Operation Dost.

Two images of Indian personnel deployed in earthquake-hit Turkey were heartwarming on a day when the body count was otherwise grim, as the toll there and in neighbouring Syria has crossed 25,000. A video of a stretchered six-year-old girl wrapped in a blanket with a rescuer carefully holding her neck after pulling the child out of a Turkey rubble showed the professional skills of the Indian NDRF teams working there as part of Operation Dost.

Every life saved is a victory against time and the elements. The survival window is rapidly closing in the region where rain and freezing temperatures have made rescue that much more difficult. The other photo was of a grateful local woman hugging and kissing a female Indian Army personnel at what appeared to be a field hospital that got operational in Turkey. India has already sent loads of relief materials besides personnel, sniffer dogs and specialised equipment for the rescue efforts. It was a quick outreach to save lives in their hour of need without geopolitical considerations.

Contrast it with Turkey President Erdogan shooing off Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hours before he was to board a flight to Ankara to offer his condolences and the short shrift he got is stark. To put it in context, Erdogan has been raising Kashmir in the global fora for quite some time at the behest of Pakistan, though his position was quite nuanced at the UN General Assembly last year. The softer tone was seen as the outcome of his one-on-one with PM Narendra Modi at the Samarkand Summit.

On a different note, earthquakes are a regular occurrence in that part of the world as the tectonic plates are seismically active. Yet, there is growing evidence that this was a man-made tragedy in Turkey as quite a few multi-storeyed buildings that collapsed like pancakes were claimed to be quake-proof when sold to prospective home buyers. The heat is already on the housing sector regulators. No wonder Erdogan is grappling with popular anger at ground zero.

As for Syria, India has flown in relief supplies despite global sanctions, as curbs don't matter when the scale of the tragedy is colossal. The need of the hour is to reach food, water, shelter and medical aid for the thousands of survivors on both sides of the border to avert another humanitarian crisis of gargantuan proportion.

Courtesy. Masthead of the NIE

My take

Yet another diplomatic masterstroke by the PM by emphasising upon human considerations on a country that had taken a sustained negative attitude towards India. Great!

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9.

The maid had got on with her work and insisted on a book about Muthachchan, to know about him.

Sajish, our chauffeur for long trips, reported the passing away of his wife yesterday. She had quite a few medical problems and not diagnosed properly, as I understood from his narrations. Om Shanti! Sadgati. They have a son who's schoolgoing.