Tsunami

Tuesday February 8 2005 07:43 IST

By Karmayogi

Natural calamities have always been there, in different parts of the world, in different fashions. Man was no silent victim to them. He has always tried to get the better of them and met with varying degrees of success.

Some of the fell diseases he has conquered in a great part of the world. San Francisco is situated on a fault which means earthquake is ever-present. It would be common sense to avoid such a place to create a city. But Man sought it, built a city, protected it against earthquakes, succeeded to some extent, became a victim to a greater extent, but today carries on.

Perhaps Man loves danger. Maybe there is a spiritual truth in it. Life lived amidst constant danger is the life of a conqueror, a conqueror of fate. This is the 21st century. We now have a knowledge and accompanying instruments that we did not possess in the 19th century. Wisdom demands we use them, and use them well.

To use the knowledge we have is to be conscious of that knowledge. Not to use it or not to remember it is to be oblivious or unconscious.

Catastrophes strike more often people who are unconscious. It stops harassing them the moment they become conscious.

For over fifty or seventy years there are tools that discover earthquakes and the consequent tsunamis. The tidal waves take a little time to arrive after the earthquake. This time there was a gap of three hours between the earthquake in Indonesia and the havoc of tidal waves in Tamilnadu. Why the warning system was not availed of is not known.

The Indian Seismic Labs should have known of the earthquake the same moment it occurred. Why they could not warn the population of tidal waves is also not known. It can be called unconscious. Suppose India has availed of the warning system and warned the people in time, the tidal wave havoc would not have been there or the catastrophe would have been on a minor scale.

It is a truth of life that when you are armed against an eventuality, it never comes to pass. Life hits unconscious people. When you are armed, you become conscious.

In the 2nd World War, the German submarines were sinking a large number of Allied battleships. At one point, Britain successfully decoded the German submarine messages and waited for the next event. The next event never came to pass. And with that, the tide of war turned and led the Allies to victory.

India took up FAO's warning of famine and acted in 1965. For forty years we are a food surplus nation. India, more than many other countries, is surrounded by a vast number of opportunities. If only she is determined to avail of them, no further catastrophe such as earthquake in Gujarat or tsunami will strike her.

Mother Earth will not quake when her sons are awake. What is true of a nation is true of an individual. He who is conscious, alert, who avails of opportunities, will have no problems. Nature or Fate will not strike him awake.