Five Past Midnight In Bhopal Part 16

KAMAL PAREEK-The Indian engineer who left his beautiful plant because he could not bear to see its safety standards declining, now lives in New Delhi where he works as an independent consultant to the chemical industry.

SHEKIL QUREs.h.i.+-The Muslim supervisor who was the last to leave the factory on the night of the catastrophe now runs a factory for production of alum used in purifying water. He is suffering from serious respiratory aftereffects. Like Mukund, he too is under indictment to stand trial for his role in the tragedy.

GANGA RAM-The leprosy and gas survivor has his small house-painting business running again. The Bhopal munic.i.p.al government gave the occupants of Orya Bustee a plot of land less than a mile north of the Kali Grounds. The community settled there and has reconstructed a small, typically Orya village with mud huts decorated with geometric designs. Dalima is still very active, although she complains more and more about the effects of the severe fractures to her legs.

DR. SARKAR-The heroic doctor of the Railway Colony was found at death's door in the stationmaster's office. Since then he has suffered from a chronic cough and frequent attacks of suffocation. For years, he was convinced that pockets of gas left behind by the toxic cloud were still poisoning people. He retired in Bhopal, where he lives surrounded by his children.

DR. ASHU SATPATHY-The rose enthusiast and pathologist, who performed the first autopsies on the victims on the night of the tragedy, is now head of the department of forensic medicine at the Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal. He still grows roses, which he sends to all the Indian flower shows. Affected by the gases that had impregnated the clothing on the corpses, he now suffers from breathing difficulties. Because he did not live in the area hit by the toxic cloud, he never received any compensation.

V.K. SHERMA-The courageous deputy stationmaster who saved hundreds of pa.s.sengers by making the Gorakhpur Express leave the Bhopal station, now lives in the suburbs of Bhopal. His injuries have turned him into an almost total invalid. His breathing is so labored that he can scarcely speak. The slightest physical effort causes terrible attacks of suffocation. The government paid him 35,000 rupees, a little over $740.

ARJUN SINGH-The chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, who dispensed property deeds to the occupants of the poor neighborhoods bordering on the Union Carbide factory, won the elections in February 1985 and became one of India's most powerful politicians. Appointed vice president of the Congress party by Rajiv Gandhi, he was made a central government minister several times. He has lost his seat in the New Delhi parliament. He now divides his time between the capital and Bhopal where he has had a sumptuous residence built on the sh.o.r.es of the Upper Lake.

MOHAN LAL VARMA-The operator, accused of sabotage by Union Carbide, was never charged. Today he lives some sixty miles from Bhopal and works for Madhya Pradesh's industries department.

WARREN WOOMER-The American engineer who supervised the training of the beautiful plant's Indian engineers at Inst.i.tute, is now living with his wife Betty in South Charleston. His house overlooks the Kanawha Valley. When Woomer goes out for a walk, he can see the outline of the Inst.i.tute factory, where the tanks invariably contain several dozen tons of methyl isocyanate. Woomer has just written a history of Union Carbide's industrial presence at Inst.i.tute. He has remained a consultant for the factory, which now belongs to the Franco-German chemical company Aventis.

"All That Is Not Given Is Lost"

Solidarity Work that Dominique Lapierre.

has Undertaken in Calcutta, Rural Bengal,

Ganges Delta, Madras and Bhopal.

Thanks to royalties and my fees as a writer, journalist and lecturer, and thanks to the generosity of my readers and friends who support the organization I founded in 1982, it has been possible to initiate or maintain the following humanitarian work: 1. The a.s.sumption of complete and continuing financial responsibility for taking care, at the Udayan-Resurrection home in Barrachpore near Calcutta, of three hundred young boys and girls who have suffered from leprosy.

2. The a.s.sumption of total and continuing financial responsibility for 125 handicapped children in the Mohitnagar and Maria Basti homes, near Jalpaiguri.

3. The construction and equipment of the Backwabari home for severely mentally and physically disabled children.

4. The extension and reorganization of the Ekprantanagar home in a dest.i.tute suburb of Calcutta, which provides shelter for 140 children of seasonal workers at the brick kilns. The installation of a source of clean drinking water has transformed the living conditions in this home.

5. The creation of a school near the Ekprantanagar home to educate both the 140 children who live there and 350 very poor children from the nearby slums.

6. The reconstruction of several hundred huts for families who have lost everything in the cyclones that have hit the Ganges Delta.

7. The a.s.sumption of total financial responsibility for the Banghar s.h.i.+S medical center and its program to eradicate tuberculosis, which reaches out to more than two thousand villages. (Program staff holds nearly 100,000 consultations annually.) The installation of X-ray equipment in the main dispensary and the creation of several subsidiary medical centers and mobile units providing diagnostic X-rays, vaccinations, medical treatment and nutritional care.

8. The establishment of four medical units in the isolated villages of the Ganges Delta, which provide vaccinations, treatment for tuberculosis, programs in preventative medicine, patient education and family planning, as well as "eye camps" to restore sight to patients with cataracts.

9. The sinking of tube wells for drinking water and the construction of latrines in several hundred villages in the Ganges Delta.

10. The launching of four floating dispensary-boats in the Ganges Delta to bring medical aid to the one million isolated inhabitants of fifty-four islands.

11. In Belari, the a.s.sumption of financial responsibility for a rural medical center that serves more than 90,000 patients a year from hamlets devoid of any medical care; the construction and a.s.sumption of responsibility for the ABC center for physically and mentally handicapped children; the construction of a village for 100 dest.i.tute or abandoned mothers and children; with a home where mentally sick women are taken care of.

12. The creation of several schools and medical (allopathic and homeopathic) in two particularly poverty-stricken slums on the outskirts of Calcutta.

13. The construction of a "City of Joy" village to house homeless tribal families.

14. The installation of solar-powered water pumps in ten very poor villages in the states of Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan and Orissa, to enable the inhabitants to grow their crops even in the dry season.

15. The a.s.sumption of financial responsibility for a job-training workshop for leprosy sufferers in Orissa.

16. The provision of medicines as well as 70,000 high-protein meals for the children who live at the Udayan Resurrection home.

17. Various undertakings for the underprivileged and leprosy patients in the state of Mysore; abandoned children in Bombay, in Palsunda, near Bangladesh and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; as well as the occupants of a village in Guinea, Africa, and abandoned and seriously ill children in a hospital in Lublin, Poland.

18. The creation and financing of a gynecology clinic in Bhopal to treat underprivileged women who are survivors and victims of the 1984 chemical disaster. The purchase of a colposcope to detect and treat cervical cancers.

19. The dispatching of emergency teams and aid to victims of the terrible floods in Orissa and Bengal; an ongoing program to house thousands of families who lost everything.

20. Since 1998, the a.s.sumption of financial responsibility for part of Pierre Ceyrac's education program for 25,000 children in the Madras region.

How You Can Help to Continue the.

Work among Some of the World's Most.

Underprivileged Men, Women and Children.

Because of lack of resources, the a.s.sociation Action Aid for Lepers' Children in Calcutta, which I founded in 1982, can no longer meet all the urgent needs, which the various Indian organizations that we have been supporting for the last twenty years, have to provide for.

In order to continue financing the homes, schools, clinics and development programs run by the admirable men and women who have devoted their lives to serving the poorest of the poor, we need to find fresh support.

We have, furthermore, an ongoing serious worry. What would happen if tomorrow we were to have an accident or if illness were to prevent us from meeting the budgets for the centers that depend on us?

There is only one way to address this danger, and that is to turn our a.s.sociation into a foundation.

The capital from this foundation would have to be able to provide the annual revenue necessary to finance the various humanitarian projects that we support. To generate the 500,000 dollars needed each year, we would need an initial capital sum of at least 10 million dollars.

How are we to raise that sort of capital if not through the contributions of a mult.i.tude of individuals?

Ten million is ten thousand times a thousand dollars. For some people it is relatively easy to give a thousand dollars to a good cause. Some people could probably give even more.

But for the vast majority of friends who have already spontaneously given us a donation after reading The City of Joy, Beyond Love or A Thousand Suns or after hearing one of my talks and who often faithfully keep up their generous support, it is much too large a sum.

One thousand dollars, however, is also twice five hundred dollars or four times two hundred and fifty, or five times two hundred dollars, or ten times a hundred dollars, or even a hundred times ten dollars.

Such a sum can be raised from several people at one person's initiative. By photocopying this message, by spreading the word, by joining with other family members, friends or colleagues, by setting up a chain of compa.s.sion and sharing, anyone can help to keep this world alive and bring a little justice and love to the poorest of the poor. Alone we can do nothing, but together all things are possible.

The smallest gifts count for just as much as the largest. Isn't the ocean made up of drops of water?

A big thank you in advance from the bottom of my heart, for everyone's support, whatever their means.

P.S. We would like to remind readers that the a.s.sociation Action Aid for the Lepers' Children in Calcutta has no administration costs. The totality of the money from the authors' royalties and of the donations received from readers is sent to the centers for which it is donated.

Donations to support Dominique Lapierre's humanitarian.

action can be sent to: "ACTION POUR LES ENFANTS DES LePREUX DE CALCUTTA" (Action Aid for Lepers' Children of Calcutta) Care of: Dominique & Dominique Lapierre Les Bignoles, Val de Rian, F-83350 Ramatuelle, France website: www.cityofjoyaid.org Banking transfers can be made directly to:.

Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP), Agency Paris Kleber 51, Avenue Kleber, F-75116 Paris, France Bank Code: 30004 - Agency Code: 00892 Account Number: 00001393127 - Cle Rib: 21 IBAN: FR76 3000 4008 9200 0013 9312 721 For taxpayers in the USA, tax-deductible contributions can be sent to:.

"CITY OF JOY AID, Inc."

Taxpayer Identification Number: 54-1566941 Care of Marie B. Allizon 7419 Lisle Avenue, Falls Church, VA. 22043, USA Telefax: +1 (703) 734.69.56 Dominique Lapierre's organization has NO overhead costs. Each donation received goes entirely to serve a priority action.

Photo credits.

All photos are from the authors' collection except: p. 45: coll. Eduardo Muoz; p. 6 (top): coll. Zahir Ul Islam; p. 6 (bottom)7: coll. Niloufar Khan; p. 8 (top): coll. John Luke Couvaras; p. 1314 (up)1516 (top; left bottom): coll. Jamaini.

* A lentil puree that is the main source of vegetable protein in India.

Wheat pancakes.

A small, rudimentary oven.

* Literally "four legs," a bed made out of rope strung across a wooden frame.

* A ceremonial offering in front of the altar of a G.o.d.

Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated with an explosion of fireworks and firecrackers, is the most joyous festival in the Hindu calendar. Da.s.sahra, the tenth day of the festival of Durga celebrating the G.o.ddess's victory over the buffalo demon of ignorance.

* A long garment worn by Muslim women, completely concealing the body and face.

* Pieces of material draped around the thighs and between the legs.

* A bustee is a poor neighborhood of makes.h.i.+ft shacks.

* Wheel of destiny.

* Small b.a.l.l.s of coal and straw used as fuel for cooking food.

* A bribe.

* Literally "big arms," ruffians.

* This smell of boiled cabbage was to take hold in the magic valley. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed that, between January 1, 1980, and the end of 1984, at least sixty-one leakages of methyl isocyanate occurred at the Inst.i.tute factory. The management of the factory had not brought most of these leaks to the attention of the people living in the valley, on the grounds that they did not pose a real health threat or exceed the legally accepted standards for toxic emissions in the atmosphere.

* Namaste or namaskar, literally "to prostrate oneself." A salutation involving pressing the hands together at the level of one's heart or face. The degree of respect shown is measured by the height at which the hands, which may be raised as high as the forehead, are held.

* Canonical law.

* A wise or learned man.

* The elephant-headed G.o.d of prosperity.

* According to the magazine India Today of April 15, 1989, more than three thousand little girls a year are delivered into prost.i.tution on the occasion of the festival of Makara Sankrauti in the state of Karnataka alone.

* When the palace was demolished, the magnificent Venetian crystal chandeliers that illuminated the feasts held by the nawab were taken down and stored in packing cases. The authors of this book have never been able to recover any trace of them.

* Hindu ascetics.

* Horse-drawn carts.

* Niche indicating the direction of Mecca and, therefore, of prayer.

* Poetic couplets.

* Muslim law, which obliges women to conceal their faces and bodies from the eyes of men.

* Affectionate abbreviation of "sahib."

* Property t.i.tle deeds.

* A term of respect; from "sardar," or "chief."

* Although originally from the region that was to become Bangladesh, and despite having spent part of his life in the United States, Europe and the largest cities of India, it was to Bhopal that Ranjit Dutta returned to retire.

* A large land owner.

* "Long live!" in Hindi and Urdu.

* Exactly 521,262 people according to the Indian Medical Research Counsel. This figure does not include victims who were not permanent residents of Bhopal, all those of "no fixed abode" or members of nomadic communities. Nor does it include those victims indirectly affected by the tragedy, such as children still in their mothers' wombs, or those subsequently born to parents poisoned by the gas.

* "Averting a Bhopal Legal Disaster," Wall Street Journal, May 16, 1985.

Other books by.

Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro.