1986 was a normal year like the previous ones, we were getting closer to 1990s; technology was improving, computers started to appear in real life, telephone was still the most favourite communication instrument until April 26.
I was only five-year old at that time, attending to nursing school. I barely remember those days. However I remember one thing very very very clear, Chernobyl. On 26th April 1986, the worst ever nuclear disaster occurred. A nuclear power station exploded.
I remember how my parents, our family friends were concerned about the incident. Actually, nobody had any idea about what had happened and what would happen next, but a silent wave of fear was growing inside everyone. This fear was so strong, at the age of five, I learned the word radiation and for that age it was really hard to understand what does it mean. You perceive the world through psychical objects and the scariest can be a barking dog outside your window, and an invisible object appears in your life.
Many people were talking about the incident on TV, each friend visit had the same conversation all the time, endlessly. So, I learned the word radiation and Chernobyl at the age of five.
Years have passed, we all forgot the incident. Time-to-time there were some documentaries about the incident and they were saying that no one lives in Chernobyl and it is a restricted zone. Until last couple of minutes, I was thinking the same.
But, I have just saw the press release of Land Rover’s fund raising trip of 1.000.000th Land Rover Discovery 4’s trip from Birmingham, UK to Beijing, China through 15 different countries. And they stopped at Chernobyl! I thought I read it incorrectly; it cannot be possible to send a team to visit Chernobyl. I read it again and again but, it was correct. A team of people driving Land Rover Discovery 4’s visited the restricted city and visited the exploded power station. I wish that the team did not expose to anything but the press release mention that, there is still radiation around the area.
This press release just recalled my child memory. I remember one phrase from that time “don’t drink tea”.
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Land Rover
