Irradiating life...

Life saver has turned into lethal killer. And what's responsible for this undesirable morphing?...Negligence. Delhi University (DU) has admitted just one of them.

Cobalt 60, the radioactive isotope of cobalt, has been mishandled due to sheer negligence of DU authorities. DU bought a "Gamma Irradiator" containing Cobalt 60 pencils in 1968 from Canada. The Gamma Irradiator which was not in use since 1985, landed in the country's biggest scrap market, Mayapuri, through an auction in February this year. The Mayapuri scrap dealers dismantled the equipment and in the process, the lead covering on it was peeled off leading to radiation exposure. With the Irradiator is still radiating carcinogenic and toxic rays from the unsealed radioactive Cobalt 60 pencils. Until it killed a person and hospitalized eleven others, the mass destructor lay there unnoticed, poisoning everyone's life to slow death.

Cobalt 60, if used with proper safety measures and caution could relieve the torturous pain suffered by a cancer patient.  Measured doses of cobalt 60 are used for sterilizing medical equipments and source of the radiotherapy for cancer patients. If used with negligence can induce the excruciating pain of cancer. Gamma radiation emitted by Cobalt 60 may have irreparable impact on the genes and lead to genetic disorders in the present and further generations.

Scientists investigating the issue have confirmed that the level of contamination is such that even the land where the machine was dumped need to be excavated to stop further spread of the radiation. They suspect that much more Cobalt 60 pencils are missing than those found. Laborers, dealers and general public of Mayapuri, who have been handling or been exposed to the deadly machine without proper safety measures now live the danger of unknown health disorders. Threat sword has also been hanging on the lives of DU students and researchers.

So, what does DU have to say about this whole calamity? The Vice Chancellor of DU, Deepak Paintal, said he was "extremely sorry for the damage caused". He also said that university officials believed that the machine's radioactive life had expired since it was nearly 40 years old.

With so much knowledge about handling and disposing nuclear wastes and the havoc that may be caused if mishandled, is this what we expect from a premiere educational institute of the country? The life of uncountable number of innocent people has been risked and perhaps endangered. Is taking mere verbal responsibility revert back the far reaching consequences of nuclear radiation exposure? Who owns the responsibility of the safe disposal of nuclear wastes? Who owns the responsibility of educating the public about the hazards of nuclear exposure? Should educational institutions be barred from conducting researches involving nuclear resources? Should the government set up dedicated laboratories and research centers for performing nuclear and atomic researches in India?


And after all the whole commotion about this issue, the machine still lay there in Mayapuri, dismantled. Irradiating life....

IPL chit chats

 Aisi kya baat hai ismein??

Shaadi kab kar rahi ho Preity?

Iss baar running between the wickets achha tha na mera??

Kyun aaya haam idhaar??? Kolkata jeet ta hi neyhi

Performance, match nahi toh yahan sahi

Washing powder Nirma, doodh si safedi, nirma se aayi...

Anne French ka ad toh main bhi kar sakti hoon, Kareena kyun??

IPL ke bahane kuch lok seva. Some kapda for the bhukha nanga spectators 

Max New York Life, Karo zyaada ka iraada 
 

Har kar jeetne wale ko Baazigar kehte hai

Kismat se tum humko mile ho, kaise chhodenge...

No comments....

[Picture soure here]

 

Great Indian Television - Shaadi aur Barbaadi...

Bahu shedding tears while Saas lashing verbal whips. "Arre o kalmuhi...baap ka ghar samajh rakha hai kya? yahan muft ki roti todne aayi hai?" . Wife questioning her husband with a drop of tear at the corner of her right eye, "Batao, kal raat tum kahan thhe...arre tum kya bataoge!!! (pointing her palm straight at her husbands face)...tumhari khamoshi, tumhari yeh jhhuki hui nazar sab bayan kar rahi hai... aisa kaise kar sakte ho tum Mihir...aisa kaise kar sakte ho?" (four drops of tear from right eye and some from left eye, carefully preventing the fifth drop from trickling down in case it smudges off the eyeliner or the muscara). Smile showing only seven teeth that too of the upper jaw. Eyeshadow and foundation even when coming out after bath. Straight silky black hair with relatively less makeup indicates that the character is a protagonist. Stringed blouse, bright  and matching coloured bindi and sindoor depicts the wicked vamp. Skewed eyes and often monologues ensures that this has to be the vamp, no other thoughts.

The  most common phenomenon in almost every house in the country which can afford television. Television soap operas have successfully hooked up the Indian wives (and therby their husbands). They come every evening, five days a week (wives won't mind even if it's seven, husband would also agree for they won't have to take their wives shopping). Almost all the houses in the country which can afford a television, spend their evening with the ever weeping bahus, torturous saas, dhokebaaz (or too loving and caring) pati, conspiring sautan, illegitimate children.

No matter which channel you put, it's all the same.As my father puts it, all of them has the same core, "Shaadi and barbaadi".  It used to be a big chandelier hanging living room with most things in different shades of red. The typical of the Ekta Kapoor serials. A husband married to the protagonist and antagonist at the same time. Children popping out  now and then entangling the already over entangled relationships. Characters never grow old. Only a streak of white hair (specifically trailing from the forehead to middle of the skull) and spectacle, a mustache at max, distinguishes one generation from another generation. Immortal Baa, ever (over) prayed Thakurji gives some religious touch to the story to keeps the aged wives, reason to forget their gout  pains.

Things have changed after the Ekta empire collpased. Now, the main  mantra is a village. Peril of simple village girls and ladies have worked wonders for the TRP seeking television producers.  Village girls no matter what, wear designer cloths from West Side or Shopper Stop. Hungry family with smoking tava on the chulha (earthen oven) but with lands grazing till the horizon. Men showcasing their mardaangi in dhoti and kurta rather than safari suits. But one thing is for sure. Their would definitely be a Zamindar and all the shoots would soon shift from the chulha blowing huts to the luxurious villa. No matter how poor the protagonist be, she'll land up in the Zamindar's house within twenty episodes.

And if you are bored of watching the same old serials, there are reality shows at your rescue. Challenging the celebrities (those who manage a role in the serials for a year or two, self proclaimed audience heart throbs) to perform tasks. However, these are no less than the soap operas. They have emotions, drama, fights, romance and what not....The once saree and jewelry clad bahu betiyaan get the golden opportunity of showing off their well maintained (sometimes flabby due to prolonged break from work) body contours. Reality shows recently have taken up the job of Rab for finding and uniting  jodis. Celebrity bachelors and spinsters approach the reality shows in search of their soul mates. The country exercises its voting rights (democracy you see...yes the same that the country uses for electing our most eligible ministers and MLAs) to choose the bride or groom for them.

Channel producers have always figured out plots to keep the common Indian wives of all ages forget the rest of the world. Forget about the quarrel she had with "baaju wali Mrs Sharma", or son's poor marks in SUPW classes or gossip about "Mrs Gupta ki beti Mrs Shukla ke bete ke saath bhaag gayi" or complain about the maid coming late or even the burning roti on the gas stove. Forget the world to engulf the emotional melodrama. Sympathize with the tortured bahu, hate the wicked sautan, die for the handsome dewar, idolize the ma , envy the caring husband. 

No matter whether the Women Reservation Bill is passed in the parliament or not, one thing is reserved for the Indian women. The Television, every evening from 8pm to 11pm.