Remembering Hiroshima Date: 6th Aug, time 8:15

A few years back I went to visit an aircraft museum near Washington air port. An American B-29 bomber aircraft called Enola Gay is on display here. This is the name of the loving mother whose pilot son by the order of American President Truman had dropped an atom bomb on 6 aug, 1945 on Hiroshima, a city of Japan. About 2 kms away from the site of bomb explosion was standing a priest whose watch in his pocket stopped working precisely at the time of explosion and is a historic proof of that fateful moment.

Hiroshima was not a military town. Bombing it was horrific scheme to totally destroy the city , put to death the entire civilian population in the blink of an eyelid and thus terrorize the whole world! This is not something new from America. On 13th April, 1945 America along with Great Britian kept firebombing Dresden, a never before attacked city of Germany, the whole night. That night over a hundred thousand civilians and refugees were burnt alive. Dresden was a cultured center, and a totally non-military target.

But Hiroshima is a different story. One uranium bomb weighing approximately 13 tonnes was exploded with a parachute 200 meters above the ground level. This ghostly explosion accompanied by terrible fire balls and myriad of powerful radioactive rays went over the city in one second . That day two and a half lakh people were in this city.

All around within a radius of 1 mile everything was blown off. 90% buildings collapsed. 1/3 of the population was eliminated in blinking of an eye. Skin was totally ripped off and internal organs of other were strewn all over . Rest of the people became a victim of immmense blast. Radioactive rays and falling buildings also killed. Survivors if any were affected by numerous diseases due to impact of radiation as well as cancer and died in the next 3 months. Those who finally survived, their life was worse than death. Thomas Phirby, the pilot of Enola Gay aircraft was very proud that he carried out the order with perfection. He died a natural death at 81. It seems God also deemed his work priase worthy !

Today in our own country and the neighbouring ones, nuclear weapons are being presented in a romantic light .Scores of atom bomb are being made .In this day and age we don’t become more powerful by manufacturing bombs. In atomic war only unarmed can die a futile death. Today we repeated by hear of planned attacks on nuclear facilities of Iran, a non-atomic bomb power. If Iran is destroyed we shall not be spared because the radioactivity filled dust of Iran can reach us within 15 days and have its fatal impact in north India. I don’t understand why our nation doesn’t utter a single word for concern ?

What will happen if today an atom bomb is dropped ?

Now we don’t even need an aircraft like Enola Gay to drop an atom bomb. It will be borne by a rocket and dropped on a central city. Hiroshima bomb was a baby bomb. Now 40-50 times bigger bomb will repeat in any city what happened in Hiroshima. The outcome would be much more horrible. Eight to ten lakhs of people will die before one bats an eye lid. The same terrible fire and powerful storm . Every combustible object will catch fire within a radius of 10 miles-vehicles, petrol pumps and army ammunition will explode. Electricity will fail and the water in the city will evaporate into the air. 15-20 lakhs people would sustain minor to major injuries . There will be no ambulance, no hospital will be intact or open. No one will come forward to help the town by any means. There will be no trace of government. All work, business and transportation will come to a standstill. Everyone shall remain in his house with bated breath. Food supply to the nearby shocked cities would become impossible or slow. There would be a surfeit of rumours. If the bombs drop on 10 cities the entire industrial and financial activity shall cease for years, perhaps decades. There will be no one to command the army. This will not be plight of one country but all other countries too. The world will regress to 15th century or perhaps “stone-age”from 21st century and for centuries it shall not be able to overcome the ill effects of radiation and several epidemics.

Won’t it be better that we, and the neighboring countries should not be prompted by super powers to amass nuclear weapons in the name of war preparedness , instead direct all our energy to such endeavours that will ensure peace , friendship and stability in the regions.

Would you like that in some honorable war a small atom bomb similar to the one that devastated Hiroshima should rewrite the history of 6th Aug , 1945 and this time from your own city ?