Let’s prevent festivals from ending in tragedy

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A 30-year-old man drowned at Juhu beach on Tuesday evening. According to reports, a large number of people were at the popular site, winding down the Tuesday morn Holi celebrations. Lifeguards and the police were alerted about a person in the water. He was brought out and taken to a medical facility in the vicinity, but doctors declared him brought dead.

While we do not know the exact circumstances of this incident, suffice it to say that a celebration has ended in tragedy for a family. Let us change the narrative around these endings to our special, joyous days.

At times, we have seen revellers get severe burns during festivals. And some occasions end with people injured or even fatalities in vehicle accidents as some merrymakers tend to speed across cities.

These are not festivals of a particular community, that is not the focus of the piece, it is the unfortunate but all too familiar fallout of reckless revelry.

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We must caution people, especially our youth, that marking the end of whatever festival one is celebrating, is not a licence to throw caution to the wind, and whirl headlong into chaos.

Care must be taken to prevent drowning incidents. Summer has started and the picnic season will be here soon, in the wake of school and college exams. Youngsters need to watch out when at beaches and lakes, near ponds and rivers as they lark about or try to cool off.

Guidelines are sacrosanct and lifeguard instructions need to be followed to the letter at beaches. At other rural water bodies, it is better to stay out altogether, as calm waters can be deceptive. The bigger tragedy within these tragedies is that they could be avoided altogether.