Serendipity : Musings of an Islander

All in the name of road safety!   By Debkumar Bhadra   I was driving my way back home, when a policeman, at about half past five in the evening, walked across the poorly lit stretch of road near the entry gate of Primary Health Centre (PHC) Wimberly Gunj and stood before my vehicle. I cautiously pulled over avoiding both the policeman at the front and the 4 wheeler driven on my rear. Aapka license dikhaiye/ आपका लाइसेंस दिखाइये (show your license) he said. I complied. It was no surprise he could not read a single word from the diving license (DL). Even I couldn’t read the name plate on his uniform in the absence of proper street lighting. Upon asking his name, he simply said he is a police constable. In a while two more constables, dodging a couple of vehicles, crossed the road making it three of them. I asked if anyone among them could educate me under which section of Motor Vehicle (MV) Act, police constables have been authorized to stop vehicles on the road or ask pro...

How a Little Oversight Cost Bittu Both His Arms - but Brought an Entire Community Together By Debkumar Bhadra There are accidents, and then there are accidents that rewrite a life entirely. For Gaurab Kumar Paul — fondly known in our neighbourhood as Bittu — a single unwary moment on the morning of June 21, 2018, did exactly that. What began as a gesture of goodwill to help a friend ended with severe high-tension electrocution injuries that ultimately result in the amputation of both his arms. I have watched Bittu play as a toddler and grow to adulthood in my small neighbourhood in South Andaman. Writing this is not easy. But his story deserves to be told — not just as a personal account of tragedy and resilience, but as a larger reflection on how our healthcare system, administrative machinery, and community respond when one of our own falls. The Accident That Changed Everything It was a Thursday morning when Bittu went to lend a helping hand to a village mate wrapping up the pr...

Celebration in the time of pandemic By Debkumar Bhadra Festivals and festivities are an integral part of Indian culture. In the words of Sadguru significance and importance of festivals in Indian culture was such that there was a time when there used to be a festival every day of the year. If today is ploughing day, tomorrow will be planting day, day after tomorrow weeding day - 365 days, 365 festivals. The sole purpose of these festivals is to bring peoples closer to one another, break the monotony, socialize, celebrate and unite into a fabric appreciating and rejoicing each other’s tradition, festivals and cultural diversity . In the coming month, we have Durga Puja between 22-26 October, 2020. Celebration of Sharadiya Durga Puja in the islands and elsewhere in the country is unique in the sense that more than those five auspicious puja days, preceding months spent in preparation are also an event in itself. Secondly almost all Durga Puja is performed in temporary pandals put ...

Unemployment, Hunger and accumulating EMI’s stare at islands self employed autowallas By Debkumar Bhadra The COVID-19 pandemic, associated lockdown and restriction on economic activity impacted different sections of the society in varied proportions. While the government is staring at a steep economic slide, the working class specifically those who have been working daily to make ends meet are reeling under abject poverty due to loss of job. The lower strata of the society comprising daily earners have been hit the hardest. Autorikshaw, Jeep, Taxi operators are one such affected group who have been at the receiving end since day one of the pandemic.   According to 2018-19 edition of Basic Statistics there are 4738 registered autorikshaw, 31766  LMV’s including Cars/Taxi Omni & Jeep out of which an estimated 15-20% is engaged in commercial (Point-to-Point) transport sector,  257 Government owned State Transport Service (STS) Busses and 143 Privately owned busses ca...

Open Invitation to demonstrate speed prescribed under QoS BB service regulation is provided Dear Sir It is submitted that am a BSNL subscriber having a BSNL Postpaid Mobile (943428xxxx) connection since July 2003, BSNL Landline Phone (258xxx) since March 2005 and BSNL Broadband (BB) connection since November 2008 in my name. During the past decade and a half I have been a loyal customer always paying bills within due date. But won’t claim am doing something extraordinary because I believe when service has been availed, timely payment is an obligation which I must honour as a customer. However, when I look at the service side, specifically during the past year or so, it has been a continuous downslide on your part. Be it 2G, 3G, LL or BB service, frequent call drops, poor voice quality and non-conforming data speed is all am getting in the name of servic e. Highly unstable and below standard connection speed, combined with high latency ranging between 600-1000ms and packe...