Carlton Towers Tragedy - RIP

Undoubtedly, Tuesday's incident at Carlton Towers, Bangalore will be an unforgettable tragedy, not only for the families who lost their loved ones, but for the whole nation. More than a tragedy, it is an embarrassment.

Carlton towers is a multi-storey commercial complex with top restaurants like TGIF, Corner house... , software companies ranging from small office to branches of big MNC's. Plenty of innovators, young aspiring professionals with dreams of achievements, go up and down the stairs every day.

The difference between a fire incident in such a building and any other place is the loss of enormous talents employed with the enterprises & small companies located there in.

Take the case of Mr. Siddartha Padam , one among the deceased.. An IIM-B pass out, he had over 9 years of strategic planning and Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) experience in the technology and business services area. He was the Chief of India Operations at Chesapeake.

Or Know about young Surabhi Joshi, one among the deceased.. An IIM-B & IBS Hyderabad pass out, she had won the 'business development associate of the year - Asiapac' award for 2009, besides being a trained classical dancer..

The list goes on and on..

There are thousands of such Carlton towers through out India, with lakhs of young professionals excelling in various departments.

If India needs to transform into a developed nation or face the competition from other developed nations, such are the talents required. We simply cannot afford to lose such talents due to a builder's carelessness or some other silly reason.

I only hope that these people learn from the Carlton tragedy and rectify the flaws in their safety and security arrangements, to prevent future embarrassments.

For the ones who could not be saved - RIP

Note: Next time your company conducts a mock fire drill, don't bunk the event. Please participate in the event. If these people who lost their lives in this incident had that opportunity and had they participated in it, they would have known how to save themselves as well as save others.