Monday, June 25, 2012

Borewell Shame

The father of the 4 year old girl said she cried for help for two hours after falling in. Authorities, however, claim that she would have died due to lack of oxygen, half an hour after falling in. She would have, they claim, cried and used up all the oxygen. Stupid kid! Didn't she know that if you fall into a borewell, you have to conserve oxygen, energy and optimism?

80 hours - that's how long the parents had to wait to confirm that their daughter was dead. To confirm that the child who had just celebrated her fourth birthday, would not be celebrating her fifth. And the authorities are, in the meanwhile trying to establish time of death so that they are not questioned on their one-and-half hour delay in reaching the spot of the accident. Or the fact that after having spent billions on their 'Emergency Preparedness' trainings abroad, they were not equipped with the most basic of amenities to save life - oxygen!

Mahi, all of four, paid the price of lethargy and apathy of 'grown ups' - with her life. Were the parents to blame for overlooking such a hazard in their backyard? Or the authorities who turned up, UNPREPARED, a whole hour and a half later? Or the landlord, who dug the illegal borewell in the first place, or the people who removed the cover to the borewell, saying it 'obstructed' a vehicle? Or yet, the whole nation, for holding the value of human life at pittance?

Mahi - age 4

Yes, my blood boils today, as do many others'. Yes, I will forget all about Mahi, and her little body stuck in a borewell tube. As will you, as will everybody who hung around the TVs or the accident site, waiting to know what will happen next. Till the next incident will remind us, that since 2007, borewells have created nightmares for 9 children and their families, of which only 3 live to tell the tale.

21 comments:

  1. It is really sad indeed..
    God knows when the authorities responsible will become serious..it is really shameful.

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    1. And it has happened 11 times in the near future - we never learn!

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    2. Within a couple of days after this day, 2 other children died in similar conditions.

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  2. Really very sad.... what's worse is that apathy of the authorities and the people.... such an incident is hyped up for a few days, and then everything is forgotten till the next time it happens.

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  3. This is the country that wants to send man into space... could not go 30 feet below ground. Could not come on time for a small girl.. after all, its just a single life in a country of billions rt.
    The fact is this nation is years, literally years, away from being prepared for the safety of its fellow people. There is no safety from fires, from borewells, from random terror strikes...

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    1. Doc, what can you expect in an age and a mindset where we love things and use people? Human life has such low value, it is really scary!! A high end car would have recieved more attention that this little kid!!

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  4. It's even worse when you know that it could have been totally avoided.

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    1. @Abhishek.... absolutely - it the carelessness of it all that makes one cringe! Thank you for coming by.

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  5. Really sad state of affairs.. there's so much that needs to be done in this country and unfortunately, nobody's even starting.. really, really sad with the knowledge that even Mahi will soon just end up as another statistic n nothin more....

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    1. That is the really scary part RAJ - that a life becomes a statistic so easily here!!

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  6. It was indeed a sad affair. All freak accidents are. :(

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    1. Sumitra, a freak accident doesn't repeat itself 11 times over a couple of years!! This is blatant negligence!! We just don't care enough for human lives!

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  7. such a sad incident .. THIS IS WHAT makes me MAD at people who harp on shining india, I mean we cant save a baby , the basic things we cant provide and we are harping of advancements , what good are those advancements ..

    I wish someone is brought to the book and tried for murder of the little baby

    Bikram's

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    1. Absolutely! On the one hand we have such display of wealth and power that it makes us cringe, and on the other hand, we can't provide basic safety to the children of the country.

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  8. Clearly no lessons have been learnt. In just two weeks after Baby Mahi's tragic death, the country saw five more cases of children falling into open borewells. The India shinning is definitely a hoax.

    http://siahwrites.blogspot.in/

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    1. Welcome to the blog, Siah. The India shining holds true only for the small minority of people who can buy out all the benefits money can buy!! Thanks for commenting on this.

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    1. Thank you for coming byh Ghazala .... it is indeed - and the sad part is, we know its not going to end here.

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  10. Sad and a shame for a country which is among the great developing countries around the world.

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