I wish to live a simple and smooth life but I am not able to do that. I always get distracted by one thing or the other and then I realized that the efforts taken to improve life of under privileged people are not quite enough. There are always horrifying stories and so I find questioning myself, why things are this way and not the other.
After finishing reading the books, “Someone knows my name” and “Cry the beloved country”, I really needed some change. It is hard to live with all those depressing thoughts in mind. I am an admirer of Jane Austen and I like everything about her writing. I have read and reread her books. I was looking for essays/articles on “Pride and prejudice” and accidentally found “Darcy’s story” by Janet Aylmer.
Before reading much of it, one of my friend insisted me to read book titled “Five past midnight in Bhopal” by Dominique Lapierre and Javier Morro. This friend of mine has no taste for romantic era of English classics. Finally, I took a chance and started reading the book.
“… It was five past midnight on the night of 3 December 1984 when a terrifying cloud of toxic gas escaped from an American pesticide plant in the heart of an Indian city of Bhopal. Killing between 16000 and 30000 people and injuring 500000 more .” these people were were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals.
The book is very well written, giving details not only about the hazardous plant in middle of the populated city but also about its surroundings, including the people living in the near by slums and workers in the plant.
More about the book can be found at
http://jessielloyd.blogspot.no/2007/05/all-that-is-not-given-is-lost.html
“Carbide has never supplied Bhopal’s medical teams with any detailed information about the substance MIC, later was found that when MIC broke down it releases hydrocyanide acid.”
“Carbide gases had primarily killed the poor. No court of law ever passed judgement on Union Carbide for the crime committed in Bhopal.”
For foreign multinational companies, India is nothing more than a huge market of billion plus population. We also read about how western countries exploit developing countries and use them as testing grounds for some of the most destructive and dangerous substances known to man.
Even if all this is true, I am more concern about the behaviour of our own government, our politicians, our bureaucrats and our own people. How could someone acquire so much selfishness? Life of a poor is nothing more than a vote in election to win. How can people be so senseless when it comes to lives of others?
The phrase “God helps those who help themselves” is a popular motto that emphasizes the importance of self-initiative. How do we expect uneducated poor people to think for themselves, when they can be easily misguided and influenced by someone who is well educated. Many a times these people have no choice than to follow suggestions from someone with better knowledge.
“… tonight the Bhopalis are going through their own Hiroshima… Is there even a God when such a catastrophe is allowed to happen? said…”
God is pictured like a mother and a protector and as long as I can understand, a mother is right there when her child needs help. If by chance you meet God, just ask how long mankind should suffer? Will there by any rescue operation?
