Bangalore: Festivities at what cost? One is forced to ponder over this question given the list of injuries that crackers have caused during this Diwali season across the country. The festival of lights and joy turned out to be a trauma of darkness and misery for the patients and the kin, some of whom Indiainfo.com visited at the Minto Ophthalmic Hospital, Bangalore.

In a country like India, the trauma of injury especially when one is not at fault is indeed enormous. With no social security, medical insurance or social awareness systems, the victims are literally left groping in the dark and wondering whom to blame and what to do next.

"Such cases of people getting hurt due to crackers don't fall in the ambit of medico- legal cases. Then who is to blame for such ills of society, who is accountable, who is responsible... what will these patients - some of them as young as 12 years old, who have lost their eyesight permanently - do? These questions need to be addressed and my strong message to society is BAN CRACKERS," Dr R Vathsala, MS, DOMS, Prof of Ophthalmology, Bangalore Medical College and medical superintendent, Regional Institute of Opthamaology , Minto Ophthalmic Hospital Bangalore told Indiainfo.com in an exclusive chat.

"We attended to 60 cases in three days during this Diwali festival. And 30 of these belonged to the age group of up to 15, 18 had to be admitted, 9 were operated upon for blood clots or cornea damage and five - very unfortunately - have lost an eye. This is a man made tragedy and totally preventable. I sincerely hope a case is made out as I said before to ban bursting of crackers," Dr Vathsala passionately said.

The statistics of injury as reeled out by Dr Vathsala belonged to one such eye hospital in one city. If one were to consider the patients who would have gone to private eye hospitals and the total number of cities in India, the figures could really be scary. The moot point indeed is…Who is to blame for such tragedies?

The scene at the hospital indeed was pathetic as the above correspondents met a few patients and their relatives. "The enormity of a tragedy occurs to us only when we become victims. We generally shrug away others ills and continue with our daily chores, but when tragedy befalls we really feel the pulse of the situation. With our near ones in such state of shock and suffering, we have one common message, PLEASE BAN all crackers that can cause so much of bodily harm and tragedy."

"We told the doctors to do anything to save the eye of this young girl. We were willing to spend any amount of money to get a transplantation done. But, all our hopes were belied as the doctors said the entire eye had been destroyed - rather smashed to smithereens," 15-year-old Priya's aunty said with tears welling in her eyes.

Priya was a bystander and had come out to watch the Diwali celebrations of her neigbhours in Gandhinagar area. A student of 10th standard at Seva Ashram school, little did Priya realise that the Diwali of 2002 would herald permanent darkness in her left eye. Struck by a rocket, Priya has lost her left eye.

Similar was the plight of 12-year-old Vinay of Mulbagal, 3rd standard student Manikanta of Hosur, 60-year-old Basappa of Uyyamaballi in Kanakapura, 5th standard student Nandish of Chikkaballapur, 7th standard student Kantharaju of Munnireddipalya and Mahesh of Yelahanka.

Vinay and Mahesh, who run an electrical shop at Yelahanka, are victims of their own follies. Vinay went to close to see if the cracker had been properly lit…the cracker burst on his face and he lost his left eye. Mahesh placed a used coconut shell before lighting it…the cracker burst on his face, the shell pierced his left eye and now he wails in darkness.

Own or others' folly, how many such instances are needed for the government to take concrete action to prevent such man made tragedies?

We sincerely hope NGOs across India will take up this cause and campaign before the dawn of another festival of lights turns into dusk for a few. Awareness through concerted efforts needs to be moulded so that authorities can ban these deadly crackers and save the innocent.

Traumatised patients:

Manikanta, a 3rd standard student of Hosur, was returning from school and watching friends burst cracker. Became an unsuspecting victim and has hurt his right eye.	Vinay, 12-year-old, eighth standard student of Mulbagal, lost his left eye when he went close to a cracker to see if it was properly lit.
Basappa, 60-year-old resident of Uyyamaballi in Kanakapura, was innocently standing in his village watching youngsters revel in crackers. Dangerously hurt his right eye as a cracker unexpectedly flew at him.	Priya, 15-year-old, 10th standard student of Bangalore, a victim of a rocket burst by a neighbour. Wanted to watch the fun of festivities and in the process lost her left eye.
Kantharaju, a 7th standard student in Munnireddipalya, Bangalore, was hit by a rocket fired from the road of the city. Another unsuspecting victim.	Mahesh, an electrical serial light shop owner in Yelahanka, lost his left eye while bursting a cracker with a dried coconut shell on top of it.

Minto Ophthalmic Hospital,
T P Kailasam Square,
Pampa Mahaakavi Road,
Chamarjapet,
Bangalore – 560 002,
India.
Telephone : 91-80- 6707176, 91-80-6701646.