From being a spectator to becoming a participant : Welcome to Bhopal on 39th aniversay of the gas-leak

 After arriving in this city as a first timer on 30^th November, joining my new job at the University on 1^st December, and setting my home up on the 2^nd, attending the rally of Bhopal gas tragedy victims on 3^rd December 2023, 39^th anniversary of the dreaded night, was a normal inclination to get the feel of the place.  

The purpose of this visit was also like earlier similar exposure, where I would observe a lot and briefly interact to learn about the event and its aftermath. However, I ended up becoming a participant - insignificant part of 100+ people on their foot walking with a purpose - throughout the duration of the rally to the Union Carbide factory. That was a first-of-its-kind experience for me.

 

I observed a lady in her forties all by herself, searching for some used thread near the footpath to hang a banner at the spot from where the rally would begin. Rooted, witty, energetic, warm, and forthcoming, she intuitively identified me as someone from APU as I casually inquired about the rally. A leader of sorts, she remained in charge of the rally from beginning till end.  She continued to connect with a range of people—elder victims, younger campaigners, employees of NGOs, comrades, police, media persons, and children alike.   I met her half an hour before the others and stayed together an hour after the rally culminated at the factory. Over a range of discussions in response to my relentless queries, she remained cheerful and grounded. India Today, woman of the year award winner of 2011 and recipient of the international ethecon Blue Planet Award of 2019, she was an example for me to follow in becoming a passionate and committed professional, and in remaining humble and rooted.    Then there was a stout man in his 60s with a headgear mingling warmly with old and young participants. Instructing on sloganeering, he remained seated in an auto rickshaw with an audio system. He continued to cheer and guide the participants through sloganeering with an essence of remembering micro details of injustice, negligence, and impact of the tragedy.  Many old victims–perhaps the first generation and direct victims of the tragedy—surrounded him at the concluding venue to share their stories and concerns. He responded with warm bear hugs to some and with patient listening to the others. Having responded to my naïve questions with utmost sincerity, he did not make me feel a first timer or an outsider. His story of dropping out of a PhD and then earning an honorary one was inspirational. This gentleman - who spent 40 years for a single cause, who has worked across the spectrum of metallurgy, environment, and health, founder of activist and intervention organizations, a poet, and winner of several awards - taught me lessons of passion and compassion, sincerity and integrity, optimism and dreams, and of modesty and humility. 

 

To remain subtle and yet aware of achievements and possibilities is easy once one has reached a certain level of contentment in life. It is easier for those who have found a purpose and have spent time and effort pursuing it, as they do not require external validations. I got to know the breadth and depth of works of these two humans only after returning home and searching for them on the internet.  

There was a young girl who looked 7–10-year-old but could be older as she appeared mentally disabled or a slow learner.  She clung to her father for a long time before the rally began. She would not climb down, and her father needed to hold her for a long time.  However, she became active as the rally begin. Started dancing and walking in the middle of the two rows of rally participants. Oblivion to politics and activism around the issue, she remained a very active participant for a long part of the rally. Later, I learned that the long-term effects of the gas tragedy include similar disabilities among second and third generation of the victims because of the groundwater poisoning. That little girl could very well represent many other similar children who and whose families suffer silently even after four decades of the deadly night.  Observing her, I learn the importance of just being there, being seen, and getting counted. We need to fight some struggles even if with a bleak chance of success. The strugglers may not know who they are fighting against, but they know what they are fighting for.   While the struggle involves sincere efforts, one need not be serious all the time. She also taught to remain joyous and dance your way. 

The rally encountered a gathering of similar kind as it approached its culminating point near the ‘No More Bhopal’ memorial statue. There was commotion there as some from the gathering opposed to the rally and claimed that the rally was intruding their space.  Organizer and speaker of the meeting, a lady in her 60s started shouting in a shrilling voice and lamented that her such struggle continued for last few decades. Instead of going back to the audience, she spent a lot of time encountering the rally, which was also organised for the very purpose.  Another lady in her late 60s from the rally, who was quietly sitting in auto rickshaw through the rally, responded to the provocation. 

I realised that while the cause is large and a lot has been done and a lot more needs to be done, there always remain chances of disagreements among the fellow fighters.  One needs to be mindful of the possibility of such disagreements not resulting in the fight for a bigger share in a collective fight against a common cause.  The procession had a statue representing Union Carbide and Dow Chemical with tied hands, unlike an effigy that can be burnt.  As the rally ended, they invited the participants to beat the statue up with sticks and kicks until they could break it.  A metaphorical violent expression of dissent had women, children and men cleaning their hands and depicting desperation and frustration that are repressed for decades.  

 

Then, an auto driver ferried some of us back to Bharat Talkies from where the rally began, as some parked their vehicles there.  As I enquired about the location, he pointed to the compound wall of the factory. Then, he went on explaining how the gas-leak affected various parts of the city that day.  In his early fifties now, he vividly remembered the events as a teenage survivor whose home was some distance away from the factory.  He did not have any causality in the immediate family. He knew of instances where families that did not have any survivors. As we passed by Mukti Dham, the crematorium, he recalled how the place was overflowing with dead bodies for a few days after the tragedy.  A ‘gas claim card’ holder, he received Rs. 25,000 twice as a compensation.  I learn later than the compensation has remained inadequate for the magnitude of the impact and for the size of the population that was affected by the tragedy.

While the rally had some 100+ participants with remarkable presence of women of all ages, there were many more observers and spectators alongside the entire route of the rally.  These included shop owners and workers, onlookers from nearby homes and vehicle riders and commuters, and city dwellers.  Some observers and spectators were perplexed, some amused, some astonished, and some concerned. Time stood still for many such city dwellers at a similar point in time, some 39 years ago. Big events shake the city and its conscience from time to time, be it Bhopal or Delhi of 1984, Bombay of 1992 and 2008, or Ahmedabad of 2001 and 2002. Having spent nearly two decades in Ahmedabad, I never attended such commemorative events that affected the city or the state where I was born and brought up. This realisation hit me hard.

As an explorer and a researcher, I observe a lot and learn. In most public gatherings of these sorts, I remained a spectator or an audience, and picked observations from a distance.  For example, I observed the Lion Day rally and explored nearby villages with fellow campaigners in Gir forest, even though I was a researcher. I have witnessed the Pride parade in London and Gandhinagar, wherein I observed, interacted with and learned about sexual minorities but refrained from publicly accepting an ally status and walking the parade with them. I have attended talks and seminars during NRC CAA protests and listened to talks as an audience only.  It was different this time around. Having walked the rally as a participant and met wonderful people and interacted with them to learn from their first-hand experiences, I am happy to have started my Bhopal diary on a promising note. Some Indian and foreigner men and women with cameras and mikes documenting and recording the movements and moments to develop memories of the rally. I also thought of penning down my thoughts and sentiments about the experience, but only after they settled down well inside me.