Did we just lose an Einstein?

The sad part about a child’s death is that it’s an incomplete story. No. It’s a story that was not allowed to be begun. To have life cut short in childhood is like not allowing an individual to prove his/her mettle, leaving mere sorrow to overcome people; just like it’s happening over 13-year-old Abhilash’s death in an absolutely avoidable school bus accident on Sarjapur-Bagalur Road on Wednesday.

Think about it this way. World renowned theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, who was born in 1879, too, was once a 13-year-old boy. Had his life been cut short in 1892, none today would have even heard of this personality; none would have been able to admire this scientist who overcame dyslexia through his childhood to emerge as a leading scientist in the mid-20th century. Probably, no one would have heard of the special theory of relativity.
But he lived, and therefore, we are able to appreciate his achievements.

The same applies to all great personalities who were ‘allowed’ to live fuller lives to accomplish what they have.  

But not, Abhilash; not Abhishek, the six-year-old who died after falling into a Lingarajapuram drain on a rainy May 31 night last year; not Sanjana, the 17-year-old girl who died on June 1 this year when the Veterinary College wall collapsed on her.

They have been relegated to memory and the domain of sadness. And that’s the sad part of life in our environs.
It is an altogether different matter when a young life is snuffed out due to sickness and disease, which at times are so overwhelming that no treatment can save them. But to let them die in accidents caused due to negligence? That’s horrendous! And it continues to happen in front of your eyes and we don’t care a hoot to this problem.

People say that in India there is no value for life. They are dead right!

We don’t value life at all. Unfortunately, we value death even more.
We give more importance to death and fail to learn lessons on why a particular death occurred and how it could have been prevented.

If you have attended any school programmes, one favourite line of chief guests is that children are the future of our country, our world. Blah-blah!
What are we talking about the future when the present generation lets down its successors so horribly because we write their death sentence by pushing back their safety to the back of the beyond?

People may argue saying Abhilash’s death was a one-off incident and should be considered as an accident.

Accident?! Why can’t we buck-up and make sure no child dies in any accident?

I know it’s difficult; but not impossible.

Just use your commonsense when it comes to safety of your child in the public domain, and at home. The magic mantra is: Be Safe!
Who knows, a child who dies due to mindlessness could have been another Einstein… or even bigger. I think we just lost an Einstein in Abhilash’s death. Or did we lose someone bigger?