DailyOh! How bad was Great Bombay Cyclone, to how military curbed 1992 protests in US
The Great Bombay Cyclone of 1882 reportedly left over 1 lakh people dead.
Hey there,
It is literally middle of the work week, that is, if you have a five-day week. But where are we on the peak? Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) says “far away”. How far? That ICMR doesn’t say. But to ascertain just how fast the disease could be spreading, authorities have been advised to also test how loaded a person is. Not money wise, but virus wise. A fully-loaded person can transmit the disease to 6.25 people. But ICMR says that 84 per cent of the Covid-19 patients in India are not so loaded, so they can transmit the virus only to 0.8 persons on average.
As India opens up step by step, the information can help in understanding the pattern of coronavirus spread. You know we need to tread with caution because the entire country is easing restrictions and India is many countries in one. Maharashtra, with a population of nearly 12 core, also started opening up this week. And guess who took that as an invitation to come visit? Cyclone Nisarga. The cyclone made a landfall today around an hour past noon, leading to power outages in many parts and uprooting several trees in its course.
Cyclone Nisarga in Mumbai today pic.twitter.com/r7kE4CnyxH
— Smita Mukherji (@Smitasaltlake) June 2, 2020
#CycloneNisarga: Horrifying! Video shows Cyclonic storms, Video shot mins before the Nisarga landfall.#NisargaCyclone#Mumbai #CycloneNisarg #CycloneNisargaUpdate pic.twitter.com/VCWEGtae6Q
— Priya Jaiswal (@priyajais) June 3, 2020
Nisarga reached Gujarat too, and so power outages and uprooting of trees were reported from several parts of the state.
Fearful sight of #NisargaCyclone from Gujarat. #Mumbaikars Stay Indoors Stay Safe. pic.twitter.com/KwX2wc3fwD
— Jagrut Bharat (@TheFearlessInd1) June 2, 2020
It may takes some time to asses the full extent of the damage but cyclones aren’t very common in Maharashtra. However, 2020 is the year when the most uncommon things want to happen – all at one go. A pandemic and cyclones, first Amphan, and now Nisarga.
But cyclones haven’t singled out 2020. Of course, Nisarga has singled out Maharashtra after about 129 years. Nisarga made landfall in Alibaug, a popular getaway near Mumbai. The last cyclone to hit Mumbai was reportedly in 1891.
Some say the worst one hit it in 1882 reportedly. The jury over whether such a cyclone actually happened is still out. Those who believe it happened, call it The Great Bombay Cyclone. Interestingly, that too came in June. In fact, The Great Bombay Cyclone reportedly made landfall on June 6. It was much severe in strength than Nisarga. The Great Bombay Cyclone, however, was very deadly killing about 1,00,000 people. Those were times when no forecast could be made about inclement weather, so people could not rush to safer locations in time. Those were also times when proper records were not maintained or preserved for posterity.
Technology now allows us to know about cyclones when they aren’t even cyclones, but just low-pressure areas in the sea.
Technology is also keeping us connected with the high-tension areas of the US, which practically constitute the whole of America. Some of this tension has had a spillover effect in Europe too, where people are coming out in droves to protest against the death of George Floyd, which is actually a murder.
In the US, President Donald Trump is doing everything he can to keep the situation on the boil despite being asked by Houston Police Chief to “shut up” if he doesn’t know how to say or do the right thing. Now, Trump has threatened he would bring out the military on the streets of US to control the ‘rioters’. To do that, Trump would have to invoke the nearly 200-year-old Insurrection Act. Many Presidents in US history have done that, and the last time the law was invoked, was in 1992 by President George HW Bush.
Bush did it following a request from California Governor Pete Wilson. Ironically, that time too, the protests government was trying to quell, were in response to injustice meted out to a member of the black community, Rodney Glen King.
Injustice was first meted out to Rodney in 1991 when he was beaten brutally by four police officers because of his race. A civilian who was watching the incident from his balcony filmed the beating. He then sent it to a local news channel and then everyone watched it. Following outrage, the four officers were arrested. Then in 1992, all four were acquitted, perhaps, with the hope that the outrage had fizzled out. To protest, people took to streets. To get people off the streets, the Insurrection Act was enforced. In all these, nothing was done to get discrimination based on race out of the heart and minds of people.
Race, as a verb, dates back to the 15th century, when it meant ‘rapid forward movement’. By early 16th century, it had come to mean a ‘contest of speed’.
But the use of race, our Word Of The Day, as a noun, which meant a grouping of humans based on shared physical or social qualities, was seen only around the 17th century. By this time, the term began to refer to physical traits. We can’t affix a date to discrimination based on race though. In various parts, it originated at different times and saw injustices of unimaginable magnitudes being meted out to people considered to be a lesser or inferior race. It was Adolf Hitler’s belief in the superiority of the Nazi race which led to the killing of over six million - 60,00,000 - Jews. But the end of Hitler, one of history’s greatest killers, did not end racial discrimination, which has individual roots in different countries.
If this makes you feel glum, you may want to take a look at Amitabh Bachchan’s social media profile today. In tweet number 3550, Big Big shared pictures of his wedding with Jaya Bachchan.
T 3550 - 47 years .. today .. June 3, 1973 .. !!Had decided if 'Zanjeer' succeeded we, with few friends would go to London, first time, to celebrate .. Father asked who you going with ?When I told him who he said, you will marry her then go .. else you don't go .. I obeyed ! pic.twitter.com/2l15GRMH6s
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) June 2, 2020
The two completed 47 years of togetherness today. The two tied the knot in 1973.
The reason why they did so in 1973 and not later was Amitabh's father Harivansh Rai Bachchan. So, in 1973, Amitabh and Jaya, unmarried then, wanted to go on a vacation to London along with a few other friends. The trip was part of the celebrations over the success of Zanjeer. But Harivansh Rai Bachchan put a condition on this trip. “If you have to go, marry and go.” So they got married. Now, they were already dating, so skipping a trip to avoid marriage didn’t sound like a bright idea.
What is it we would not do to go travel like we travelled when corona wasn’t travelling the world? How would that world be?
For now, it looks like it would be stupider and more idiotic. Fear and panic often get us to act in unreasonable ways; some are acceptable, most not. An example of what’s not acceptable came from Covidiots from Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district. The idiots forced a family to flee with the half-burnt body of a Covid-19 patient. Their fear – spread of the disease.
As close members of the 72-year-old victim’s family gathered to perform his last rites, people in Jammu’s Doda region began pelting stones at them. The family then left the area with the body, which had only been half cremated.
The chances of the virus spreading from a corpse are low to the point of negligible. But people, stupid to the point of being idiots, do not get it. If you maintain distance from even a patient who is alive, you won’t get the virus. The dead won’t walk up to you and you, of course, won’t go near them. Therefore, you do not risk an infection if the burial and cremation of victims take place where they are designated to take place.
We hope better sense prevails.
Amid the talk of violence and deaths, we forgot to wish Big B and Jaya on their big day. A very happy anniversary to them. Here’s a song in which they feature together right after their marriage, which was part of a film script. The film was Abhimaan (1973).
On that melodious note, we take your leave for today.
We'll be back tomorrow.