National Tragedy

Been thinking of writing something about loss of life and property in Uttarakhand since last few days. Don't know if I should :-
1) Salute the men / women in uniform doing amazing work,
2) Lament the Govt (Centre and state) and local administration for lack of appropriate policy and governance,
3) Empathize with people who have sufferred due to nature's wrath/ admin failure and thier own misadventures /miscalculation / inappropriate preparation for such a journey,
4) Praise some locals and outstation people for extending moral and material support,
5) Curse those who are fleecing own countrymen by selling eatables at 5 times the cost and charging 4 times the fares
6) Join the debates in media about enviorenmental balance / judiciousness in construction of 73 dams / illegal constructions & mining / equity and participation of all stake holders etc
7) Wonder where are all those self styled Gurus who preach but are no where to be seen in extending any help to people sufferring from thier multi-million reserves made from donations and sale of medicines.

I think I'll restrict my self to prayers for the departed souls and conveying best wishes for those who have sufferred materially and emotionally. May God be with you all.

PS. All the civil servants get higher pay and perks in all pay commissions (obviously) and show the kind of incompetency, lack of knowledge / vision and absolute inertia in handling crisis as seen in recent events in Uttarakhand but insist on down grading pay/perks/protocol of uniformed people who save lives, provide succour, build bridges / roads (even in CWG in Delhi) and do the face saving for these civil servants. If they did the job expected out of them commensurate to thier pay and perks, uniformed people would not be required to come in aid to civil authorities in peace time. The difference in competency, attitude and values is there for all to see.....!!!

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