A sober New Year's Eve

For the first time in a long time, I think twice before I waste my food, throw water down the drain or leave the lights on absent-mindedly. The Tsunami and more importantly the incomprehensible devastation that followed is entirely responsible for it. More than once while watching T.V I was moved to tears. And no matter how many times I watch the clip of Meghna Rajshekhar braving her tears and fighting the lump in her throat to say "I am alright, Papa , Mama, please come back again", I always end up with tears stinging my eyes. She comes across as extremely mature and eloquent in her description of the tragedy and her traumatic experience.

So in the face of such destruction and human tragedy, why is the Tsunami tragedy not taken seriously enough as a reason to refrain from New Year's eve merry-making ? More than once, I told more than a few people that I didn't feel upto going out, spending money, watching the fireworks and rejoicing the new year. But it's received, even by my fellow Indians, with a sense of incredulity. As if that's not a plausible or convincing reason enough for one to cancel new year's eve plans. Are we as Indians so innured to the number of deaths we read about everyday in the papers that a fresh tragedy claiming a few or even a lot more lives feels like just another statistic ?

I still wonder how New Yorkers, as only New Yorkers can, put up such a garish celebration of New Years, as resounding as the last, when 150,000 human beings were wiped out from the face of the earth just a week ago. The irony is that New York, being a cornucopia of cultures, has a phenomenal number of asians each year turning up at Times Square for the celebration. I think one minute of silence followed up 3 hours of New Year Gala is a very shallow expression of grief. Especially so, when in Europe, countries big and small, publicly toned down their new year celebrations if not completely cancelling them as some countries did.

In the meantime, I hope I never forget the pain I saw on the faces of the survivors. As the next few weeks and months rush by for me on the other side of the planet, I want to remember to be thankful for all I have and pray for all the good that can be for the people who survived. After all, what really distinguishes humans from animals is that we as a species can empathize, share and shed a few tears over the other's pain.