Saturday, January 19, 2008


This simply had to be on my blog..
taken from nachiketa, a colleague from my last work place..

Monday, January 14, 2008

Kolkata Fire
Test of laws of physics and civil Engineering

Well the fire in this part of Kolkata has been on for 2 days now... It's sad and funny at the same time. Sad coz obviously it is a bad thing. and funny coz a government cannot control a fire in a building??? (laugh out loud). Well as I write this, the fire is still gazing on, guzzling the stuff that comes in way, while inept firemen and government and 'call for centre's help' (laugh out loud again, but this time, followed by another loud sound of anguish)

Cities like Kolkata,Delhi (at least Old Delhi, trans Yamuna), Mumbai (I guess Chawri bazaar etc) have seen the absence of government responsibility and civil callousness for such a long time that the only thing thats holding the city together are the basic laws of physics and civil engineering. And when the buildings held together by just them are exposed to even slightest of dangers( like this fire) they just explode out of proportion, accounting for losses of around 200 crores (and counting) in this case..


Looking at this incident from a management's perspective, I can only compare it to the other places (right now only US). In order to make a place safe and working, we not only need technology, which is anyway a small part of the picture, but also a set of processes which are then conveyed by the enforcement agencies to the participating public, and then implemented religiously. A huge population and sub standard bureaucracy just adds to the flavour of the problem...

So how could this be prevented? I guess it has to start with the people who know about this problem, actually making noise about it. And then spread the word just like this fire... Maybe by telling everyone to teach everyone about sane practices to follow in their buildings and then asking ur friends and foes(yes them too) to vote while keeping these factors in mind..

utopian? well to quote Rang De Basanti: 'Koi bhi desh perfect nahin hota.. usey perfect banana padta hai'.