Dealing with emergency...

Anyone watching "NatGeo Investigates" will know the metronomic, cold precision in which famed aircrashes, doomed ships (not Titanic, of course, we have to thank James Cameron for providing a 3 hour tearjerker), nuclear disasters, train catastrophes among others are dissected. Last night, I was watching the episode in which a Swissair flight from New York bound to Geneva crashed sometime after take-off in Halifax in late 1998. The reconstruction of the tragedy was based entirely on the report conducted by the investigators, one of whom also spoke on the program. The program was brutally faithful to the supposed timeline of the accident, which led my mother to cringe in a mixture of shock and revulsion. I was the opposite, mouth agape and motionless, wonderstruck by the professionalism of the investigators who had cracked the case inspite of the aircraft being smashed to smithereens and the "black box" failing to capture the most critical part of the event.

Where this show appeals to me is in the way the actors who enact the situations. Panic and horrifying realizations are the norm but these guys act so naturally. The almost-ghostly narrator with his chilling voice adds on the eerie effect (methinks this was what left my mom half-reeling). And the poignancy that follows the aftermath of the incident is quite deep and the pain of most of the relatives of the victims pretty palpable, even after several years. The most interesting thing is that even if the case seems utterly hopeless, the emergency crew are on the ready, raring to help at risk to their own beings.

So, with 8 lethal bombings, Mumbai bears the brunt of urban genocide again. 130+ dead, many more injured. A vast majority on the lifeline of the metro: commuter trains. Having traveled in a super-crowded one recently, I can't help but think how it would be if one such incident happened when I was inside. With absolutely no inch to move, not even able to check whether someone whacked your wallet or not, local trains are to God the same way as how jam bottles are to us mortals. Is there anyone to monitor or prepare for any kind of emergency? I doubt it.