The Momma Clan

A wake-up call, not a headline.

Day before yesterday, on 3rd June 2025, RCB won the match.

A day of collective joy after 18 years.

But the next day, 11 people were killed in a stampede and 64 were injured near the stadium.

Why?

• Stadium capacity: 35,000

• Crowd accumulated: In lakhs

• Gates opened at: 2:30 PM

• Firecrackers burst throughout the night, emotions were high, but the planning wasn’t.

A drain cover fell in, causing panic, chaos, and loss of lives.

Was it emotion? No.

Was it passion? No.

It was the absence of infrastructure and crowd management.

Excitement is human nature.

But emotion needs to be matched with infrastructure.

Public celebrations require:

•  Planned crowd movement management
•  Emergency preparedness by the authorities
•  Clarity of communication for citizens
• This has nothing to do with RCB.

It isn’t solely about the Government.

This is about how India needs to balance happiness and safety in an age when mass enthusiasm spreads quicker and goes viral than official word.

Let this not be just a headline.

Let it be an alarm.

Let the Cheers Not Turn to Cries!!

When joy becomes shaking ground,

And cheers are overwhelmed by siren sound,

Let not the cost of love for game

Be bodies lost, nameless by name.

The flags we wave, the songs we bellow,

Should never go out in fear or doubt.

A nation’s pride, a city’s light,

Must tread with care into the night.

For every heart that came to see,

The game, the team, the jubilee—

Safe roads, not fallen stone,

Not chaos faced alone out there.

So let us stand—not merely to cheer,

But construct the roads we hold so dear.

Let safety dance with jubilation,

Let care shine brighter than all desperation.

Lift your voice, but lift your gaze—

What we now intend, will rescue a few.

May loss not be lost in newsprint’s cry—

Let hearts be heard. Let none more die.

Let this be in memory of lives lost—

and an appeal to every citizen, organizer, and official:

Celebrate, yes—but never at the expense of safety!! Let this be a safety warning call for all of us!!

@Sujata Maggoo