"Hiroshima" by John Hershey -

My best read of the week - "Hiroshima" by John Hershey.

On August 6th 1945, Hiroshima felt the impact of what is largely considered as the most brutal, inhuman and completely unnecessary act of innocent annihilation ever undertaken in the annals of Human history. Let us for a moment relive the lives of those ordinary men and women, who woke up that fateful day, going about the daily chores, lost in their world of mundane Human predicament, caring for their young and loved ones, living the monotony of life, unmindful of the aerial bombings by allied forces that had become a mechanical part of their lives – and more importantly - blissfully unaware of the tremendous catastrophe that was about to be unleashed on them on that bright morning. It was just an ordinary day for the citizens of Hiroshima, caught in the polarities of a world war that they could little understand, and much less appreciate. They believed that Americans were predatory and it was a matter of time before their supreme discipline would overcome the economic might of superpowers. The Japanese are also a stoic race, built on generations of courtesy and values that is distinctly theirs. Even in the direst of circumstances, they would rarely display emotions that betray their inner feelings. But on that fateful day, little did they realize that their well-honed character, conviction and courage would be tested to the hilt; their sense of values and capacity for forbearance will be pushed to a superhuman limit – for, a calamity so devastating was to fall upon their lot - leaving them morally, spiritually and intellectually devastated forever as a nation. The scars of those few hours still singe with pain in the psyche of its people.

Nearly Seventy five thousand of them died, many more seriously injured within a span of twenty four hours from the time atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. For Nearly a year after the attack, the wave of heat, dust and radiation spread its demonic wings slowly, stealthily across the circumference of the city; and its unfortunate citizens could neither flee from its clutches nor fathom what had hit them so forcefully. All kinds of childish explanations, rumors and platitudes were floating around the city. Some felt that Magnesium vapors were being spread, other surmised that gasoline was strewn and lighted from fighter planes - but none could however, even in the wildest of imagination conceive that they were the victims of the first ever nuclear bombing in recorded human history. That they were standing at the brink of a new political equilibrium that was to unequivocally tilt towards a new world order based on pure, unprecedented and immense power. With bodies dropping to the ground like dead ducks, lacerated skins oozing pus and gangrene, children dying of poisoned water, men and women trapped under intolerable debris; debilitating heat and an enormous sense of destruction so singular - people were walking around like zombies – lost and bereft of any anchor, trying to help and find meaning in this desolation. Documentaries and books over the years have consecrated a typical image of the holocaust in our memory. The picture of a balloon of smoke and dust cloud erupting from the fission, slowly spreading and enveloping many square miles of city. These pictures have remained etched in our historical chronology and books, and that is the only image that we carry with us. But the ground reality on that day, in that hour- for those who happened to escape the death doom of the blast, and survived the initial impact by some miraculous stroke of fate or by sheer coincidence, it was a nightmarish reality, where their known world : its significance, meaning and boundaries stood altered.

Early, this month, I found a copy of John Hershey’s moving journalistic account of the first year after the bombing. The book is called “Hiroshima”. It was originally published in the Newyorker Magazine in 1946, based on six eye witness accounts who survived those first horrific moments of bombing. Hershey tells the story of Hiroshima through the eyes of these characters. Among them is doctor, a priest, a housewife, a philanthropist - all of them numbed by the immensity of what had befallen them? In a matter of fact style, devoid of any emotions, Hershey recreates the poignant moment’s pain, anguish, sympathy, compassion, willpower and the resolute resilience of the survivors. From complete disbelief to the slow awakening of realization that they have been subjected to the banal act of nuclear war is sensitively, with great precision recounted in the short book of one hundred and fifty pages. I rarely get emotional when I read, but when I closed this slim volume, there was a small, dense tear dangling from the corner of my eyes. It is not so much the brutality and vehemence of the act that bothered me, it is the sheer dread of the kind of civilization that we have spawned in this scientific age. How could we embark upon something so horrendous, so utterly disdainful of life? There may be a thousand reasons that Military historians and social scientists may provide for such an act; but reading Hershey’s account, one sinks deep into those individual lives that were profoundly affected and changed by this carnage. The tear was more for those six men and women and thousands of others, who rose above circumstances, unmindful of the devastation around them; reaching into their inner well springs of energy, sympathy and action that saved thousands of lives, assuaged the pain of many more - without an iota of thought about themselves or their well-being.

Hershey’s sketch of those heroic souls is as down to earth as it can get. As one reads his narrative, one cannot but feel a deep sense of pride and dignity in being Human; and that no matter how hard we try as a race to annihilate ourselves, there will always be beacons of light in the wilderness, who reinstate nature’s faith in its own proud species. Not once in this entire account, does Hershey discuss the motives for such a dastardly act. To him, it was all about the individual and his reaction to this attack.

Hershey has written many books. My favorites include “A bell for Adano” (it was awarded the Pulitzer) - a story of an Italian officer who honors the town of Adano by rebuilding a bell that was melted during the fascist regime to make guns; “The wall” - a story placed in Nazi death camps, and “Antoneitta” - the fictional account of the famous Stradivarius violin: its romantic, adventurous and passionate history…

But this week was spent with “Hiroshima”. According to me, it is a book to be read by every educated man. Not so much for its style, but for its message and meaning. In an age, when we diligently prepare ourselves for nuclear warfare that is manifold times more potent than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this book will act as a barometer of moral conscience, before we embark upon its usage. The sheer stupidity of annihilating ourselves and putting this beautiful balance of this planet to risk will strike with direct force in the pages of Hershey’s account.

This is a book you may want to buy, read and pass it on to your children as a legacy… It is worth your time…

God bless…