We wake up from our sleep when a tragedy happens and then sleep again

Getting lot of free time in office from last 2 days and i am happily spending that time in library, catching up so many newspapers and magazines i left long back (it feels so :)).

And finally getting some time to blog also..after a long time :)

Just recollecting and re-organizing some information i came across, in last few months and was actually thinking over these news articles for sometime..and now i got the last straw..n i had to write to put my thoughts and opinions in words and give make some free space in mind..

There was a Tata Nano incident in Mumbai where a brand new Tata Nano burnt to ashes after few hours of driving on the way to home from the dealer.Luckily the family (couple with a kid ) escaped the fire.On investigation,it was found that this car was not meant for sale.Infact the engine on the sticker indicated that it was manufactured during pre-production phase.

Well,the interesting part was..the buyer got some 4-6 laks as compensation from Tata Motors and this appeared in a very small column of newspaper..not sure how many caught it..and then..the story is forgotton.

In last 3 months,i read 2 similar stories ..regarding car manufacturers..recalling their cars from Europe and few other parts of world due to soem manufacturing issue (one was A-star..dont remember the other one).

And the last,i read a post on a website..where people r giving their opinions about Volkswagon Polo launched in India.One person has posted,"Volkswagon POLO launshed in Europe is a wonderful vehicle..but see wht they have given to India".There were no other technical details mentioned by that person so could not justify the statements with logic or make a conclusion.While we had discussion with Volkswagon dealers,they told that the company is not ready to negotiate on its qulaity,so 75% of the Car parts are still imported and here by we have 4 months waiting period.Aprt from that,I do not have much idea on automobiles technically but that single post gives me a alarm for sure.

Today,while reading the analysis of Mangalore air tragedy in Outlook,I read that there were concerns raised by different NGOs regarding construction of this airport and further regarding its safety but everything was ignored as it was in favour of some political interests.

Some experts claimed that it as a technical fault.When such crash or failure happens in US,all the parts of the craft are collected from the debris and put together,faulty equipment is identified and then the batch of these equipments are re-called from wherever it was provided.

Some aviation experts have commented that it is the fatigue of pilots that caused the accident.Some more incidents have been cited where the pilots slept off while the plane crossed the destination airport itself and were alerted(woken up) by ATC to come back..and luckily they had enough fuel to come back..and the passengers were even more lucky..and no such tragedy happened..and thus we did not have any big headlines in newspapers and TV Channels..If the journalists knew about such accidents (The magizine cited 3 such incidents in this article),why weren't they made it a headline..May be a they had a bigger tragedy that time to catch the attention of the audience..and actually we were happily sleeping and nobody wanted to wake up..we were waiting for this tragedy..

This really annoys me and leaves me just speechless and actually helpless...
Though the actual cause of this crash is not known till now,but the tragedy does connect the Tata Nano accident and the other incidents listed above somewhere in my mind.

If the Tata Nano incident would have happened in US, not sure of the compensation but definitely it would not have been so simple affair as it was in India.Though,I am technically ignorant about the automobile industry and technical details,but I cant recollect if any such recall has ever been done in india.For the Mangalore tragedy also,we have a committee and investigation is being carried on..But would we have some solid outputs..and would those outputs make some change to ensure that none of other similar tragedies would happen?

May be this is the price we pay for being part of a Developing Nation where life is a little cheaper.

After Mangalore incident,our sleep is little disturbed but i assure you,we will sleep again.May be on the first anniversary of this incident next year,we have to wake up again as the magazines and newspapers will be publishing headlines ..the regretting or sympathy stories regarding this incident..and then we will sleep again till another tragedy happens.

There are some laws regarding the rest time for the pilots but seems the contract employees are over burdened and these laws are broken.And who paid for breaking of these laws..those innocent people on air India flight..We don't want cheap air tickets..we can manage..but please do not put our lives at risk..

Don't know what else I can say..But now whenever I will fly..i will be scared if our pilot is snoozing in the cockpit..

Disclaimer : I have no idea about the true stories behind these magazine articles and newspapers..I just have these sources for info and my opinion is solely based upon them.