle such kind of crises. They all should know the emergency exits and working condition of fire fighting equipments. Most of the shops and offices in such building do not feel the necessity of having their own safety measures putting the onus on the builder and owners.

In fact each and every person working in such place ought to know about the topography of the building and security and safety measures. Each establishment should conduct its own ‘mock drill’ at least once a year to ascertain the preparedness of each one. The security and watch & ward staff should be given training to handle fire fighting equipment. It should be ensured that all such equipments are in working condition, refills are not expired and there are adequate water outlets available inside or outside the building. It’s high time that builders must understand that even at the cost of building violations, lives of people working in their building are not jeopardized,   basements are not used for commercial purpose and enough space is left all around the building for the ambulances/fire brigades to enter the building in case of such  misshape.

Random Thoughts

The country is in turmoil. One after another VIP or Minister is going on a trip to jail for a while. Sukhram & Raja are now sharing the same cell in jail to discuss the fallout of telecom matter while the mining baron Reddy brothers & co have a rethink about their offerings to lord Balaji at Tirupati, a diamond studded crown costing several crores  was of any use or benefit? .  Newer and newer scandals are being unearthed.  While people of Andhra Pradesh are struggling to divide the state in to two, Madam Mayawati has taken the lead to divide U.P. in to four at a stroke of pen. Other states will follow with more division. 

This session of popular TV programme  ‘Kaun Banega crorepati’ made many poor  and common man from the street lakhpati and crorepati. So far so good but one wonders , how come in a random selection process not a single rich or senior person  could make up to the fastest finger seat , forget about the prestigious hot seat. Smelling fishy? And what on earth, Swamy Agnivesh doing in Big Boss house for a TV reality show? Poor fellow could not get a better platform for preaching

Baba Ramdeo’s crusade against the corruption and Swiss bank accounts proved to be a big fiasco, while Hazare is going strong despite reported cracks in his team. He is now demanding to pass the bill for ‘Right to recall’ any elected representative. Government is not relenting, rightly so because there are every chance of misuse the ‘right ‘, given the number of political parties and their dirty politics to drag the feet of opponent to gain power. Ultimately the governance will suffer and so also the electoral. In fact Hazare should demand for ‘health certificate’ from all the contesting candidates. Those contesting the election and those governing the country or states must be healthy all the time to steer the country or state from mess it is in. Unfortunately, what is happening with these people is ‘Chest pain’! The moment a CBI enquiry or arrest warrant issued against these politicians, they straight away head for pre- arranged hospital with chest pain or hypertension. Just like yearly appraisal, these politicians must under go medical tests.

Now, MPs belonging to NDA will submit a declaration in parliament stating that they have no foreign accounts. It’s a good initiative with a shrewd move to embrace the government. If really the intention is clean, they should also declare that they have, neither hoarded unaccounted money in Indian Bank lockers nor have any Benami accounts in India. During Emergency days, a slogan was coined ‘India is Indira, Indira is India’. Now looking to the frequent and exclusive visits by Rahul Gandhi to UP makes one think if ‘UP is India & India is UP’!

Politics is a BIG game in our country and each one from ruling party to opposition party,   spiritual leaders to sport players, Kamble’s revelation not withstanding, knows how to play their card at the appropriate time. Relevance of ‘United we stand, divided we fall’ is now out and ‘Divided we stand, united we make a mess’ is in thing. That’s where we Indians stand, in a big mess!

Traffic Management in Emergency

Have you ever observed that in the midst of traffic, whenever siren sound of an ambulance or fire brigade is heard, the first reaction from the public as well as the traffic police will be to look towards the approaching ambulance in amusement to find how far is it from them and how the vehicle is approaching. In this melee, the traffic becomes chaotic making it more difficult for the ambulance or the fire brigade to move forward. It takes some time for the moving traffic to come to a halt and give way to the ambulance. Even in such a situation, there would be some two-wheeler or vehicle driver wanting to go ahead of every one without bothering! The worst part is when the constable managing the traffic themselves becomes the onlooker to the scene. They will be just watching as to how the ambulance driver is able to negotiate and move ahead of the surging traffic jam!

Often the ambulances get stuck at the traffic signals where all other vehicles try to squeeze in to all the available space so as to move ahead as soon as the signal turns green. Unlike western countries, Indian cities can not think of having separate lanes for emergency purpose because the roads are not broad enough. Its time for the traffic experts, police and the transport authorities to evolve a clear cut guideline as to what is the correct procedure to be followed by the traffic constable, public and the drivers of ambulance/fire brigade as the case may be. In absence of any specific guidelines the drivers of ambulance tend to steer the vehicle from whichever side they find it convenient. Other vehicles while giving way move here and there creating more chaos than facilitate.

The need of the hour is to understand the gravity of such an emergent situation by every body. People should immediately act on hearing the siren instead of looking here and there in bewilderment. All vehicles must immediately be brought to the left side leaving the right side absolutely free for the un-obstructive passage of ambulance. The role of traffic constable should be well defined to bring all the vehicular traffic to a halt on to the left side on hearing any siren sound from approaching vehicle. They should ensure that no body (including VIP vehicle) is allowed to go ahead overtaking others until the ambulance passes.

‘Golden hour’ is the key to one’s life and instead of becoming a mere onlooker, let us be pro-active at the first sound of siren on road from an ambulance, fire brigade or even a police van/jeep (provided the last one is not carrying family of police personal to a school, mall or a film show!).

Security beefed up!

Come Independence/Republic day, all states are put on high alert and states are asked to beef up the security. Security is also beefed up whenever there is bomb blast anywhere in the country.  At least that is what our Prime Minister or Home Minister tells the media after the incidence. Otherwise, the security is also beefed up if any VIP or their siblings visit any town to inaugurate a barber shop!

It can be observed that so called security is beefed up at places of importance, bus stand, railway stations, airports, cinema hall and malls for just a day or two and thereafter life is back to normal as if the threat is over for ever.

Look at the security measures, so called beefed up- Rickety and sometimes non functional metal detectors are installed at the entrance of railway stations with one or no security guard to monitor any beep. In smaller town, the security guard will have just a stick in his hand, no gun. Anyone wanting to avoid the metal detector can easily enter the platform from the vast open railway track from both side of the platform where there would be no one to check. At multiplexes and Malls, even if two security guards are made to stand at the entrance, what if one enters from the basement/car parking lot via lift! No check point for lift users. The security guard at the temple can easily be tricked if ‘Prasadam’ is offered to him. . At some places, one can get away with security guards if start conversation in chaste English with him. He would be ‘dumb stuck’ and one can get on with his work.

Yes, security is really tightened at the residences of our politician in the name of ‘threat to their life’ but the same threat does not apply to common man on the street, those travelling in local trains or buses, hence no security. Unfortunately, what is lacking is Vigilance. This is a key word for security. Vigilance should not only by the Government but also, WE THE PEOPLE. All shops, market places, historical places , educational institutions, air, railway/bus stations prone to any kind of attacks (not only terrorist attack but local communal/ political  attacks also) must be covered with high resolution 24x7 , 365 days functional CCTv to monitor movement  for taking timely action. In fact, vehicles are not checked at all, the security check at all the toll gates on national highways in the country must be made stringent round the year.

Need of the hour is to be aware, be informed and be vigilant, security beefed up or not! Happy & safe Independence day.

Independence from Corruption?

Is it not a nation’s shame a Chief Minister from South shamelessly refused to step down despite corruption charges and 'dikat' from his party command to step down , two of the high ranking union ministers had to be reprimanded by their high command to vacate the five star hotels where they were staying for 100 days and to shift to government bungalows as an austerity measures in view of the time country is reeling under economic recession and drought like situation. While one minister clarifies that he is footing the bill from his pocket, the other one is diplomatically telling that he has made his own ‘private arrangement’. Now it is for him to clarify what does this private arrangement means? Definitely it does not mean ‘from one’s own pocket’.

 But the question is why in the first place these learned ministers and Member of Parliament needs directions time and again from higher ups to behave or to project simplicity? In fact, nowadays High Courts & Supreme Court is stepping in to give directions to the civic authorities and the governments to act in a particular fashion.Why do such people need directions and support all the time when there is a drought or panic situations. Does this mean that during other times, one is free to display and live with extravagances? 

Than, there is a news about two ex- Jharkhand cabinet ministers (during 2006-08) who are now in judicial custody having non taxable income on paper but have business concerns, mines, real estate companies and hotels in Singapore, Dubai, Indonesia and Thailand. Others involved like Kalmadi, Raja are cooling their heels in jail.Other kind of politicians includes local corporators who keep going on foreign jaunts to Singapore, Dubai or China on so called Study tours at the tax payer’s expenses. Each one of them wants to make their city or town to be model city like Singapore or Dubai but ends up with a fat bank balance of their own in India or abroad.

 A large number of Government servants (aptly called Babus) have fallen in to the trap of ‘Lokayukta’ for corrupt practices and for having assets beyond their means but all these disclosures have remained headlines of newspapers but nothing has moved beyond. Not a single babu appears to have been punished or jailed till now. Oh yes, these babus and politicians when caught pretend to get chest pain and get themselves admitted to a hospital! The common man is just left behind to fend with high voltage political jargons like ‘Garibi Hatao’, ‘India Shining’ or ‘Aam Admi ke liye’ etc etc. The age old funda ‘Simple living, high thinking’ is no more valid. There is no place for any ‘Introspection’ for them anywhere, whether you live or die! 

Can we expect a corruption free nation on this Independence day?