Dr.S. Uthamasamy
Formerly Professor,Head of the Department, Director of Extension Education
TNAU, Coimbatore 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India Contact Address: 45, Vallalar Nagar, Vadavalli, Coimbatore - 641 041, India. Phone: 0422 2422076, Mobile: 98422 60618 uthamasamy@yahoo.com


A couple lost their 25 year old son, Arun Gopal Ratnam, in
a fire at home on June 4th. The son who had graduated with
MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison two weeks
earlier had come home for a while. He had lunch with his dad
at home and decided to go back to clean up his hostel room.
His father told him to wait, to meet his mother, before he
went back for a few days. Arun decided to take a nap while
waiting for his mom to come back home from work.

Some time later their neighbors called 911 when they saw
black smoke coming out of the house. Unfortunately, 25 years
old Arun died in the three year old house. It took several
days of investigation to find out the cause of the
fire. It was
determined that the fire was caused by the lap top resting
on the bed.

When the lap top was on the bed
cooling fan did not get the air to cool the computer and
that is what caused the fire. He did not even wake up
to get out of the bed because he died of breathing in carbon
monoxide.

The reason of writing this is that many of us using our lap
top while in bed. Lets decide and make it a practice not to
do that. The risk is real. Let us make it a rule not to use
the lap top on bed or put the computer on bed with blankets
and pillows around.

Please educate as many people as you can.