Saturday, November 13, 2010

Travel Diary - Day4

At Hiroshima, we went in the morning to the bombed out dome of abuilding that we all have often seen in the TV. Nearby is a river.When the heat following the dropping of the atom bomb becameunbearable, some people jumped into the river only to be boiled in thehot river. The only people who survived are those who were inbasements and did not venture out. They were saved from the radiation.In a radius of 3 kms, hardly anyone survived. Even the description ofwhat happened was enough to send a shiver down my spine, so many yearsafter the event. What surprised me was a comparatively muted hatredtowards the Americans for what they did to the Japanese in the war andduring the occupation. They adopted good American practices and evenbettered them. As a nation they have proved to be really "Sthitapragnya " as described in the Gita.
Next, we went to the Sadako memorial. Sadako was a 2 year old girlwhen the atom bomb was dropped. Till the age of 10, she was normal.Then, she developed Leukemia, as a delayed after effect of theradiation. Despite best efforts, she died. Sadako was fond of theJapanese craft of Origami (paper folding). During her illness she wenton making paper cranes in various colours. Cranes in Japanese lore,are symbols of fertility. Her story galvanised other school childrento do the same and to contribute their pocket money towards building acenotaph and the Sadako monument. It was indeed a moving story!
Next we went to a huge building which is the History Museum. Itcontains graphic account of what happened on that fateful day andafter. It also shows preserved human skin that peeled off people,nails, hair and so on. Photographs, artistic impressions of the eventwere all there. They have also marked out India as a nuclear bombmaker among others. We then went to a Peace Park created in place oftotally destroyed buildings. We came across an old man who hadsurvived unscathed. He works as an honorary guide and describes theevent and pleads with people to prevent such a happening again bybanning nuclear testing.
We had lunch at a restaurant run by a Maharashtrian. The previousIndian restaurants that we had been to were all run by Panjabis. I haddraft beer there and bought a bottle of Japanese liquor made fromwheat and rice. We then proceeded by bus to Osaka which took us fiveand a half hours. Checked into a hotel for the night.
Pappa

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