A wise person once said, “Do your duty as you see it, and damn the consequences”. So, writing this in spite of my wedding tomorrow (Yes, a dedicated post on it will be up shortly) as I feel obligated to do the same.
If you are someone who deals with business contracts a day in and day out, I am pretty sure the title makes sense to you. However, for the rest, the below must help.
Force Majeure literally means greater force. These clauses excuse a party from liability if some unforeseen event beyond the control of that party prevents it from performing its obligations.
Before I start, I just wanted to assure you that this post is definitely not about the Force Majeure contract clause and sub-clauses. It’s just a fancy title hook to make you read the post.
I am gonna try put forth my views through a hypothetical situation. Hope it helps.
Let’s consider that you had a long day and you are on your way back home, kinda late at night. En route, you see a bus got into a brutal accident. You witness the passengers were struggling to get out of it and the bus entirely flipped. As it’s late in the night, they are mostly on their own and striving to get out of it. What would you do?
- Wouldn’t you run to help them?
- Try to save lives?
- Call the ambulance?
- Try to get all the assistance you could?
OR
- Would you be standing and investigating the root cause of the mishap?
- Sit and debate if it was cos the passengers had the food that you wouldn’t approve
- Discus if it was cos a female driver wanted to drive the bus which was usually driven by a male driver?
- Obstruct others from helping by stating some laws?
- Shamelessly portray that you are helping and stealing the credits of the genuine saviors?
The above is not any other hypothetical situation. You can very much relate to what’s happening in Kerala. And, it’s quite heart-wrenching to see what’s God’s own country is going through.
My very first trip out of Tamil Nadu (excluding yearly trips to Tirupathi) is to Munar, Azhapuzha & Thekadi in Kerala during my school days. I still treasure the pictures I clicked there using a film camera. Many others followed including the recent Vagamon, Wayanad and Cochin trips. I have always been awestruck by its astounding natural beauty, food, and culture. But now, it’s saddening to see it getting drowned in floods.
What’s most unfortunate is a few who are politicizing the situation by paining it with tints of religion and caste. It’s ok if you don’t want to lend a helping hand, but don’t stop others from doing so. We are a county with high human values. There have been instances where we had even helped the people of counties considered as our enemies in their hardships. My hope on humanity never dies, whatever the case is, it triumphs surpassing all boundaries. I can say that confidently having witnessed it loud and clear during the Chennai floods.
My contribution to the flood relief might be pretty small, but I don’t feel it’s insignificant. When tiny-tiny raindrops could collectively cause this terrible flood, in the same way, our tiny-tiny contributions will collectively help to bring the state back to normal. And, that’s what makes the tiniest of our efforts significant. Let’s pour in all the help we could.
Dear Kerala, not far are the days when we will visit you for some peace of mind and see happy faces around as usual.
Till then let’s Care la for our Kerala.
Gokoulane Ravi 