Yesterday, we heard the deeply saddening news of a massive fire in a commercial building in Surat, and the subsequent deaths of 20 children there.
Even as we put pressure on builders and city authorities to adhere to safety norms when planning and constructing buildings, it’s time to ask what we as citizens can do.
Fire safety in public places is the last thing we would have in mind when we visit these places whether for entertainment or for any other reason. Being more careful could help you avert any tragedies and make your family more aware of the safety concerns.
Highly combustible materials – materials used for makeshift roofing could be a shamiana or thatched or made of other cloth. These materials are highly combustible and the fire could reach to dangerous scales in seconds. In the Uphaar cinema tragedy in 1997, 59 people lost their lives due to suffocation and 103 seriously injured due to stampede.
Electrical fires – electrical short-circuit or ignition
Intentional fires – setting fire to garbage or dried plants is a common site in India.
Recently we have had so many fire accidents in public places that have caused many casualties and have caused serious damage to life and property.
Never be nonchalant anytime. Fires could happen to anyone and it could happen to you as well.Never miss real stories from India's women.Register Now
Never be nonchalant anytime. Fires could happen to anyone and it could happen to you as well.
This article was first published at Beyond Carlton, a non-profit organisation that aims to make India 100% fire safe. You can be a volunteer to help on this mission – sign up here, and the team will come back to you.
Top image credit Business Today
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This strange love story reminds me of Princess Diana when she gave an interview about Prince Charles - "There were three of us in this marriage!”
This love was flawed and broken the way only we humans know how to break things with our ego, pride, insecurity and complexities!
Where do I even begin to tell the story of how deep a love can be, how it transcends time, place and people. Perhaps this is a story about how women are their own worst enemies. Either way it is a story that tells us how frail, fragile and fraught we are as humans and how much we hurt each other.
This love story began when I was two years old. Growing up in India in a culture that wove love stories like Laila Majnu, Heer Ranjha and the epic symbol of love, the Taj Mahal, into the very fabric of our existence, love was always an integral part of our lives.
One such love story was of a boy and a girl who were neighbours. The boy, an athlete, artist and a poet, found his muse in this shy, thoughtful and in her own way poetic girl, who seemed to worship the very ground he walked on. Her face could be found in all the paintings he created, and her name in every poem he wrote. The girl called him Sagar, which means ocean, symbolizing his all-encompassing love for her.
Everything thing was going well; their wedding date was being finalized, till the boy’s older brother who was a doctor in the same little town, got accepted into Stanford Medical School to do his MS.
Earlier my husband would say, 'Arey! What is there in making dal-roti? It's so simple.' After he had to cook everyday when I was ill, he has stopped saying that to me!
“Arey! What is there to do in making dal roti? Put a handful of lentils in the cooker and let it whistle and make two rotis. After all, how long will it take?” A handful of dal (lentils) and two rotis! This is the story of every woman and no one seems to understand.
Some time ago, after a shopping spree, my husband and I entered the house, exhausted. I had just about kept all the bags aside, when my husband said, “I am very hungry, can you make something.”
I looked at my husband in amazement and thought, ‘He had just had food, how did he get hungry again so soon?’
My husband, as if he had read my face, said, “Arey! You know that my stomach is not filled with outside food. Just make dal roti. What is there to do in making dal roti? Put a handful of lentils in the cooker and let it whistle and make two rotis. After all, how long will it take?”
‘Is this the way dal (lentils) and roti are made?’ The thought came to my mind. ‘After all, I also went along and now I am tired too.’ I was also getting angry at myself that after all, I had spoiled the habit of everyone in the house.
The Supreme Court has banned sale of fire crackers in Delhi NCR. Isn't this firecracker ban essential for the rest of the country too?
The Supreme Court has banned sale of fire crackers in Delhi NCR. Isn’t this firecracker ban essential for the rest of the country too?
The news item narrates that many will lose jobs as they are employed by the fire cracker industry. As per the news report, 85 % of fire crackers are manufactured at Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu. More than 3 lakhs employees are employed in making fire crackers & nearly 5 lakhs in ancillary industries like packaging, transport etc.
A report by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in 2013 stated that kids as young as 5 years old are employed for nearly 12 hours daily for making fire crackers. And for all this labour, the kids are paid measly amounts of Rs 30-50/- per day. These children work in the most dangerous conditions in tiny sheds with no safety gear, filling flower pots, fuses, paper pipes etc. The clothes of children are covered with chemicals as they make the fire crackers. These chemicals cause asthma, eye infections, tuberculosis, etc. in 90 % of the child labour. And as children work unsupervised, with dangerous chemicals like potassium & sodium nitrates, zinc, magnesium, iron, steel, aluminum, etc., there are many accidents which maim & or kill children.
The manufacturers state, that of late, child labour is non existent in manufacture of fire crackers. Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi says that atleast 1 lakh kids are employed in the fire cracker industry spread across Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chattisgarh, Jaipur, Orissa & Tamil Nadu. So, there is an equality of horrific treatment towards children on nearly a pan Indian basis. Because, in other industries in the remaining states, child labour is employed as well. To name a few, silk, glass bangles, carpet weaving et al.
Camping puts us in touch with the outdoors - with just the basics and not much technology, you can really reconnect with nature unlike in other kinds of vacations.
Camping puts us in touch with the outdoors – with just the basics and not much technology, you can really reconnect with nature unlike in other kinds of vacations.
Some people say that we are in a technology driven world and are not connected to nature. The current generation of kids are mostly housebound with electronic devices. We adults often find ourselves so busy with our daily routines that we feel as if we are spinning on the hamster wheel.
One way to break from the technology world and from daily routine is to go out into nature. Nature can have a powerful effect on the human spirit. When we are connected to nature it renews us and fills our soul. As Shakespeare once wrote, “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”
Camping is one activity where all ages can reconnect with each other and with the basics of life. While camping, we experience the unique elements of nature: cold air, dark night, warm fire, and bright stars. Life is simple here. You just camp, eat, and sleep.