The Super Cyclone of 1999

 Touched by Bay Of Bengal on its Eastern frontier, Odisha, my state back home in India is prone to Cyclones (counterpart of Hurricanes in North America). The cyclones come churning their way through Indian Ocean before making landfall anywhere on India's vast East Coromondel Coast.

It took my memory back on this day to the month of October, 1999 exactly 26 years ago when arguably the worst cyclone of my lifetime hit Odisha in the form of Category 4-5 winds more than 150 miles per hour (250 kmph) knocking down trees, houses, killing humans and livestocks in several thousands. 

Caught napping and pants down, the inept and corrupt administration in Odisha was unprepared for such an eventuality. It was completely caught by surprise, like a fox in front of searchlight - stunned, stoned and clueless. By the time the hapless authorities could recover and gather strength and resources to launch some semblance of relief and rescue operation, the damage was already done in terms of life, property and reputation.

On that day in America, I was travelling on a new Consulting assignment to the state of Arkansas and just arrived at my hotel when my sister called from Chicago and blasted me in one breath conveying the bad news from home. I rang up my father in Bhubaneswar expecting my call not to go through. It was a pleasant surprised to hear his voice at the other end, as our home phone was back working less than 24 hours after the storm. I was glad my folks were safe and sound, sans couple of fallen Papaya trees in our backyard and lot of coconut branches strewn on the ground.

There was no smartphone or Wifi those days. Face and book were two separate words - juxtaposing them into one entity was strictly fantasy. My hotel lobby had a few computers where I promptly logged into internet via now defunct AOL (America Online). There was a handful of Odia websites those days, but they were yet to carry any news of damage. Probably they were not in a position to carry the news due to the power outage. Only a few web editions of national newspapers provided some glimpse of the horrendous loss of life and property.

The picture got clearer couple of days later as the weather cleared up. National media carried clear pictures of bloated corpses of humans and livestock floating in swamps created by the receding sea water, insects and flies swarming around. Stuck in the debris, there were no dogs, only jackals, crows or vultures left to feed on them corpses. The sight was gross and ghastly, still etched in my memory.

It was rumored that Giridhari Gomango, the Chief Minister of Odisha (equivalent of a Governor in US) at that time ignored the warning about Cyclone based on the advice of his personal Astrologers who sooth-sayed him with confidence not to worry, as the the Cyclone would skip his state. But Odisha took the brunt of the Super Cyclone hitting the heart of Odisha with full force. Gomango took the full brunt of widespread criticism on the aftermath of the great devastation and was subseqently forced out of his job. 

For the cunning, powerful and disgruntled Congress leader JB Patnaik, the man Gomango replaced not long ago the incident was manna dew, an opportunity to score a political goal. He reportedly played some deliberate politics to accentuate Gomango's removal. Previously in power for 14 years he activated his widespread contacts and sleeper cells inside the all pervading Bureaucracy calling shots in Odisha to indulge in tardy distribution of the relief materials, causing further damage to the reputation of the CM Gomango who was soon was unceremoniously removed. 

Since then things have changed a lot over the last quarter of a century. Lessons were learnt from the mistake of 1999. The subsequent administrations led by the then Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have done a commendable job in disaster management. In meantime technology grew in leaps and bound. Modern day satellites are able to accurately predict and track the path of Cyclones. Time being the essence, prior anticipation and tracking of this behemoth single eyed monster has led to evacuation of public en masse, drastically reducing the casualty. When the ferocious Fani hit the Odisha shore in 2019, nearly a million were evacuated to Cyclone shelters. Though damages to property was extensive but valuable human lives were saved.

What hasn't changed is the corruption in the post cyclone relief distribution which may have gone from bad to worse. As my friend, young man Pravat Pruseth questioned - ୧୯୯୯ ମହାବାତ୍ୟାରେ ଆମେରିକା ସରକାର ପଠେଇ ଥିବା ପାଞ୍ଚ ହଜାର ଟଙ୍କା ମୂଲ୍ଯର ଗୋଟିଏ ଗୋଟିଏ କମ୍ବଳ ଫାଇଭ ଷ୍ଟାର ହୋଟେଲ ଗୁଡିକରେ ପହଞ୍ଚିଲା କେମିତି ? (How come blankets sent by the US government during super Cyclone 1999 manage to reach the 5 Star Hotels) ? There were talks of some of the high quality tarpolenes from America to act as shelter cover of the storm affected public ended up covering the cars of the BADA BADIA (Big Shots) in Bhubaneswar. The relief somehow manages to reach the greedy, not the needy. 

In this context, it is not unusual for another Cyclone named Manthan just hit Southern part of Odisha, now that it is the peak hurricane season in Bay of Bengal. But it wasn't too bad, more like a walk in the park considering a lot of guardrails and safety measures already in place. 

Apart from the ubiquitous improvement in preparedness the following factors have helped in facing the Cyclone menace over the years.

1. Because of the advance technology and satellite imagery the authorities are informed well in advance to plan evacuations ahead of time.

2. Due to improvement in economy, number of concrete houses have gone up to replaced the predominantly thatched, mud hits in villages. Concrete houses can withstand strongest of the stronger wind.

3. Number of media, social or otherwise has gone up. Though they have gone hyperactive for their own TRP and other benefits, they indirectly act as an antidote to complacency, keeping the authorities and the public on their toe which as a benefit in disguise. Alertness helps. Alwaya better be safe than sorry. 

RIP Satish Sah

 My first introduction to Television was on November 19, 1982 when I saw the electronic device for the first time in my life in my 9th Grade (Class IX as it was called those days). The occasion was inauguration of Asiad 82, the Asian Games held in India's capital New Delhi. In my alma mater D.M. School in Bhubaneswar a new color Television of brand Konark TV was installed in the school library. The afternoon classes were suspended and the school bus supposed to carry us back home was delayed to enable the students to take a glimpse of the inauguration ceremony.

During the first ever transmission of the TV in Bhubaneswar in form of the Asian Games we were glued to a new gadget called Television which neither we nor any one from our 14 generations ever saw with our eyes, ears and mouth wide open. The telecast was hazy with frequent loss of signal with "Appu", the baby elephant mascot of the Games stepping forward holding a placard proudly proclaiming "RUKAWAT KE LIYE KHED HAI" (Sorry for the interruption). We, spellbound students clapped with enthusiasm as Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India who would be assassinated less than couple of years later inaguated the games. But more clapping was reserved for the actor Amitabh Bachchan, the one man Bollywood industry of the time. No sooner the camera captured him live than the entire library erupted with excitement as we saw our favorite star live in any form outside movie theatres for the first time in our lives.

I sneaked in our neighborhoods to watch cricket matches and "Chitrahaar", a collection of Hindi songs from Bollywood movie industry until couple of months later my dad bought us a Black and White "Rohini Delux" TV with an an extra feature of blue screen attached to make the images look spicier. As the sky cleared in month of March, 1983 and starry, windy nights adored the crispy dark skies of Bhubaneswar, I tuned on to faraway Dhaka TV which aired the latest American movies. The experience was unreal. However I missed the color transmission. My dad could have easily afforded a Color TV at that time, but our plea for one fell into his deaf years. He summarily dismissed my request with a sarcastic tone - "Will you see two Amitabh Bachchans or two Kapil Devs on Color TV" ? Focus on your academics. Many those days believed that youngsters would become a "CHHATARA" (Girl chasing vagabond) or a "BAZAARI" (Free roaming loafer) with exposure to Television. A few from our generation eventually became CHHATARA or BAZAARI, but TV had nothing to do with it.

My father hardly watched any TV as most evenings he was busy tutoring students Physics at our home. But his great sense of humor made him to take breaks from tutoring students to watch comedian Satish Sah in the TV serial "YEH JO HAI ZINDAGI" which aired on Prime Time twice a weak. It was an outstanding family oriented comedy soap opera series directed perfectly towards the middle class milieu with Satish Sah being the central character who would make you laugh till your stomach hurt. Next day in college we talked a lot about the actor, some of us trying to recollect his dialogs trying to emulate him. Those were the days of limited entertainment sans internet and social media, when color TV used to be luxury.

Satish Saha soon moved to Bollywood, but never could replicate his fame on TV. He passed away today at the age of 74 after battling kidney ailments. RIP the first Comedian on TV who left his indelible mark in me. Om 🕉 Shanti.

The Birthday of United Nations

 Today is the Birthday of United Nations, arguably the world's biggest, bloated bureaucracy which houses a bunch of nincompoom entitlement seekers, famous for their lack of efficiency and accountability. A spineless organization which goes by acronym UN, it has more failures than success on its Balance Sheet ever since its inception post World War II in 1945. 

A sizable amount of its maintenance is born by the American Taxpayers. It's now high time to dissolve and dismantle this junk body, or the United States kicks them out of their own soil. What a blatant waste of prime real estate properties in New York and Washington DC which can be used for far better purpose as UN hardly serves any purpose.

The member nations in United Nations in contrary to the name suggests are hardly united. In spite of tons of money poured into them (mostly American) many poor nations still remain poor, languishing in poverty. Those who have succeeded in moving tens of millions out of poverty (notably China and India), have done so by helping themselves and with some help from private charitable agenies, rather than taking anything remotely from the United Nations.

Not ago Saudi Arabia headed the UN council of Human Rights. Amongst other members is China, another Champion of human rights violation .completing the league of distinguished gentlemen of the so called protectors of Human rights. Its Security Council is used as personal fiefdom of its veto wielding members to further their own selfish agenda. It has hardly achieved any world peace and stability, which was supposed to be the primary goal when the organization was formed 80 years ago.

In June, 1981 following the Israeli strike on the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor on the outskirts of Baghdad, US promptly vetoed any UN resolution to chastise Israel. I still vividly remember this cartoon by R K Laxman on the front page of India's prominent newspaper of the time, The Times Of India, where the UN Secretary General was telling the recalcitrant, mockingly grimacing Israeli PM - "The more you launch such an attack, you will be condemned more severely". It still does the same.

44 years down the road not much has changed. Not long ago Philippines threatens to come out of UN, a trend would be set for more nations to come out of this behemoth global Babudom (bureaucracy). Hopefully it is the harbinger of the demise of this monolithic structure, the sooner the better. Why stick to an institute which after scores of years of existence has far more failures than achievements to its credit ? In my opinion completely getting rid of it is not going to hurt anything. A world without UN will be more or less the same - sans billions of wasted dollars.

Happy Diwali 2025

 It is interesting to note that Halloween in the United States and Diwali, the Festival of Lights in India come around the same time in year. This year it's unique, for both Diwali and Halloween happen to be 10 days apart but there have been occasions they fall on the same day. Both occasions involve respecting the dead in their respective ways. However, there is a difference. Diwali indicates the culmination of the festival season in India, whereas Halloween is the harbinger of the festive season in America, with Thanksgiving, Christmas holidays to follow towards the end of November and December. Halloween is nvariably on October 31 every year as Westerners follow the Gregorian Calendar. The date of Diwali which follows the Hindu Lunar Calendar falls on a New Moon Day, comes very close its American counterpart of Halloween every year.

In Odisha we call it DEEPABALI, but the genX in the state has already switched to the more fancied, eye catching "Diwaali". Traditionally earthen lamps are lit and KAUNRI KATHI (a thin, white capillary stick which is empty inside) is burnt to wish salvation to the departed souls. The culture of incessant bursting of loud, noisy crackers (fireworks) is an outside import along with the fireworks manufactured in Sivalakshi, Tamil Nadu or imported from China these days. This cultural deviation commenced as an urban phenomenon in Odisha, now well permeated into its villages.

Though an important festival in Odisha, unlike Diwali which is arguably the major festival in India, especially in the North and West, Deepabali is more like just another festival, because the preceding Durga Puja and Raja festival during the early monsoon steal more limelight. But invasion of North Indian culture along with Hindi when sister now a days is preferred to be addressed as a "Didi" rather than a "Naani or Apaa", thanks to the all pervading Ekta Kapoor's TV serials, Deepabali is slowly paving it's way to Diwaali in Odisha.

Not sure if many remember the traditional Odia way of celebrating Deepabali is to invite the deceased forefathers with shouting at their top of their voice - 

"ବଡ଼ ବଡ଼ୁଆ ହୋ ! ଅନ୍ଧାରରେ ଆସି ଆଲୁଅରେ ଯାଅ । ଗଙ୍ଗା ଯାଅ, ଗୟା ଯାଅ, କାଶୀ ଯାଅ, ପୁରୁଷୋତ୍ତମରେ ମହାପ୍ରସାଦ ଖାଇ ବାଇଶି ପାହାଚେ ଗଡ଼ଗଡ଼ଉ ଥାଅ ।" 

Roughly transliterated...
O' our beloved departed Souls, 
Come in the dark but depart in light.
Travel to Ganga, Gaya and Kashi,
After eating the sacred offerings in Puri,
Roll over the 22 steps of Lord's abode).

The new moon night symbolizes arrival of the departed souls in darkness. By lighting lamps we invite them to lighten up with festivities and leave the pervading darkness behind. Our Odia legends Fakir Mohan Senapati, Madhu Babu, Gourishankar Ray, the Pandit duo Gopabandhu and Nilakantha Das et all who worked tirelessly to secure the Odia language must be groping in the dark, shedding tears to see their mother tongue getting ravaged by cultural onslaught from the North. Let's light a few lamps to the salvation of our forgotten heroes and enlighten the GenX.

On the other hand Halloween is a custom of the Western world, much prevalent in America who succinctly protect this tradition from dilution by drivels in any form of outside influence. Homes and front yards are decorated for Ghosts and Ghouls. Kids and adults alike wear fancy and funny outfits, especially the former roam outdoor from door to door asking for "Trick or Treat".

More often the "Treat" of candies is provided to the kids, rather than any "Trick" by the homeowners. Once I tried my own trick to impress a bunch of kids doing a Ghost dance, shaking my 6 packs of fat, which ultimately made the kids flee for their lives. That was the best ghoulish trick they probably ever got.
Since then I have stuck to treating them with Candies. An estimated $10 billion worth of candy is consumed in America during the Halloween. A lot of it wasted, going down the drain, eaten by teeth bacteria and ending up benefiting the Dentists.

Happy "ଦିପାବଳୀ ଶୁଭେଚ୍ଛା, Dipabali, Diwaali" to my friends and family. Stay safe and enjoy the occasion.

Swatchh Bharat mission

 Long overdue, long time ago during the beginning of Indian Prime minister Modi Jee's first tenure, his campaign for cleanliness touched a chord in me. I was so glad that he put some emphasis into something close to my heart. It's another matter like most of his promises made, his endeavor for cleanliness mostly remained in photo ups and optics for public consumption for political purpose than anything substantial came out of his "Swatchha Bharat" (Clean India) movement.

No offence, our metros and other major cities have become giant toilets. Years ago, on a Diwali morning I was on bank of Bindusagar, a shallow pond of historic importance in the vicinity of Lingaraj temple in my city back home Bhubaneswar. It was in the early 1990s when the arteries of Odisha's capital city weren't clogged and no bypass was needed around Bindusagar. The occasion was the SHRADDHA (a ritual for the departed souls) of my grandmother.

No sooner than I entered into ankle deep water of the cesspool I was petrified by a putrid stench emanating from close by. Floating a few feet away I noticed a bloated carcass of a dog. An urchin threw a stone which went straight inside the corpse sending out further ripples of stench which disturbed the flies swarming over it, diverting them towards me. I was on the verge of throwing up feeling the tingling, bitter taste of vomit erupting inside mouth, frantically swatting away the murmuring flies off, ran upwards, jumping through the steps of the haphazardly arranged sedimentary rocks.

Most of us would have encountered similar situations in their lives. We (including me) have a tendency to blame the government on anything and everything but here is a classic example where commoners are responsible for their own actions. Back home on the street across our home in Old Town area of Bhubaneswar, the local authorities have built a nice, slightly slanted PUCCA (metallic) road designed for the drainage of the storm water into the nearby drain which gets chocked on regular basis. The water maint to be drained gets spilled over surrounding street creating stinky, dirty cesspools serving as a great hatchery for mosquitoes. Atop our balcony I could see a guy wearing BMC (Bhubaneswar Municipality Corporation in charge of sanitation) jacket scooping out trash from the clogged drain. Out of curiosity I took a closer look to find grain sacks, plastics (locally called polythene) bags, used sanitary napkins and all kinds of stuff which are not bio-degradable. There is only so much government can do unless folks from our upper middle class locality don't develop civic sense.

A while back it was reported that an Air India flight to Frankfurt had to return to Delhi after few hours of flying because of clogged toilets. Reason cited, the passengers flushing things down like blankets and other stuff which they should not. Perhaps some passengers mistook the toilet for washing machine. Or may be it's time to force passengers to use LOTA (mug) instead of toilet papers. Air India has its own lacunae but teaching passengers civic sense is not its job. Can't blame the poor for messing things around when our passengers travelling in airlines behave this way.

Years ago I traveled extensively inside several Caribbean island countries. Though there were visible signs of poverty, but the neighborhoods were maintained squicky clean. I didn't see a single person urinating or squatting by roadside. No betel stained corners or romantic graffiti on walls -"Harry loves Sally". No nostril raising stench. Jamaica may not be Japan, but was neat, clean and orderly. Years back in 1969 in US there were reports of Cuyahoga River catching fire for people to take notice of a major problem in pollution in their waterways. This incident prompted Clean Water Act and now the American rivers, lakes and streams are far better. For us this had been something long overdue. If we can do a Mangalayan and be the 4th largest GDP on earth, why can't benefit earth by keeping our neighborhoods clean ? No rocket science, it's high time to send all our dirty past into dustbins of history.

Taliban foreign minister in India

Though I am quite  progressive in nature and philosophy, one thing I don't like about the liberals about their lack of understanding of common sense and pragmatism. No wonder it is said that the thing about common sense is it isn't so common. Same goes with the extreme left or woke section of the liberals who are champions at shooting on their own feet.

The most recent example is a section of media in India whining about India hosting the foreign minister of Taliban led Afghanistan and the fact that no women journalist were invited at press conference of the Afghan foreign minister. Their complaint - as Taliban is anti woman, the Indian establishment didn't want to hurt their guest's sentiments by allowing a woman at the press conference.

I am all for women's rights and don't condone the brutal atrocities shown to the fairer sex in Afghanistan. America went into their country, foolishly tried to establish democracy and failed miserably in its mission. Teaching democracy in that part of the world is akin to our Odia saying - "SANDHA KU BHAGAVAT PADHAIBA" (teaching Bible to a Bull could be counterproductive). We are now seeing the results.

But with an unfriendly and volatile neighborhood with most gunning against it, India has no option but to befriend the land Afghanistan purely due to strategic reasons. Nothing wrong with that. We say in Odia - "SRI KRISHNA DINE GADHA PADA DHARI THILE", "Even Lord Krishna bent to touch a donkey's feet, humiliating himself in order to get his work done". Similarly India desperately needs Afghanistan on its side as the land locked nation which practices an extreme brand of Islam is located at a very sensitive region where all major global powers are pitted against each other.

It needs to be noted that in geopolitics there is no permanent friend or enemy where permanent interest thrives. Every country worth its salt practises the same to protect its self interest. Examples are aplenty. Historically Americans preach democracy but have no qualms about dealing with sundry dictators from Shah of Iran, Marcos of Philippines, Several military dictators Zia, Musharaf et all of Pakistan. For India its nothing new either. It has a history of dealing with Saudi Arab, Iran, China and the military junta of Myanmar, all champion human rights violators.

Countries practice their foreign policy taking the cultural and religious sensitivity of the other party into consideration. Indian deligates who are mostly Hindu aren't served any beef dish. The ones from Islamic nations aren't served pork or wine. The Americans in Saudi Arabia celebrate Christmas, considered unislamic in a ship off the coast of the Kingdom. Examples galore.

In this context nothing wrong with India hosting the Taliban foreign minister from Afghanistan if its suits the former's national interest. In this context, if not having a woman journalist in a press conference serves long term national goal, it's fine. It may be hypocrisy, but worldly wise. 

Happy birthday JP

 Jayaprakash Narayan is amongst the numerous great persons born in the month of October (incidentally he died in the same month also) and one of our much forgotten heroes. For me, he is synonymous with his opposition to the historic, draconian  Emergency imposed in June, 1975 and his role in the Lok Sabha (Parliament) elections that followed in March 1977, when Indira Gandhi who had imposed emergency called it off and announced fresh election only to be drowned by the Janata (Party) Tsunami.

As a 8 year old, I have little memory of the Emergency, but still remembering the headlines on newspaper The Times of India "JP WAVE UNABATED" (used to be delivered in Bhubaneswar by flights from Delhi in the evening). Jayaprakash Narayan fondly addressed as JP and LOK NAYAK (Leader Of The People) was creating waves across North India which wiped away the entire Congress from the cow belt. His slogan "SINGHASAN KHALI KARO, KI JANATA A RAHI HAI (Relinquish power, as Janata Juggernaut is on its way) caught the imagination of the masses in North India where the Congress Party was literally wiped out. (Though North India punished Indira Gandhi for Emergency, South India solidly stood behind her as she swept the Southern states).

I remember my father and uncle clinging to the radio to get the latest election results from BBC whom the public those days trusted it more for authentic news as AIR (All India radio) was the government's propaganda mouthpiece (Have things changed much these days) ? Late in the night came the news of Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay's defeat followed by spontaneous celebrations on streets.

Indira Gandhi was defeated by Raj Narain, a political buffoon of the time and her son Sanjay by a local duffer goon. I remember fireworks going up lighting the sky and celebrations near SOOCHANA BHAWAN (Information center) in Bhubaneswar, only source of latest news those days, when internet, social media and for the most TV was strictly fantasy.

Delhi also didn't sleep that night when its denizens went on a frenzied celebration spree. I still remember the pictures next day of folks in bell bottom pants and long sideburns dancing on streets of our capital city flashed on Newspapers.

The man who sowed the seeds of the first anti-Congress government at the center with his concept of "Total Revolution" and united different political factions from socialist left to Right Wing under a single umbrella called Janata Party, is now India's a much forgotten and neglected hero. Khushwant Singh who interacted with many Who's & Who's during his long life span, mentioned JP as the top 5 personalities he admired -  "this man was so powerful and charismatic, yet so down to earth that though an extremely busy person he would give an audience and a patient hearing to everyone, big or small who visited him". 

Without him, Indira Gandhi could have defeated the fragmented opposition (she in fact swept the South and portions of Gujarat and Maharashtra who stood solidly with her despite the Emergeny) and possibly christened herself as the Queen of India and her son Sanjay as the Crown Prince. Thanks mostly to JP,  it didn't happen and democracy survived in India. Indira was to be taught a lesson. Otherwise she could might have made India her dictatorship. Emergency was probably her testing ground for that.

Soon after his death, the Janata Party splintered. Many likes Laloo Yadav who grew under JP's shadow promising to help the poor, ended up making himself and his family rich by indulging in rampant corruption. His followers forgot him and his ideology. Lot of things currently across the country echoes the times of Emergency days, yet vindicating history repeats itself and those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan, last but the least one more of our forgotten heroes.