01cover - bhopal.orgbhopal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2005newsletter-reduced.pdf · PHOTO: RAGHU RAI Jaan hai to jahaan hai *E Ve G@UeKHEe VeG@UetGeVorKC I CALL HER MY ADOPTEDM

777he newsletter of the hopal edi al Appeal, Sprin Autumn 2005

eop e r ee t ope e

THIS FAMOUS, TERRIBLE & TENDER PICTUREwas taken byMAGNUMphotographer Raghu Rai on the morning after the night ofhorror in Bhopal, on December 3, 1984, when a huge cloud of poison500 times more toxic than cyanide spewed from a factory belonging toUnion Carbide Corporation.

�ousands died in the most hideous ways. As the sun rose onstreets full of corpses, Raghu found himself in a stony graveyard wherea man was burying his young daughter. �e father had covered the tinybody but then, unable to bear parting from her, brushed the earth awayfor one last look.

For the Bhopalis this picture has come to symbolise twenty-oneyears of unimaginable suffering, an injustice that has never been righted,crimes that continue to go unpunished, and a community that most ofthe world has forgotten.

Today in Bhopal, well over 100,000 people are still chronically sickfrom the effects of that night, while some 20,000 others are sufferingfrom illnesses caused by contamination of their wells and stand-pipesby chemicals leaking from the abandoned plant, which to this dayremains derelict and full of poisons. Union Carbide and its owner DowChemical continue to deny responsibility for the water poisoning andrefuse to clean up the factory.

WHY IS THE NEWSLETTER CALLED777?777 in Hindi and Urdu is saat saat saat which with a slight twist ofthe tongue can also mean together, together, together. �e BhopalMedical Appeal is a joint effort of ordinary people around the worldto bring free medical relief to victims of the gas and water disasters.Who are we? We’re survivors and Sambhavna Clinic staff in Bhopal,we’re donors, volunteers, supporters and organisers in the UK andelsewhere. We’re all equal, all together, and all together we’re theBhopal Medical Appeal.

GIVING SOMETHING BACKWe have learned a great deal about treating chemically- and industrially-induced illnesses with therapies that do not add to the body’s toxicload. We are looking to share knowledge with people and organisationsall over the world who may benefit from it. Ideas welcome.

DONATIONS MAY BE MADE DIRECT TO OUR ACCOUNT:PAN-UK/Bhopal, A/c No: 61752312, NatWest Bank, BrixtonBranch (Sort Code 60-03-36), 504 Brixton Rd, London SW2 8EB

CONTACT 777:Editor: [email protected], Website: http://www.bhopal.org

A project of the Pesticide Action Network UK, Registered Charity No. 327215.

hopal edi al Appeal

TO DONATE WITH A CARD PLEASE CALL

FREEFONE0800 316 5577

777

he newsletter of the hopal edi al Appeal

Photos byRAGHU RAIPRAKASH HATVALNEMAUDE DORRDEJAN KURALTPAUL BULLIVANTRACHNA DHINGRATERRY ALLANSYLVIE TOPORSKICOCO TATHAM-BANKS

Design byJAMRACH& SONS

EditorialINDRA SINHAKATE BOOTLE

PrinterDAVE ELLIOTT LITHO

Bhopal, a brief background

MANY ONLOOKERS WERE IN TEARSas Bhopal survivor Kamlesh Verma unveiled a plaque at the end of Aprilthis year to open Sambhavna’s new clinic in the heart of the gas-affected area of Bhopal. Said one old lady, ‘I canhardly believe that this beautiful building and thispeaceful garden is for me!’

In the years before our first clinic opened inBhopal, she and so many others had grown usedto waiting for hours in the heat at governmenthospitals only to be sent home without beingexamined and told to buy their own medicines –impossible for people whose ‘compensation’,meant to last the rest of their lives, averages around4p a day. A recent Supreme Court MonitoringCommittee report on the government hospitalswhich are supposed to treat gas victims makeshorrifying reading. Our clinic is much needed.

�anks to your generosity, at Sambhavna allconsultations, treatments, therapies and medicinesalways have been and always will be completely free.

�is special edition of 777 presents the new clinic and its work tothe world. It’s a big newsletter, and for this reason it replaces the two

we would normally issue each year. As always we have keptcosts to a minimum by doing all the writing, photography,design, editing, typography & proof correcting ourselves.

Our secret weapon is our excellent printer Dave Elliott, astaunch and long-time supporter who does a great job ofproducing our newsletters at a cruelly competitive rate. (Cruelto himself, that is.)

�e newsletter is a hugely useful tool, it goes not only toall our supporters, but to enquirers, journalists, legislators,doctors, schools, universitiesand potential funders allover the world. It pays foritself many times over andplays a crucial part in raisingthe funds that provide first class free medical care to thosewho are suffering in Bhopal.

In this issue we attempt to tell the whole story of theclinic that everyone reading this has helped to build. It’s afantastic achievement, and we have every right to be proud.

Already since opening a few months ago it has broughtSambhavna’s compassionate healing to more than 1,000 newpatients. Please keep supporting the Bhopal Medical Appeal,so the work we are doing together can continue to grow.

t o e er eppe e t o t yo

Kamlesh Verma, a survivor of the night of horror, opens our new Sambhavna clinic watched bySambhavna’s managing trustee Satinath Sarangi.

Sprin Autumn 2005

I VISITED BHOPAL FOUR WEEKS BEFORE THE1984disaster arriving from Delhi after a long frustratingjourney via Agra, Gwalior and Jhansi. Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi was assassinated four days after welanded in Delhi; the country entered a state of shockand panic and millions of Indians made for Delhi topay their last respects and the transport system wentinto seizure. Bhopal seemed relatively calm after themayhem near the epicentre of the mourning.

We had time to relax and at sunset rowed out ontothe larger of the two lakes created by Raja Bhoj in the11th century. �e sheer beauty of the upper lake stilldominates the south side of the city, but since my lastvisit of course everything has changed: the UnionCarbide corporation has made the name of Bhopalsynonymous with greed and negligence.

As a documentary photographer I hoped torecord in my short visit the tragic realities of lifein and around the plant, and at the Sambhavnaclinic. I wanted to recapture the positive spirit ofthe city as I remembered it but nothing preparedme for the passion and anger of the midnightmarch on the 2nd of December, eve of the 20thanniversary. Equally moving was the silence ofthe candlelit vigil under the memorial statue ofthe Bhopal mother and child on the ironicallynamed Union Carbide Road. �e heat of thetorches, the smell of kerosene and the faces ofthose still grieving, bearing images of their lostfamily members will always be vivid memories.

Surprisingly the Union Carbide factory still loomsabove the surrounding districts as it did on the fatalnight of the disaster. Piles of what looks like asbestossurround much of the rusting plant and droplets ofmercury lie in cracks in the first floor walkways. Wildpigs roam freely in the extensive grounds, and theplace is slowly being reclaimed by trees and scrub. �ejungle has not yet obliterated the ancillary buildingsincluding the control room where, amazingly, official

papers still litter the floor mixed with animal dung, anda sign above a wall of dials and gauges declares:SAFETY IS EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS. �e factory has thefeel of a film set where the ghosts of those formeremployees and those who died still walk.

Twenty years may have passed but for those whosuffered, the memories of that night and the following

ty o e & t o e y terA view of then and now

P A U LB U L L I V A N T

weeks, months and years are still real and potent. The pain is written on the faces of those I met on

Union Carbide Road and in the Sambhavna Clinicwhere so much amazing work was being done despitethe cramped building and limited facilities.

At the time of my visit the new clinic was nearingcompletion. It will provide modern medicine as well asequally valued traditional and alternative therapies in apurpose-built complex into which the architects havedesigned a range of energy saving technologies.

The celebration of the still half-built clinic onDecember 4th was a joyful and highly emotional eventwhich combined the grief and hope of local peoplewith many international supporters who campaign toensure that the name of Bhopal is kept alive in theglobal consciousness.

What the world needs to understand is that therehave been not one, but two disasters in Bhopal. As ifthe terrible events of 1984 had not caused sufferingenough, the factory’s warehouses still stacked high withrotting sacks of insecticide, the chemical slag-heapslying exposed to wind and rain, the carelessly spilledmercury and thousands of tons of chemical wastesdumped in two huge plastic lined lagoons have slowlyand inevitably seeped into the earth and spread outinto the underground water supply.

The drinking wells of twenty thousand people areirridescent and stinking with poisons whose bombasticscienti�c names probably not one them knows, but ofwhose effects they are in no doubt.

Sores, skin trouble, aching limbs, stomach ailments,nausea, breathlessness, all are part of daily life in theaffected areas. Some of those now being poisonedwere already victims of the gas. So far, at least, thereis little sign that their misery will end. No power onearth it seems, can compel Union Carbide to behavemorally, or obey the laws of the people it poisoned.

When the anniversary events were �nished and themedia caravan had moved on I revisited some of thesights for which the city and its surrounding areas arefamous. I went out onto the lake again at sunset as Ihad on that other day in 1984 and visited the smallisland where a shrine to the �shermen of the lakestands and imagined the day when justice is done andthe ghosts of Bhopal are laid to rest.

PAUL BULLIVANT: [email protected]

o e & t o e y ter

as disaster, water disaster

PHOTO:RAGHU

RAI Jaan hai to jahaan hai e

e e e e t e orI CALL HER MY ADOPTED MOTHER,she says I am her daughter and thatI’ll be there for her whenever sheneeds me. I just hope I will be, butthese days I’m far away in England& I can’t stop worrying about her.

I �rst met Mehboob Bi whenTim and I were �lming with thePeople’s Tribunal – this is when shelived in her old house, it was a lotbetter than the house she lives innow, but the moneylenders took it.

She had mortgaged it to getmoney for medicines for her sickhusband, Chand Miya. He told hernot to spend money oh him, shereplied, ‘How can I not?’

Now she has moved to a cornerof Qazi Camp to a house withouta roof. In the monsoon the raincomes right in. The house is besidethe stinking naala (an open sewageditch). It was the only place shecould �nd. I went to see the ChiefMinister to ask him for somemoney for a new roof. He gave me500 rupees, so I just spat in theearth outside his house. After thisRaghu Rai the photographer andsome others paid for a new roof.

Mehboob Bi, she has the mostwonderful presence, looks straightinto your eyes like she knows thetruth.

The �lm cameraman was beingan asshole and Mehboob Bi beganto cry. I went and sat next to herand hugged her and cried with her.

She had just lost Chand, she wasemotionally raw. You could see thepain and feel it in her. Tim and Ithen took a French journalist to herhouse. In the one room whereeveryone slept there was a goat tied

to the steel bed. When he offeredher money she refused to take it, sohe left it under her pillow.

Mehboob Bi was married toChand Miya. She did not belong toBhopal. When she arrived here lifewas really easy as Chand Miya wasworking for Union Carbide.

‘We were so happy. We used tobe well off, but my Kismet waswritten in Bhopal.’ Even todaywhen she speaks of Chand tearsroll from her eyes. She is so deeplywounded, so hurt. The gas hastaken everything.

From the �rst time I saw her tothe time when I left for Englandher face has weathered.

Her daughter, the youngest onewas so beautiful and wild, shelooked a lot like her mother in thepicture that Mehboob Bi shows soproudly of her and her husband.

She showed us an album of herpictures from before her marriage.She was stunning, dressed in shortkurtas with big goggles, two plaitsand curls plastered to the sides ofher cheeks. One of her daughterssaid ‘Ammi looks like Mala Sinha.’‘No,’ said the other one, ‘she’s likeSadhna.’ (Both Indian �lmstars.)

‘Chal hat pagli ladki’. Go on withyou silly girl. That is what she saidto her daughter with a coy smile.

When her daughters were smalland there was no food MehboobBi used to give them water at nightto �ll their stomachs. ‘Afterwards Icame to know that in many placesthe wells have been poisoned bythat factory, the same cursed placethat tried to kill us all with gas.’

So many years after the disaster

Mehboob Bi suffers from serioushead aches, often faints and getsvery high temperatures for whichthere is no clear or obvious cause.

‘I am waiting, daughter,’ she tellsme. ‘I am just waiting to go. I’m sotired, but who will look after thesechildren then? The debt collectorswill tear them apart, so the least Ican do is spare them from debtbefore I go.

‘My husband warned me howdangerous the chemicals were. Ifby mistake you put your hand intothem your hand would dissolve.

‘The day after the tragedy whenwe came back home our utensilswere covered with a green coating.Chand Miya did not let us come into the house he cleaned everythingup, washed every corner of thehouse before he let us come in.

‘The days just before the disasterwere the last few days I saw himhappy. Our miseries began on thatnight. All of us had breathed thegas, but he most of all. When hegot really ill and could no longerwork . . . I . . . we ran short ofmoney and I started work for the�rst time. He apologised to me forputting me through this.

‘I said jaan hai to jahaan hai, if wehave life we have the world.

He often told me not to spendthe money on him and his illness.

“I will die,” he said, “don’twaste your money on me.”

‘And he did. He left me alone.’

Narrated by Farah Edwards, a Bhopaliwoman who met her husband Tim whenhe cycled from Brighton to Bhopal to raisefunds for the Bhopal Medical Appeal.

ndless endless disaster

he new lini he people who built it

‘SINOJ IS IN LOVE , POOR FOOLISHFELLOW,’ say his mates. laughing.‘�ere’s this pretty girl who livesopposite the clinic. After work’sfinished Sinoj gets dressed up tothe nines and parades around onthe balcony gazing at her, hopingshe’ll notice him, but the poorfellow doesn’t even know hername. ‘Carrying rocks around onhis head all day has softened hisbrain.’ Sinoj Joseph at 25 hopesto get married soon. He’s anassistant stone-mason, that’s himin the picture, duly carrying a rock.

Like most of the men on thesite, Siroj’s home is in Kerala, athousand long miles to the south.

�e men came to Bhopalwith Jeet the architect, his hand-picked team of experts, (see www.houseofconsultants.com) To folkfor whom a wintry night is 22˚C(71.6˚F), Bhopal must feel arctic.At night here the mercury hasbeen known to fall to 1ºC. As abonus buffalo beef costs halfwhat it does at home.

�e women do the labouring,the unskilled fetching & carrying.It may seem bizarre, but this isthe way construction is done inIndia. All the women are Bhopalisand almost all were recruited by alady called Sabita.

Rani Bai is on the left end ofthe group in the picture above.She’s 35, has four daughters anda son and has not done this sortof work before. ‘I prefer to workwith women,’ she says but askedwhy shyly refuses to answer.

�e movement of the women

in their bright saris, coming andgoing with saucer-shaped tagaadison their heads––very good forposture––is hypnotic, rather like adance. French painter Jeff Stride(see later article) who visited theclinic while it was being built, wasfascinated by the rhythms of thewomen’s work and spent hourstrying to capture it on canvas.

Everyone works hard, fuelledby endless glasses of excellent teamade by Pappu the chaiwallah, anastute entrepreneur who opened atea-stall outside the clinic the dayconstruction started.

At four o’clock people go theirseparate ways. �e women returnhome to more work. ‘Who elsewill clean my house?’ asks RaniBai. ‘My husband can’t wash orcook.’ �e men, far from home,meet to have a drink, play cardsor go to the cinema.

�e biggest movie fan isMadhu 28, a carpenter. He’s theone on the left in the photo ofthe men working on the woodenceiling. Madhu is unmarried, likesTV and loves Keralan cinema.‘Sakilla’s my favourite. So shapelyis she.’ It turns out that she wasa famous actress in the 60s. Ofwestern movies, Madhu likesTitanic . He tolerates Bhopali food,but misses the fish, pomfret, craband lobster of his home.

Rajeeva (the carpenter wearingthe red bandana) is the JamesBond of the clan. He’s 29, intobody building and has evenfound a gym in Bhopal to go to.

(Continued on next page)

eet t e o r tero t o e o e

he people who built it

Rajeeva likes watching Bhopaliweddings. ‘�ey’re so exotic. Lotsof lights and music, not like inKerala. �e bridegroom actuallyrides a horse to the ceremony!’

Gangaram, thatching at right, isone of Bhopal’s real characters.Ex-chef, house-painter, maker ofplastic flowers, luckless chickenfarmer & would-be goat breeder,he starred in Dominique Lapierre’s Five Minutes to Midnight in Bhopal. Once, when a group of earnest activists decided to float a sizeablemeteorological balloon above thederelict Union Carbide factory tomeasure wind speeds and vectors,they hired Gangaram to managethe rope, which had to be raisedand lowered a metre at a time, totake readings at various heights.

Gangaram, so the legend goes,tied the rope to his toe and dozedoff. �e balloon drifted into a highvoltage line waking him, lit erally,with a jolt. Recovering in hospitalGangaram demanded, and dulyreceived from his hapless employersa whole roast chicken every day,while every evening (so rumour hasit) he would climb out of bed andescape through a window to enjoythe bright lights and sideshows ofthe Istima fair, which was being

held at the time in Bhopal.�ere was a sense throughout

the construction that what peoplewere making was more than abuilding: everyone knew it wouldmake an enormous difference tothe poor and sick of the city.

One day the workers listened toa story of how the money for theclinic was raised, how people allaround the world had contributedfor the sake of the gas victims andfor those who’ve become ill throughdrinking poisoned water.

Someone said, ‘�ose peoplewho gave, it’s like they’re all hereworking alongside us.’

When the work was finishedsomeone sang a song:

I’m missing my homeI’m missing the seaI’m missing my boatI’m missing my missusbut when my work here’s doneI’ll miss you tooEveryone in these pictures has a

name and a story, unfortunatelythere is no space to tell them all.

Most of these friends are gonenow, to other places and otherprojects, leaving us this beautifulhouse of healing and for those whoknew them it still echoes with theirbanter and laughter.

he new lini ou too helped build itou too helped build it

A visitor reports

y oe eWHEN I SAW THE FLARE STACKSthat had spewed death and miseryin Bhopal on December 3rd, 1984,chills ran down my spine. It was 11at night and a glow from behindthe steel structure etched its crisp,eerie silhouette against the nightsky. I was standing on the terraceof the new Sambhavna clinic.

Sambhavna was formed in 1995to provide free medical treatmentto the survivors of the gas leak &study its health effects. Barely akilometer away, the clinic standsfor trust, compassion, honesty,respect for the earth & life on it– everything the chimneys ofUnion Carbide had betrayed.

THOUGHTFULLY BUILT When one enters this brick clinicfrom the 40˚C heat outside it feelsair-conditioned –– actually better–– because the air is not stale.�e architecture provides for anairflow to cool the rooms andcorridors. One sees clever use ofconcrete fretwork, like thosewhich cooled the palaces of theMughal emperors 500 years ago.

�e clinic has double-skinnedwalls which provide insulation,conserve energy and make for ahealthier enviroment. Judiciouslyproportioned windows and glassskylights provide plenty of naturallight; planks from crates used toship heavy machinery were recycledto panel the ceilings.

Rain water off the tiled roofs isnaturally filtered and collected inan underground tank that suppliesthe clinic with water for washing.Waste water too is treated naturallybefore being used to irrigate thethirsty garden of medicinal plants.

Bhopal’s fierce summer heat isharvested by solar panels capable

of providing hot water & a heftyten kilowatts of power.

LOVINGLY RUNPeople coming to the clinic for

the first time are invariably amazedby the cool building in its beautifulgardens. �ey seem to find it hardto believe that such a fine place,surroundings so enchanting, canpossibly be for them.

‘We have never had anything solovely provided for us before,’ said

one elderly lady. ‘I’ve spent half mylife in hospitals. Why does suchkindness make me want to weep?’

Like everyone coming to theclinic for care, she is received withrespect and heard with compassion.

Sambhavna provides free healthcare and rehabilitation using age-old ayurveda and yoga therapy, in combination with the best modern medicine. It is uncommon to seetreatments like panchakarma underthe same roof as colposcopes, butthis unorthodoxy is effective as it isunique. Allopathic and ayurvedicdoctors work together to choose aregimen best suited to each patient.

Sambhavna is sensitive to the socialand cultural underpinnings of localcommunities. People exposed toCarbide’s gases in 1984 sufferedsevere damage to their musco-skeletal, gastro-intestinal, nervousand reproductive systems. Largenumbers of women suffer fromsevere gynaecological disorders.Sambhavna’s community workershave helped these women to over-come the social taboos of talking

about such problems.WHAT THE LOCALS THINKPappu, a local man, started his

tea kiosk near the main gate, theday the first mattock brokeground for the new clinic. Hiscontribution to bringing health& justice to Bhopal is to assurean incessant supply of tea toclinic workers, patients, volunteersand doctors alike.

I sat in Pappu’s tea stall for along time. Chatting with peoplethere gave me a glimpse of theirpain and frustration, as well astheir resilience & courage. An agedMuslim person with a flowingbeard recounted his experience

of the dreadful night of terror. With a reflective smile, he said

that while human beings might lie,the trees that never bore leavesagain after the disaster, would not.

He suffers from breathlessnessand had to quit working manyyears ago. His family finds it hardto make ends meet on his meagre‘compensation’.

A MONUMENT TO GREEDLater, I rode through the slum of

Atal Ayub Nagar which lies betweenthe northern boundary wall of thefactory and the railway track.

Reaching a signal cabin, I hurriedup its metal stairs, and there they

A view of the new lini

m e me t to eep

ANIL KUMAR SHUKLA, pathologylab technician. He is 32, a Bachelorof Science with a post-grad diplomaplus a certificate course in medicallaboratory technology. Coming to uswith four years’ field experience,Anil takes special responsibility forour microbiology tests.

DR SUSHMA PIPPAL, an allopathicphysician, provided medical relief togas victims at Hamidia Hospital inDecember 1984. She has a MBBS(Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelorof Surgery) and a post graduate MDin paediatrics. Sushma brings us 14years of experience as a physician.

ANAND VERMA, 25, is a communityresearch assistant with an MA insocial work and a BA in computerscience. Anand, from a village in theNarmada valley, is a member of thePeoples’ Health Movement. He hasdone research evaluating primaryhealth care at a district level.

DR MALI MUTTANNA MALLAPPA,25, Jai for short, is our panchakarmadoctor. He did a degree in ayurvedicmedicine & surgery from AyurvedicMedical College, Hubli, and a furthersix months of panchakarma trainingin Trivandrum. Jai is already on theclinic’s 6-strong steering committee.

CHANDRAKANTASISODIA, 35, is asanitary worker. In December 1984she was visiting Bhopal to see heraunt when she got caught in the gasdisaster. She cannot prove this sogot no compensation. She has beenliving in Bhopal and working as asanitary worker for the last 15 years.

NANDKISHORE YADAV, 24, worksas a sanitary worker. At the time ofthe Union Carbide gas disaster hewas living in Shahajahanabad withhis parents and was severelyexposed. Before joining Sambhavnahe worked for the Bhopal MemorialHospital Trust.

were, barely 100 metres away – thesteel flare stack and scrubber, thelocomotive-sized tank which leakedlethal methyl isocyanate gas on thenight of terror. I stood in a deadsilence trying to sort out concurrentfeelings of anger, pain, sorrow andhelplessness. �e hideous structures,overgrown with plants, seemed tosay, ‘If we had legs, we too wouldhave absconded like our owners.’

Chemicals left lying around inthe factory have seeped into thewater table rendering it dangerousfor human consumption. �e Delhi-based Fact Finding Mission On Bhopal found toxic heavy metals &cancer- and birth defect-causingchemicals in soil, water and even inbreast milk samples collected fromcommunities around the factory.

�is has led to severe illnessamong very poor people who can’tafford medical bills or loss of theirlivelihoods. Desecrating the purityof a mother’s milk should be thegreatest trespass against humanity –and failure to redress it the greatestcriminality.

Union Carbide, whose negligencecaused the deadly gas leak, andwhose subsequent carelessness ledto the poisoning of soil and water,is now wholly owned by the DowChemical Company, which refuses toclean the factory. Equally appallingis their refusal to share informationon the effects of MIC on humanphysiology.

By gathering information and byits painstaking documentation ofevery case, Sambhavna is trying topreserve history for posterity tolearn from.

Union Carbide is no longer theonly name associated with Bhopal.�e Bhopal Medical Appeal andSambhavna have been added to thelist. Sambhavna means compassion.Sambhavna means possibility. �eBhopal Medical Appeal means you.

SOMNATH MUKERJEE

ossibility in a pla e of dese ration New fa es at the new lini

e tt o

e p t e t

Above: Clinic staff hold their weekly meeting in the round house.Below: A ‘thank-you’ smile Dr Sushma in consultation

Even waiting can be fun, in a cool, comfortable place

Everyone gets their own Sambhavna patient record

he new lini and arden A ift to the world

paropakaaraaya phalanti vrikshhaahparopakaaraaya vahanti nadyah |paropakaaraaya duhanti gaavah paropakaaraarthamidam shariiramah ||

for the good of all trees bear fruitfor the good of all rivers flow,for the good of all cows give milk,this body too should be used for the good of all

From greate omegreat oo

A ift to the world

Over two decades, an unimaginable number of people in Bhopal have lost control of their bodies to a host oflittle-understood illnesses. From Union Carbide came only silence, refusal to share information about the likelycomposition of the poison cloud, refusal to share the findings of its medical studies into the long term effects ofMIC. Union Carbide said these were ‘trade secrets’. Medical knowledge gained in the face of such obstacles isdoubly precious, for its only laboratory has been thousands of living, suffering bodies. �e survivors of Bhopalwish to offer this knowledge born of their suffering as a gift to be shared with the world.

�anks to your continued support the Bhopal Medical Appeal in partnership with Sambhavna will soon be ableto undertake projects to bring advice, know-how and medical help to chemically-affected people all over the world.

he new lini and arden A ift to the world

paropakaaraaya phalanti vrikshhaahparopakaaraaya vahanti nadyah |paropakaaraaya duhanti gaavah paropakaaraarthamidam shariiramah ||

for the good of all trees bear fruitfor the good of all rivers flow,for the good of all cows give milk,this body too should be used for the good of all

From greate omegreat oo

Over two decades, an unimaginable number of people in Bhopal have lost control of their bodies to a host oflittle-understood illnesses. From Union Carbide came only silence, refusal to share information about the likelycomposition of the poison cloud, refusal to share the findings of its medical studies into the long term effects ofMIC. Union Carbide said these were ‘trade secrets’. Medical knowledge gained in the face of such obstacles isdoubly precious, for its only laboratory has been thousands of living, suffering bodies. �e survivors of Bhopalwish to offer this knowledge born of their suffering as a gift to be shared with the world.

�anks to your continued support the Bhopal Medical Appeal in partnership with Sambhavna will soon be ableto undertake projects to bring advice, know-how and medical help to chemically-affected people all over the world.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE NOW THAT EVERYONE IS HEREin our brand new beautiful clinic surrounded by ourmedicinal gardens. After twoyears of gardening alone tothe sounds of construction,seeing the brilliant smiles ofthe people coming for care. ispure magic.

�e Ayurvedic doctors sendmany people directly down tothe garden with prescriptionsfor fresh herbs that we pickon the spot.

Biju, the medicine maker,came by the other day torequest leaves of acaua, anessential ingredient in ourpain-relieving massage oil.

�us begins the process ofintroducing folks to thebounty of our garden.

When the new clinicopened at the end of April we were busy processingour winter harvest. �e cool, dry weather betweenOctober and March is our most productive seasonwith the mild temperatures and sunny days that manytender annuals prefer. It is a joy to be in the full bloomgarden, its bright yellow and white flowers buzzingwith bees and myriad other wild pollinators.

Seed crops and root crops that are maturing as the

hot weather approaches can be easily dried and storedfor use throughout the year. We harvested seed crops

of fennel, dill, cumin, nigella,cress, and coriander. My deskwas covered with rose petalsand calendula flowers dryingfor use in herbal teas andsoothing oils – a far betterstate than being buried inreports and memos.

�is winter we gave about1/3 of our field to ashwaganda(Withania somnifera)an importantgeneral tonic that helps thebody to cope with all types ofstress. To make one of thepreparations used at the clinicthe dried white roots areground into a powder andmixed with shilajit, a black,mineral-rich ooze that seepsfrom rock outcrops in the

Himalayas. �is powerful combination is given to TBsufferers to strengthen their immune systems and helpthem get through the arduous, six-to-nine-month longtreatment with antibiotics.

Now it is August, the heart of the monsoons, whichhave been so heavy and constant this year the gardenis afloat. We were on time planting our monsoon cropof white musli and tumeric, but we got too delayed by

all of the rain to get the ginger planted. Quite a few volunteers have helped in the

garden over the year, our thanks to SteveDoctors and Rosa Stride, whose father Jeffcan be seen here, painting in the garden. (Readabout his pastel exhibition in aid of the BhopalMedical Appeal later on.)

We’ve been giving attention to designingand planting the medicinal landscaping aroundthe building. We want to create beautifulspaces around the clinic with both practicaland educational value. In the courtyard outsidethe gynaecology and Ayurveda wings we havefocused on plants used in daily panchakarmaand massage therapies, and plants especiallyimportant to women’s health.

Continued overleaf >>

r e o p y & e the medi inal arden

Jeff painting in the garden

Knowled e for all

opr isespecially

beautiful atdawn, as here.Ratna built thehut and gave ita clay hearth(just visible)

for tea making.�e 20th

anniversarymeeting of theInternationalCampaign for

Justice inBhopal was

held here.

Ratna weedingthe nigella bed infront of a hedge

of holy basilt .

Look out forSambhavna’s

herb garden blogand catalogue

of herbs, herbalremedies, curesand treatments,coming soon to

www.bhopal.org

�e t(basil) harvest.

is widelyused in Indian herbal m edi c in eand is in greatdemand amongour herbalis ts.From left to

right are Steve,Terry’s hat,Mukesh andRatna, our

gardeners, whobuilt the

opr .

e o eretyere t

pe eo erro

t er ee e

t em tom e

o r omedicines

Continued from previous pageStaff from these departments provided

ideas, suggestions, and requests for specificplants, which we incorporated into a designappropriate for and adapted to the differentenvironmental conditions (sun, shade) of thespace. �us purple foliage of tulsi alternateswith the bright green leaves of lemon balm toform a fragrant and colourful border along thepassage where visitors wait to see the doctors.

A bank of roses and vitex (nirgundi) linesthe sunny wall by the panchakarma rooms,ready to pluck as needed by the therapists.Creeping up the pillars behind the roses areclimbing asparagus (shatavari) vines (good fortreating vaginal infections) and leafy vines ofheart-shaped giloy, Tinospora cordifolia, whichamong other things is a tonic, revitaliser andremedy for diabetes. �e shady walls oppositeare planted with the evergreen shrubs of vasa,beneath which a ground cover of brahmigrows. And the center of the courtyard will beshaded (in a few years time) by the shapely Sitaashok tree, an evergreen covered in brightorange blossoms, symbolic for women all overIndia with many medicinal uses.

We also just finished building a waterfall (seeright)to channel rainwater runoff to our pond,which is once again full.

As I gaze across the water surrounded byverdant vegetation a kingfisher perched on thecastor tree dives for her dinner, a white egretglides in for a landing, and hundreds of greenparrots perch and swoop in the top of thetamarind tree. �ere are so many more birdsvisiting now than when I began two years agoon a barren plot. We would love to have somebirdwatchers visit us to do a population surveyso we can record the increasing number ofspecies attracted to and supported by ourgrowing garden.

�ere is so much going on, even more towrite about, but I’ll have to save it for the nextnewsletter. If you’d like to help in the garden,please write to me at [email protected]

Much love from

Terry

he medi inal arden he medi inal arden

Neem. Azadiracta indica. Oneof the most important herbsused in Ayurveda. �e roots,bark, gum, leaves, fruit, seedkernels and seed oil all finduses in remedies that heal &prevent disease. We use it incombination with other herbsshown here to treat pain.

Akaua. Calotropis gigantea , i nSanskrit also called Arka. Inalliance with tamarind fromour garden it is used in amedicinal oil effective at treat-ing aching and swollen joints,muscular and lower back painas well as sciatica, headacheand paralysis.

Tamarind. Tamarindus indica.�e leaves are ground withlime juice and other herbs andapplied to boils to reduce sepsis and swelling. �e leavesand pulp are often used incongestion of the liver, casesof chronic constipation and totreat painful haemorrhoids.

Tulsi. Ocimum sanctum, SacredBasil. Has strong antibacterial,antifungal and antiviral action.Inhibits growth of E coli andother pathogens Its naturalanti-tuberculosis activity hasbeen recorded at a tenth thestrength of streptomycin anda quarter that of isoniazid.

Eranda. Ricinus communis. Castoroil plant. Traditionally used totreat pain, fever, inflammation,asthma, bronchitis & leprosy.Leaves for intestinal worms.Flowers for glandular tumours,anal troubles & vaginal pains.Seed and oil are cathartic, andsaid to be aphrodisiac.

Ginger. Zingiber officinale. .�efamiliar rhizome is a powerfulanti-inflammatory, its juice is astaple of many Ayurvedicpreparations. A commonhome remedy for nausea anddyspepsia, ginger has alsobeen shown to be of use intreating viral hepatitis.

Vasa, Arusa. A dhatoda vasica.Traditional healers use thejuice of Vasa leaves mainly totreat cough, asthma and otherrespiratory diseases. A pastemade of the leaves can begiven with honey to asthmasufferers. We use its leaves toproduce a medicinal steam.

Ashwagandha. Withania somnifera.�e dried and powdered rootis used to boost the immunesystem and to treat weakness,muscular pain and seminaldisorders. Taken with milk itis a fine tonic. Ashwagandhais often used in shirodharamassage to treat headaches.

Lemon balm. Melissa officinalis.One of the most useful of allherbs in women’s medicine,Extracts of the leaves taken inboth oil & hot water have beenshown to possess strong anti-bacterial & antiviral qualities.

Nirgundi. Vitex negundo. �etraditional healers and nativeshave rich traditional medicinalknowledge about Nirgundi.�e healers prepare specialherbal oil from fresh leaves ofNirgundi and use in treatmentof more than 70 common andcomplicated diseases.

Giloy. Tinospora cordifolia. �eentire plant is valuable, usedin Ayurvedic medicine as atonic, revitaliser and remedyfor diabetes and metabolicdisorders, stomach ulcer andurinary affections. It is alsohelpful in chronic problemsand cases of fatigue.

Shatavari. Asparagus racemosus.Used as a blood purifier, it ishighly recommended for manywomen’s problems, includingcoping with the menopause. Ithelps to maintain a healthyurinary tract, strengthens theimmune system and is usefulagainst vaginal infections.

HO W A P P R O P R I A T E T H A T BI J U ISCALLED BIJU (pronounced beeju ) because beejin Sanskrit and Hindi means seed. Not thatBiju is the slightest bit seedy, but his job is toturn Sambhavna’s harvest of seeds, leaves,flowers, fruit, bark and roots into ayurvedicmedicines.

�e clinic’s vaids , or ayurvedic doctors,insist that the old ayurvedic texts be followedto the letter, they are the distilled wisdom ofmany thousands of years of practice. �isgave Biju a minor problem. He comes fromKerala, whose language is Malayalam:

�e texts however are in Sanskrit, ofwhich the following is an example:

aamavaatagajendrasya shareeravanachaarinaanihantyasaaveka eva erandasnehakesharee

it informs us. Or, to put it another way,‘Only oil from eranda (root of castor), like alion can kill the rheumatism that moves likean elephant in the forest of the body.’

Out of necessity Biju studied Sanskrit andHindi in which he is now thoroughly proficient.

Castor root is dried, then pounded andboiled with water to make a decocotion orkwaatha. �is is used in a kashaaya basti orenema given in cases of constipation andchronic lower back pain. It is also the mainconstituent of vaitarana basti used in arthritis. �is oneherb makes redundant several chemically producedanti-inflammatories, analgesics and laxatives.

Here’s a recipe for a medicinal oil, vatari tailam:Ingredients: Akaua (Calotropis gigantea) Arkain Sanskrit, tamarind (Tamarindus indica), garlic,black pepper, mustard seeds, rock salt, coconut oil,mustard oil and sesame oil. Method: Akaualeaves are boiled in water to make akwaatha . �e garlic, black pepper and mustard seeds are ground to a paste. �e rocksalt is powdered. Tamarind is soaked in water for one

day, then boiled and the juice extracted. �e threeoils are mixed in equal quantities. When warm the

akaua kwaatha is added, followed by the garlic,pepper & mustard seed paste, the powderedrock salt and, finally, the tamarind juice. �e

mixture is boiled until all the water evaporates. Asthe oil boils a black paste settles in the pan. One tests

the oil by rubbing a little of this paste between thefingertips. A drop of oil is burned to make sure allthe moisture is gone. Finally the oil is filtered. �eblack paste is used as a hot fomentation to treat

pain in the knee. �is oil replaces analgesics likeaspirin, diclofenac sodium, nimesulide and ibuprofen,

all of which can have unpleasant side effects.�e value of these remedies has repeatedlybeen proven in Bhopal. People whose bodies

are already in toxic overload are successfullytreated without exposing them to chemical drugs.

t e e ea in our own medi ines

.. .

Ayurveda in a tion

UMA SAINI IS 40 YEARS OLD. At the time of the 1984gas disaster she was a newly married 20 year old. Shelived with her husband behind the Puttha Mill paperand board factory near the bus stand. Uma’s is thearchetypal Bhopal story. Around 1 am on that night shewoke up coughing, her eyes burning. Outside, peoplewere shouting ‘Gas has leaked, run for your lives!’

Jostled in the panic-stricken and half-blinded crowd,Uma was separated from her family. She passed thenight in great pain and in the morning wenthome through streets where corpses in someplaces lay in heaps, their faces still twisted inagony. Uma’s husband had luckily survived,and also came home.

Uma developed TB of the uterus (thepossible cause of her childlessness) which wastreated at the District Hospital. About nine yearsago at the Diwali festival she bought an armload ofmarigold garlands. Instantly she started sneezing and aviolent itching began in her eyes, ears, nose andinside her throat. Her face, eyes and ears swelled.�ese problems did not go away again. Uma’slife became a nightmare of eye-rubbing, vainattempts to relieve ear and nose itches & to twisther tongue to ease her itching throat. She was alwayssneezing, with a headache that was often unbearable.

Four years ago she began to suffer seriouslyfrom breathlessness, pain in the ribs, frequentcolds, sneezing, itching and swelling. Her eyesbecame permanently irritated with fine eruptionson the lower eyelid. Rubbing them affected hervision. �e sneezing became incessant, 40-50explosions one after the other. In all weathers shewas forced carry an umbrella as the sun exacerbatedher problems. She could not wash her face with warmwater nor cover it in winter. At Hamidia hospitaldoctors gave her a pill ‘that looked like agrain of masoor daal’, but didn’t work. Aprivate eye- doctor prescribed five sets ofeye drops, an array of pills, vitamin E &new glasses. Apart from the glasses nothingworked. �e eye drops did nothing for the agonisingitching, the pills made her drowsy and if anything the

swellings worsened. Uma could not afford to continuethis treatment which in all cost her about12,000 rupees. Next, she tried home remedies:sandalwood paste applied to the forehead andeyes, a wet cloth over the face. Vicks!

A neighbour told her about Sambhavnawhere treatment was free and she would be ableto choose between allopathic and ayurvedicmedicine. When she came to us Uma chose

ayurveda because she was tired ofangrezi dawaa (foreign medicine).

Dr Deshpande prescribed hernasya treatment: a massage with

mahanarayan oil on her headand forehead, a steam bath,

and six drops of shadabindu tailagiven through the nose. Every two days

the drops were changed to anu taila, giving four days of shadabindu and four days of anu . Atfirst her nose streamed, she was sneezing badly

& her headache worsened, but Dr Deshpandetold her that people with chronic illnessesoften grow worse before they start gettingbetter. Uma began experiencing relief fromthe third day of treatment. After a week of

nasya she had no headache, no sneezes,no more itching. Her face and limbs

were no longer swollen.Beaming at us, she

says she finds it nighimpossible to believe

that her problems are really over,she’ll believe it if she stays wellthroughout next summer.

We’ll be sure to let you know.

y r ein action

THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE SHANTYtowns around the derelict Union Carbidefactory have seen dozens of photographers,film crews have filmed them, journalistshave interviewed them, but no one, they tellme, has ever been there to paint.

�e instant I set up my easel a crowdgathers. I’m difficult to place. No expensiveequipment, no camera or tape recorder.Someone clears people away from in frontof my easel and stops the under-fives frompinching the pastels from the tray at myfeet. I smile a bit and answer questions with

a yes or no. I need to remain uninvolved, to be consideredharmless, so that I can put all my energy into painting.

Most days I work for about two hours on each ofthree different pastels. While I work, pastel sticks arestolen from my box, but inevitably return later. Someonepicks my pocket but gets roughed up by the crowd. Myphoto turns up on the front page of the Hindustan Timesthough I have no recollection of the photographer.

All of my working life has been spent in rural France.I am used to painting in peaceful solitude. In Bhopal I amforced to become a different sort of artist, midway betweena painter and a one-man street theatre. Sometimes in therougher bastis, I feel frightened by the crowds. Once, asI’m packing up to leave, I am overwhelmed by a feeling ofdisorientation and have to force myself not to panic.

One morning a snake charmer settles at the foot of myeasel and starts blessing small children with the tail of a twometre python. �e going rate for a blessing is one rupee,some people bring cups of flour which he adds to a sackon the lid of the python’s basket. I vaguely consider fleeingbut when I look again, half an hour or so later, he hasgone. I don’t notice time passing when I’m painting, just

the shadows spinning round and the lightchanging as the sun climbs higher. Whenthings change too much, I stop.

On another day my audience is chasedoff by three baton-wielding constables. �eofficer in charge returns and salutes mesmartly, then the three of them standbehind me to watch. �ey try a few Englishphrases but once it becomes evident that Iam not in conversational mood, they leavetoo, and the crowd returns. I wish I coulddo something for them and worry that they

p ter rom t e ot t e bastis o opAn unusual volunteer ur friends from ran e

NARRATIVE BY JEFF STRIDE

will not be able to understand the tentativejabs and scratches of my pastels on thepaper. I wish my images could appear likethe ones in a how-to-paint book, first youdo the drawing, then wash in the tone, thenslick it all up with colour and highlights.Mine aren’t like that. After three hourswork, all I have to show them is a piece ofpaper covered in measuring marks and theoccasional area of tone. ‘Tomorrow,’ I say.I don’t think they believe me, but the nextday the children are there, just in case, andas I prepare for work, people run over toget a good place. On the second day of a painting, if allgoes well, the marks will join up and become space. It’s themysterious alchemy that transforms a rectangle of paperinto a field two hundred metres across and a kilometredeep. �is moment still thrills me, even after performingthe same trick every day for forty years, and the onlookersenjoy it too. �ey stand in the centre of my composition,usually couples or groups of friends, two boys with theirarms round each other, or three girls holding hands. �eygrin shyly, and face the artist squarely. I try a bit of stagedirection, but it doesn’t help much. People are enjoyingthemselves, and there’s a murmur of approval when theyrecognise one of their friends in my picture.

When the painting is finished, a man comes forward.‘Sir,’ he says. ‘�is is extremely fine. Never we believe itpossible.’ Well, I had my doubts too, but glowing from thiscompliment, I reply, ‘�ank you, you’ve been a wonderfulaudience.’

JEFFERY STRIDE AND HIS WIFE SALLY DAVIES STRIDE,also an artist, live in the Lot Valley in south west France.�eir paintings hang in the Elysee Palace,10 Downing Street and in art galleries andprivate collections all over the world.

Jeffery is best known for his fine studiesof the Lotois landscapes. �is was his firsttrip to India. �e pastels will be exhibited,with half the proceeds going to the BhopalMedical Appeal, at the B URGH H OUSE ARTGALLERY , H AMPSTEAD , 12 NOON - 5PMDAILY BETWEEN30 NOV - 4 DEC, 2005.

You are cordially invited and readers of777 may reserve paintings in advance. Fora sneak preview please visit www.jeffstride.net .

THANK YOU TO OUR FANTASTIC VOLUNTEERS:Judy Daniels for her tireless support on thedatabase. Dolina Grant who rejoined us for awhile one day a week plus valuable help fromPAN UK volunteers Mark Hamberry andYoichi Kosugi.

�anks to all the Trusts who have given sogenerously since the last newsletter: �e BayTree Trust for a considerable donation; �ePaget Trust for their continued support; �ePittecroft Trust; �e Wild Rose Trust;Balsams Charities; �e Lewis Family CharitySettlement.; ED Charitable Trust.

�anks to all those who did sponsoredevents: Mr Merenyi who did a brave 3 daysilence and raised £350; Actor, Pip Torrens, whoraised £1,531 running in the London Marathon 2004;Carys, Jack (hurrah!) and mum Denise who did the10K Christmas Pudding Run ( again this year) and raised£200 – even more than last year.

�anks to everyone who sent or received donationsto Bhopal in lieu of Christmas presents: Nina andRobin; Richard Heaton; Annie and William Allen; Kateand Roger Woodward; Ben and Janet Whitaker; MrsElizabeth Cunningham and friends; Staff at All SaintsChurch of England Primary School who gave £64instead of sending Christmas cards this year.

Some of you generously gave up leaving parties &gifts to donate to the Appeal; Judy Gough at theLattimore Surgery; John Reber at the ISD Departmentof the Legal Services Commission; Neil Craven atRetail Week donated his fee for a telephone interview.

IN MEMORY. We are deeply grateful to the CopusFamily, and the memory of their daughter Rachel; toOlive Sleaford who has left us a legacy; for donationsgiven in memory of Mrs B Parfitt of Frome, KeshavGautam, & a further donation in memory of JeremyRees, founder of the Arnolfini Centre for theContemporary Arts in Bristol.

Warm thanks to all the Society of Friends (Quaker)groups who have so kindly kept Bhopal in theirthoughts and collected at their meetings or tea-timecollections: St Helen’s Meeting House; Selly OakPreparative Meeting; West Kent monthly meeting;Marple Preparative Meeting; Colchester ReligiousSociety of Friends; Durham Quaker Group; �eSociety of Friends in Oswestry, Bexhill-on-Sea Meeting

and Hereford Preparative Meeting Donations from the following groups,

centres & churches have been very muchappreciated: Members of Mount PleasantUnited Reform church in Glossop; UnitedReform Church, Bishops Stortford; �eLiverpool Hindu Cultural Centre whoraised a generous donation at their Diwalicelebrations; Ponteland United ReformChurch in Newcastle; St Pancras ParochialChurch Council in London; �e Conventof St Emilie, Altrincham; GlasgowUnitarian Church; �e fellowship ofPentwortham United Reform Church whocollected for the appeal at their carol &Christmas morning services; South East

undraisin

e e mo t ort o e rt e t t to o r r e

Wacky Wizard and victim at Pilton village fete

Bell rin gin g w earin g saris (Photo by Ian Sumner)

Wales Unitarian Society; �e Church of the HolyAngels, Hale Barns for the continued support of their�ird World Group; �e Milton Keynes Peace andJustice Centre who raised money at their ‘Feast forPeace’; Lucinda Lavelle and U3a Hillingdon Group;Royston Health Centre for raising funds with theirbook stall; Eynsham Charity Stall; Marilyn Brown andfriends who sent a donation as part of their WinterSolstice Celebration; thank you all.

�ank you to the following enterprising schools:the children in the Reception & Nursery classes atRavenstone Primary School who raised £200 at theirChristmas Play �e Little Robin (see picture below)Eastlea Community School who held a non-uniformday last term and raised £363.25; Stowupland HighSchool Sixth Form in Suffolk who raised £179.61;Students at Linacre College, Oxford, HaberdashersMonmouth School for Girls raised a donation at theirlast non-uniform day; staff at Loughborough College.

�anks also to the following partnerships, andgroups of concerned colleagues, for their donations:Architects and Engineers for Social Responsibility; �eKennedy Partnership; Hitchin Tax Office who held aspecial coffee morning; �e UK Transplant SocialCommittee; Staff at Sweet and Maxwell; Staff atBrennan Atkinson International who held a sale ofsample goods among themselves; Colleagues at theISD Dept of the Legal Services Commission; RobertLeacroft Systems; Liverpool Council of Social Services.

�anks all the performers, organisers and audiencesinvolved in the following, for their donations and forspreading the word: Parminder Sekhon & the Mehtab�eatre who gave a reading of �e Ghosts of Bhopalatthe Hammersmith Lyric �eatre Studio; SheffieldIndependent Media who raised money at a showing of

Bhopal Express ; Graham Hartill who performed hispoem Bhopal at a poetry fundraiser earlier this year.(Graham, take a look on www.bhopal.fm); First Naturesingers at the Brighton Festival, whose unique soundsupported the Appeal once again

To Fiona Case and fantastic friends who held aconcert in Pilton that raised £1,122. It was a creativeexplosion of music and prose from handbell-ringingin saris (see picture) to baroque, folk and blues, fire-dancing and poetry and drama by local groups. �elocal Indian restaurant in Pilton generously donatedsome of the food and it sounds like a great night washad by all. Fiona and her enterprising family Mike,Polly and Alex also raised £120 at the annual PiltonShow, running a golf putting competition and defyingpeople to beat the Whacky Wizard at a cunning coingame. �ey ran a ‘Roll a penny’ and ‘Wine or water?’stall this year, plus held a carboot sale. �ank you!

Our thanks continue on the next page>>>e tt e o with two of its stars Francesca & Hamish

Liverpool University’s Rugby First XV scored for Bhopal

20th anniversary drive

e e mo t ort o e rt e t t to o r r e

nited join hopal edi al Appeal

Continued from previous page:�anks to fabulous Susanna

Rees who organised a Bhopal Dayin Liverpool that made over £1,000and sparked stories in the localpress and on BBC local radio. Shecouldn’t have done it without herstar ‘performers’, the extremelybrave Liverpool University FirstXV who roamed the city centredressed as fairies to shake collectingtins! Nor can we forget the supportof Liverpool University rag-team.

�anks to all the India-IrelandFriends; Will Chester-Masters andCargo who gave a very generousdonation (Cargo sells lovely Indianfurniture in Cirencester & Will hasan organic farm); Sacks Wholefoodin Totnes; James Davies for hisdonation and poem inspired byDecember 2004’s Independent ad fullof ingenious Elvis references inmemory of Raju. James, please sendyour poem to [email protected].

�anks, Simon Duffin at the UKoffice of the European Parliament& Westminster Explained; to EricWalker who runs the ‘Of PublicConcern’ video library; and greatthanks to L.T. Silkin.

�anks & medals to the valiantGlastonbury Festival LitterpickingTeam who again battled against rainand mud to raise £1,552 for theAppeal: Katie Fenton-Morris, RosieScourti, Benjamin Gill, Phil Stubbs,Eloise Touni, Lina Andersson, LisaIngwall, Caroline Cochrane, TrishanPanch, Klara Arneman, Paige Powell,Camilla West, Hazel Rowson, DavidRussell, Mari Jonsson, Colin Pearce,Shamila Adam, Marie Gallagher, AndyLearoyde & Petri Oinonen.

A kind donor who may not wantto be named has given £10,500 tothe Appeal this year. �ank you!

�ank you for your donations,messages of support, prayers andgood wishes. You are all brilliant!

Much love, Kate

WE ARE PROUD to be associatedwith FC United of Manchester, thebreakaway fan-owned club startedby Manchester United fans fed upwith the commercialisation of thegame and the unwanted takeover ofManchester United by US tycoonMalcolm Glazer.

As we are also a grassroots effortof ordinary people disgusted by thegreed and callousness of big business,

we felt why not support each other?�e idea has been enthusiastically

greeted in both cities, it’s great tosee people in Manchester andBhopal getting involved together.(See Club Curry below.) Our thanks tothe FC United Supporters Groupfor collecting for the Appeal. We’redelighted to report that the team isrunaway leader of its division.

More details: www.fcunited.co.uk

F te oret or op

For the garam masala:4 large black cardamoms4 green cardamoms6 cloves, black pepper,cinnamon, saffron

For the chicken:1 kg chicken pieces 1 onion, choppedOnion-garlic paste: (mash 2 onions, 6 clovesof garlic plus 1 smallpiece of fresh ginger)Chillies, 10 red, 1 green 1 tsp turmeric3 tsp coriander100 gm yoghurt1/2 cup coconut milkchopped green coriander

Method:Heat oil, add garammasala and fry till spicesrelease their aroma. Addchopped onion, sauté tillgolden brown. Add redchillies and onion-garlicpaste, toss in chickenpieces and fry well. Addturmeric, coriander, saltto taste. Carry on frying.Add coconut milk andyoghurt. Simmer. Add alittle water, cover, leave tosimmer till done. Garnishwith green corianderleaves and a green chillisliced into thin rings.Serve with rice or naan.

You can make a donation to the Bhopal Medical Appeal by calling 0800 316 5577 with a credit ordebit card, or by sending a cheque to ‘Pesticide Action Network UK (Bhopal Appeal)’, FREEPOST

LON 10046, London EC2B 2BR. You can also donate online at our website www.bhopal.org.

A PROJECT OF THE PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK UK, REGISTERED CHARITY 327215

hopal edi al Appeal

re ot rryor re ot te m

op e F teTHIS RECIPE WAS CREATED INBHOPAL especially for FC Unitedby Rasheeda Bee, joint winner of the 2004 Goldman Award. Ten redchillies and a green give it its zing. Just like FC United. Let’s makesure our club is talked about whenever Mancunians go for a curryby asking every Indian restaurant in town to put it on the menu.Demand the one and only BHOPALI CHICKENFC UNITED WALLAH!

A GIANT THANK YOUto all who voted for us in theCooperative Bank’s Customers Who Care competitionlast year. �e Bhopal Medical Appeal was one of fivecharities nominated for your support and to the delightof everyone here and at the Sambhavna Clinic inBhopal, we received an amazing 48% of the votes.

As a direct result the Cooperative Bank has made usthe generous donation of nearly £54,000. �is is anenormous sum of money to us – almost enough tocover the entire medicine budget of the clinic for ayear – after it has already funded the conversion of thenew clinic to solar power.

Hard by the pond featured on the cover of thisnewsletter is a bank of solar panels which can generateten kilowatts of clean, green, electricity.

To give you an idea of what this means in practice,we are able to run all of the following on solar power:20 computers for 7 hours a day; 2 printers; 40 lights;32 fans and some of the pathology lab equipment(centrifuge, auto analyser, microscope & colorimeter).

Solar power makes vital sense in a place like Bhopalwhere power failures are an almost daily occurrencewhile the city swelters in the massive heat of the sun.

�anks to you we can now run the clinic withoutworry of everything shutting down without warning.�ank you from all the rest of us.

Customer led, ethically guided

IF YOU HAVE BEEN WONDERINGhow we canafford to print a 32 page newsletter in full colour, theanswer is smiling at you out of the picture at right.

Himself a long-time committed Bhopal supporter,Dave Elliott has printed all our materials from thevery first mono circular back in 1996, the year ourfirst clinic in Bhopal opened.

�e sheer quality of Dave’s work has turned 777into one of the most valuable fundraising tools wehave. �anks to him we not only get a first classnewsletter at a price as modest as the man himself,but he even carefully guillotines his scrap into neatreams of virgin A4 for us, thus enabling us to entera resounding £0 under the cost of stationery on ourbudget.

Dave learned his craft the old way Unlike digitalpress operators who, if something goes wrong, mustcall a software expert, he knows every part of hispresses and if need be can repair them himself. Hemixes inks by hand and can tell the make and gradeof a piece of paper by feeling it with his eyes closed.

Should you ever, of a summer’s afternoon, be inMayfield, Sussex, you’ll probably find Dave at thecricket ground, bowling googlies for the village.

Do say hello, and buy the man a well-earned pint.

e m r e pr ter

o op tomer r ere e

A year of massive than yous to our friends

�e COOPERATIVE BANK

SOME OF YOU HAVE OCCASIONALLY BEEN BAFFLEDto see the name of ‘P AN UK’ or the ‘Pesticides ActionNetwork’ on your bank statements after donating tothe Bhopal Appeal! PAN is in fact the internationalhealth and environment charity that has been adminis-trating the Bhopal Medical Appeal since 1994.

Many people have also rung the BMA’s numberand got me, Kate Bootle. I am a Senior Administratorat PAN and look after the Medical Appeal for threedays a week. Here’s a brief history of the Appeal andwho’s who in it.

Satinath Sarangi, who is now Managing Trustee ofthe Sambhavna Trust, which runs our award-winningClinic in Bhopal, had worked with victim supportgroups since day after the disaster, and in 1993 on avisit to the UK connected with writer Indra Sinha.

It was out of this meeting that the idea for theMedical Appeal was born. Indra penned the firstappeal in the Guardian newspaper to appear on the10th anniversary of the disaster. �e sheer generosityof the response was, and continues to be, inspiring.

�e very first appeal produced enough money tobuy a building in Bhopal, equip it, hire and train thestaff to run it. Indra, in between writing novels, (�eDeath of Mr Love was published in 2002, Animal’s Peopleis due out next year) has continued ever since to writeour appeals. He also helps to run the Bhopal websitesand to edit the 777 newsletter.

When the first money had been raised in the UK,

PAN undertook to administer the Fund, donating ourtime and keeping costs to a minimum. We had alreadybeen involved in Bhopal work, in 1994 PAN hosted thePermanent People’s Tribunal on Industrial Hazards andHuman Rights in support of the Bhopal survivors.

At that meeting we, like many others, were deeplyshocked to learn that victims of the disaster were stillwithout adequate medical care. Despite the constantcalls for justice nothing had been done to alleviate theimmediate suffering of the survivors.

PAN-UK works specifically on the health andenvironmental problems of chemical pesticides, andthe explosion in Bhopal is still the worst chemicalpesticide-related disaster of our time. As we say on ourleaflet ‘Pesticides damage or kill living things.Sometimes that includes us’.

We work to educate governments and individualsabout the hazards of toxic pesticides, and to eliminatethose hazards. We work for solutions and whereverpossible we promote sustainable alternatives.

In 2002 we won a ban on the persistent pesticide,lindane and we’ve worked hard persuading countries toshare information on banned and dangerous chemicals.Last year we had cause to celebrate our founding rolein this information-exchange when it became part ofinternational law.

PAN UK’s projects include an information servicefor people whose health has been affected by pesticides.We also provide information for householders andrecently increased the availability of disposal facilitiesfor home and garden products. In countryside areas ourpressure for change has helped trigger an investigationby the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollutioninto the health problems of pesticide spraydrift.

Overseas we’ve established a partnership with theUnited Nations and local groups to remove 50,000tonnes of banned pesticides left to rot and leak inAfrica. Assisting African cotton farmers to convert toorganic methods has been very successful and we workwith designers and retailers in the UK to increase theuse of organic cotton in clothes and textiles.

�ese are just a few of P AN’s projects. It’s timelyto mention them since the Bhopal Medical Appeal islikely to gain independent charity status in 2006, butwe will remain closely involved with its work.

To learn more about what we do please do visit www.pan-uk.org or call us on 020 7065 0905.

& opKATE BOOTLE

A word from our lovely Kate Rajesh. born November 9, 1970, died September 14, 2005Rajesh. born November 9, 1970, died September 14, 2005

WITH MUCH SADNESS WE HAVE TO TELL YOUthat Mr Rajesh Sharma, 35, a security worker at theclinic, died in a road accident on the night of 14thSeptember. He was on his motorcycle on the highwaywhen a truck hit him from behind and the front wheelswent over his legs. Rajesh got help from the police butdied due to severe bleeding on the way to the hospital.

Rajesh bhai had been working with us for elevenmonths. Very sincere in his work, he made friends easilyand always wore a smile on his face.

We will miss his shy, generous presence, a real com-fort to have around, especially for those of us who hadreason to camp in the new clinic while it was still beingbuilt and had to walk back there through pitch blackalleys and unseen obstacles. Rajesh’s quiet voice, thewelcome flashlight at one’s feet, and later, his footstepsmaking the rounds, the tap of his stick, the calling ofthe night hours – all these are things we will mourn.His death comes as a severe shock to all who knew him.

In the photograph above, Rajesh’s friend Gangaramis pointing to the Sambhavna logo embroidered on hisuniform. �e tailor originally made a badge showingtwo crossed .303 rifles. �ese were replaced by theSambhavna logo of two people, a care giver and onereceiving care, embracing and supporting each other.

Among Sambhavna’s four security workers perhapsRajesh most exemplified the Sambhavna ideal of whata guard should be. With his tall strong build he couldbe firm when necessary, yet he was gentle and warmwith children and those who needed help.

A meeting of clinic staff has unanimously resolvedto create a job for Rajesh’s wife in the clinic. She willrun our canteen. Meanwhile we are taking a collectionfor his family among Sambhavna’s staff and trusteesand those of us in Bhopal would like to assure friendsaround the world that we will do our utmost for theirwelfare. If you would like more information about thisplease send an email to [email protected]..

oo ye to e

KOMAL SAYS, ‘I’m thirteen. I like talking,roaming round, reading books & shopping.I like being at the clinic because I get tohear good things, but I like the garden best.’

maine aap ki yaad mein ro-rokara tub bhar diyeaap itne bewafaa nikle ousme nahaakar chal diyeI filled a tub crying in your memory, you areso heartless you bathed in it and went away.

phool hai gulaab ka todaa nahiñ jaataaaap jaise dostoñ ko chhodaa naheeñ jaataa�e rose flower is too beautiful to pick, a friend like you is too dear to leave

chalti hai cycle udtee hai dhool aap jab hansti hain khilte hain phoolAlong goes the bicycle, up flies the dust,when you laugh flowers open their cups

mere dil ki dhadkanõ ko bulayaa na keejiyemera naam likhkar dil par mitayaa na keejiyeNever call my name, it makes my heart race.Inscribe it on your heart, never erase.

phooloñ se sajaa denge khusboo se mahakaa dengetumharee raaha mey hum apnaa dil bichhaa dengeI will decorate you with flowers, I will perfumeyou with perfumes, upon the ground you treadI will spread my heart.

baha jaaenge ashq daaman tak na milegaamere dil ke zakhmõ ko marham tak na milegaatujhe reshamee aanchal mil jaaegee har mod parmumkin hai meri laash ko kafan tak na milegaaWhen I cry there’s no handkerchieff or me,there’s no ointment to heal the wounds inmy heart, for you it’s a life of fine silkenclothes, chances are my dead body won’teven rate a shroud.

cheetee chadhee pahaad pe, marney ke waasteyAllah ne kalam diyaa, padhney ke waastey padhteypadhtey paseena aa gaya, peechhey mudkar dekhaato Makka-Madeena aa gaya �e ant climbed the mountain to die. Godgave us the pen so we can study. Studying,studying, I began to sweat, I turned round.Oh look, Mecca & Medina have arrived!

FromKomal ’spoetry

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