Goa, Sept. 9 -- BINAYAK DATTA

The poignant visuals on the pages of a prominent daily published today-showing a lonely community dog sitting in mud-water, patiently waiting for the chaos of bulldozers, gas cutters, and ambulances to end in hopes of returning to his commu nity-amply describe the abso lute helplessness of our system. It is devastating to see over 955 fellow brethren dead and another 4,400 lost in the Hima layan wilderness in a matter of minutes, many of them Indian workmen and pilgrims, without even a warning signal. More so, you are actually seeing bank vaults full of cash washed away, a huge tree up rooted by a strange formation of a giant water-wall-a Hercules of sorts-thrown away as if by deep-seated wrath and so many t...