Keep that unwanted guest out

Mr. Calamity turned up yet again like the proverbial bad penny. Kolkata was the unwilling host to the ultimate unwanted guest this week. The unwelcome caller turned the top floors of a heritage building in the city's heart into Dante's vision of a flaming hell, leaving death and devastation in his wake.

We all know that clever Mr. Calamity is a master of disguise. He could visit us as a fire, a building collapse or an epidemic. But even though this hated visitor makes such alarmingly regular calls, we haven't learnt to bar our doors to him.

We live amid wires exposed to the elements, dangling dangerously close to one another. We permit commerical and residential buildings to come up without even basic fire-safety measures. We let water pipes leak, moisten walls and electrical circuits. We look the other way when there are elaborate remodelling projects in homes and offices occupying lower floors even though we know in the backs of our minds that this is bound to compromise a building's sturdiness. We let garbage pile up high along the streets and in vacant lots of land, nurturing rodents that spread disease. We allow our ageing sewers to leak and overflow, contaminating groundwater and pitting roads with their toxins. We indiscriminately spray venomous pesticides on our crops, never thinking of the mass slow poisoning that their harvest unleashes.

I speak here only of Mr. Calamity's visitations borne out of negligence, callousness and sheer carelessness. These we have the power to prevent. We are almost entirely powerless against him darkening our door due to nature's fury. But if small precautions can make Mr. Calamity's visits less regular, we're insane not to be taking them. Each time he comes, we despair. And after he leaves we point fingers at everyone but ourselves. But the sad truth is we're all culpable. If we insist on basic safety and hygiene, this unwanted guest would be making much fewer calls.