Day 45-59 of the global relay hunger strike - July 24th - August 7th, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

At the dharna, we are aghast at the police atrocities on the villagers of Shinde Vasuli and are in
complete solidarity with the destruction of the Dow R&D facility near Pune. We only wish that in
1979, when Union Carbide first set up its MIC unit in Bhopal, we had had some warning, some idea
of the disaster that they could unleash on us – we would have happily borne police atrocities at that
point if that would have averted the poisons that entered our bodies and killed 23,000 of our loved
ones. And though we have witnessed government collaboration to protect Dow for decades, it is still
depressing that some of the villagers are being charged with crimes that can have sentences of upto
10 years for simply acting to protect their family from the horrific fate that was ours, and from the
terrible crimes against humanity perpetrated by Dow across the world.
 
Here at Jantar Mantar, we went to the police station at Parliament Street to file official complaints
against the police officers that beat our men, women and children and committed countless other
offenses. We have little hope however, that our law enforcement officers will allow themselves to be
subject to the law of the land. They halfheartedly took notes of our complaints, which were read
back to us and turned out to be incompletely and wrongly noted. We then reverted with a written list of complaints. So far no action has been taken.
 
On a happier note, this week witnessed the return of the kids to the dharna. Raffat, Yasmin, Sarita
– three of the stalwarts of the action, who had spent their entire summer vacation (and in the case
of Yasmin, participated in the padyatra too) are quite the heroines of their school. Their exploits
spread throughout their school, and they didn’t have too much trouble getting a week off. Not that
the teachers have much to complain about – Raffat stood first in her class the previous year and
Yasmin second. Their brother, Aamer, who didn’t come this time came in second in his class too.
Their mother, Nafeesa Bi, beamed proudly as she talked about the upcoming prize ceremony that
should take place around independence day. As for Sarita, she refuses to share her grades, but she
had once told me of her dreams of becoming a lawyer (not an artist, she assured me, in spite of her
gift for painting – she feels she can effect more constructive change as a lawyer) so I imagine that she did (or will do this coming year) pretty well at her studies.
 
On Thursday, 12 dharna-ites went to the Nehru planetarium for a lecture on the stars. Beneath the
starry sky, lulled by the air conditioning, four inadvertently slept – none of the twelve want to identify the four, though all eyes did turn incriminatingly to Sathyu while this was being discussed.
 
Meanwhile, posters of Bhopal, 23000 and Counting are being stuck all over central Delhi. Anyone
traipsing through the underground walkways, passing the fences and walls of Rajiv Chowk will see
them, even in the entrances to some of the Metro stations. Vikas discussed one incident where
there some police came to stop them, thinking that they were posting advertisements, but when
they explained their cause, the police not only let them post the material, but even asked for more
posters so they could stick them up inside the building.
 
As for our demands, we are still waiting for word from the government. Things are looking optimistic
– we hope to hear an announcement soon.

Day 30-44 of the global relay hunger strike - July 9th - 23rd, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

The past two weeks have been long, to put it succinctly. With the survival of the government in question, all that we could do was wait. We got to see the contents of the report put forth by the Group of Ministers on Bhopal , which were very encouraging; and a source at the Prime Minister's Office assured us that they would sign it as soon as they received it. However, if the government fell, it would all come to naught, and we would have to restart the process with the new government after the elections. So we found ourselves in the curious position of almost rooting for our old enemy, Manmohan Singh. Although in a speech made before the vote of confidence, one MP from Jharkhand had commented that handing over our energy sovereignty to another state may be a bad idea, considering that is was the same state that created the monster called Carbide, that had actually gotten Dow to make Agent Orange to use against all life forms in the area they were fighting, that even now allowed Warren Anderson (a.k.a the BinLaden of Bhopal) to live in a country club resort in the Hamptons, and that went to war against countries because they had excess energy. Alright, perhaps I am putting words in that MP's mouth, but I suspect that was the gist of what he wanted to say.

Anyhow, on the evening of the 22nd the current government survived, and our dharna will continue. The situation that was out of our hands for the last two weeks is now back firmly within our grasp, and the current action will continue indefinitely until we get the announcement from the PMO meeting all our demands. The Have A Heart Fax campaign is under way and we urge our supporters to promote it and kick the action back into swing.

As for the hunger strike, there had not been much point in continuing the hunger strike for the second group, and on July 8 they ate again. Since then, it has continued in groups of 4-9 per day, fasting for 24 hours at a time. The health of the past and present hunger strikers is fine, although Meera did have a difficult stretch right after she finished her 22 day strike. She returned to Bhopal soon after and almost immediately had to take care of her youngest sister who was having uncontrollably violent fits, described by Meera as "the spirit of another person got inside her". She finally took her sister to the village, where she herself got ill with exhaustion and lack of appetite. Now Meera is back at the dharna and I'm happy to report that she, along with the others have put on some weight again.

On the other side, some major developments have been reported from the IIT Fraternity supporting Bhopal . As part of the IITB Golden Jubilee Celebrations, the IITB Heritage fund was organizing a Jubilee Conference in New York from 18-20th July to which they accepted Dow as a Gold sponsor. More than 500 Alumni from Australia, Canada, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Italy, USA, UK and various parts of India emailed Jubilee organizers Anil Kshirsagar and Suresh Shenoy condemning this collaboration. In addition, more than 43 faculty members from IITB signed an open letter to the organisers stating, "We strongly believe that it would be against our national interests to accept or encourage any offers made by Dow Chemical. In particular, we also believe that the acceptance of the sponsorship from Dow Chemical for the 2008 Golden Jubilee Conference, planned for 18-20 July 2008 would set an incorrect precedent and would wrongly help legitimize Dow's ongoing attempts to set up alliances with various academic institutions and other national organizations."

IITB Alumni released the alumni and faculty letter in Press Conferences at Delhi and Mumbai on July 14th. The organizers failed to respond to any of the concerns raised about Dow, even after phone calls were made by various alumni. They instead released an amazingly feeble and illogical statement defending the sponsorship as 'purely a financial arrangement' . To Dow's great discomfort this further strengthened the opposition against the Company in the campus. 

As clock struck 12:00 am on this 21 st day of the month of July, Sanjay was in for a pleasant surprise. Bhopalis broke out clapping and singing - "Happy Birthday to You!". A cake was brought and Sanjay was full of smiles as the group celebrated together at Jantar Mantar.

Day 8 of the second indefinite hunger strike - July 8th, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

We had visitors this morning at the dharna from Pune, a group called Medico Friends Circle, possibly the only radical doctors group in India. They are Gandhian, feminist, communist – they just came out with a Charter on Health of Indian Women, focusing on occupational health – and they have worked on Bhopal health issues in the past. They came to express their solidarity and offer any help we may need.

Vikas is leaving us for a few days – he is going back to Bhopal. So I thought I'd talk about him a little bit. He works for Greenpeace, and got involved with the movement in 2002 when they hired a lawyer who he assisted to deal with police hassles they were facing in the aftermath of one of their actions. Vikas is a gem; according to Sathyu, he is the one irreplaceable person at the dharna. During the padyatra, he went ahead on his motorbike, scouting for places to sleep and eat. At the dharna he does, well, everything. If we ever had a logistical question about electricity, shelter, getting something, finding out something, it was universally acknowledged that the best thing to do was find Vikas. He'd be the one eventually answering the question in any case. A gentle soul, loved by the kids who'd badger him continuously, he's also immensely courageous – jumping in when the police were beating the women and kids, and returning over and over when he was pulled away by the others. Whenever I'd ask him what was going on, any updates for this blog, he'd just smile shyly and say that all is well, nothing happened. Except the one time he gave Pappu a hair cut, he was immensely excited and wanted to make sure it made the blog.

Suresh surrenders his vanity at the hands of Vikas

After Vikas left for the station, Imran came and sat with us, “Arrey, Vikas is gone - now how are we going to manage?” he said, only half joking.

Days 5, 6 & 7 of the second indefinite hunger strike - July 5-7, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

The past few days have continued to be relatively peaceful at the dharna sthal, with more people coming and going to Bhopal. During the past week, a lot of organizing was conducted among the bastis and a large number of ladies were about to come; but Saturday night, when the group gathered at the Aaloo factory, news broke out of disorder around the city related to the Amarnath affair, and a lot of people decided to postpone travel. A note about this disorder – the problems caused by it overwhelmingly affect the poor – Hazra Bi talked about how it was impossible for her son to drive his auto-rickshaw at a time when so many vehicles were being burnt – yet, he had to pay the daily lease cost to the rickshaw owner, creating a huge strain for the family. All these tales of the bandh serve as a reminder of how easy it would be for Bhopalis to cause disorder to get their demands met – there are more than half a million people living there sickened by Dow's poisons – and yet, they decline to do so. Sarita put it beautifully when she explained their reasons.

On Monday, there was a bit of excitement at the dharna as a concert was organized with Rahul Ram (lead singer of the Indian Ocean group and longtime supporter of great causes) and Sufi singer Dhruv. The concert, titled Music to Break the Silence, started out with people scurrying to figure out where to set the stage – the middle berm is a far more poetic location, with a stage set right underneath a tree in the middle of the road, but it had just rained so it was wet. Finally we settled on having the concert at the dharna sthal itself, underneath the dry tent, and we quickly put up the banners and set up the lighting. There were quite a few media-wallahs present, with the NDTV van hanging out across the street. When the concert started, there were lovely moments – we giggled as Sathyu tried, unsuccessfully, to convince Rahul Ram to sit on an enormous overturned cauldron (the only seat at the dharna), and we clapped delightedly when Rahul began to sing old Hindi love songs with words cleverly modified to condemn the Iraqi occupation and all kinds of other things, exhorting Mannoo (his cute nickname for our PM) to have a spine and stand up to Bush every now and then.

Another source of excitement was that we made the front page of the New York Times. Hopefully the article, well timed so as to be read by all at the G8 summit, will serve as an embarrassment to our senior government officials. I can imagine a hypothetical Chinese official, munching on sushi in Sapporo, telling her Indian counterpart – “Really? After 24 years, you mean half a million are still suffering in Bhopal?” And the Indian official muttering something under his breath about “foreign-funded” NGOs spoiling our countries name, “You know, you are SO lucky in China that you don't have this cursed thing called democracy…”

Day 22 of the first indefinite hunger strike; days 1, 2, 3 & 4 of the second indefinite hunger strike - June 30, 2008 - July 4th 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

On Tuesday, the nine hunger strikers broke their fast after twenty-two days without food.

After 22 remorseless days, the nine fasters finally take nutrients again

Immediately, nine others, including 4 Tihar alumni, took up the hunger strike.

From left to right: Laxmi, Tulsa Bai, Anwari Bee and Shanti Bai

Former hunger striker Rashida garlands a determined Suresh

Imran and Raju join the fast (close right)

The original nine spent the last few days eating light meals – fruits and curd mainly – to regain strength. Jabbarbhai, who had previously fasted for 14 days in 2007, said it takes upto a month before one can eat normal food and return to a normal level of activity. Some have been better than others at sticking to the regimented diet. When visiting on Thursday, I caught up with Meera across the street from the dharna, sneaking in some eggs. “What can I do,” she said, sighing “I need tasty food”.

A large contingent has been returning to Bhopal, including the kids, whose school started already this week. With them went a large part of the rohnak of the dharna – their bright smiles, ready greetings, all the activities that they kept doing – painting, henna, visiting schools and childrens' groups around Delhi, walks, singing, dancing, bullying Sanjaybhaiyya and Vikasbhaiyya, and of course all the protesting, naare-baazi, leading of rallies, fuming at cops and spending nights in lock-ups (What a way to spend a summer vacation!). We will miss them – we'd be hard-pressed to find a smarter, more loving, more confident and higher spirited bunch – and wish them all the best with their studies. They are the future of the campaign, and indeed of the country, the world and oh, what a bright future we have ahead of us!

Meanwhile, protests continue in Bhopal against the stalling tactics of the state government. Public support among the bastis is strong, with everyone coming together to express support after hearing stories ad nauseum about the horrors of Tihar, of police brutality, of government neglect and of the tremendous hardship of twenty-two days without food.

Hope is up that despite the state government, our demands are being considered in their entirety. The Group of Ministers for Bhopal have formulated their report and promised to submit it to the Prime Minister at latest by next week. The PM may then have to send it to the cabinet for approval, or may sign it himself. Its still early to call a victory, we remember plenty of disappointments with the government, so now we wait, in relative quiet, to see exactly what they will come back with.

June 31, 2008

[I am aware that June 31 is not an actual date. But then this is not an actual blog]

Today, yet another group of Bhopalis arrived in Delhi. They categorically stated that they would not leave until their one demand was met – that is, to meet the Prime Minister and thank him with garlands and Bhopali hugs for all that he and the rest of the government have done for them. So far the Prime Minister's Office is keeping mum as to whether he will meet them; an acquaintance of his told us, on condition of anonymity, that the PM was hesitant to accept their gratitude as it would “…send a wrong message to people in the government – I am, you see, only doing my job ”

It has been 24 years since that fateful night when poison gas poured into the lives of lakhs of citizens living near the Carbide plant, killing 20,000 and injuring more than half a million. At the same time, the poisons stored unsafely at the plant site had already begun their journey into the aquifers below the ground. Right as the last safety valve of the MIC unit blew, the severity of the catastrophe caused the universe to split. Two universes, exactly alike at that point of time, began their progression parallel with each other. Now, most readers of this blog will be familiar with only one of these, which we call “calloussarkaar”, so here we will tell you about the other, called “caringsarkaar”, in which the above-mentioned scene in Delhi took place.

In caringsarkaar, right as news begun to filter through of the disaster, the until-now corrupt and complacent government was jolted. The grief, the tragedy was overwhelming, compounded with their deep guilt for collaborating with the company, for not monitoring its environmental and safety systems, not requiring comprehensive drills and neighborhood education programs. The sarkaar in caringsarkaar resolved at that moment to be better, to fix their broken city, to make all the amends they could possibly make to help its citizens recover and move on from their trauma.

For one thing, all the management of Carbide was flown in from the U.S. and held in a large compound. They were forced to give out the secrets of the chemicals of their gas and the results of all studies conducted on its health effects, with some police going so far as putting some of them in special chambers with MIC to make sure they were telling the truth. When they timidly asked what would happen to them next, debates broke out – they could stay in jail, of course, but the city did need manual scavengers and the ditches did need cleaning and new construction did need laborers. Warren Anderson, craven with fear about what would happen to him, and bent over under the weight of his guilt, was found in one of the special MIC chambers fiddling with the controls to increase the dose of the gas – he had tried to kill himself! While the police didn't think that was such a bad thing, they subsequently decided it would be too easy a death and pulled him out. He currently can be found working as part of a chain gang, collecting the excrement of animals in Bhopal that can then be converted to fuel and fertilizer.

More importantly, for the suffering of Bhopal, immediate relief was provided with enormous makeshift tents set up with all the facilities and the best of doctors flown in from around the world. Later, as Union Carbide was dismantled and sold off in small pieces, its money put into a gigantic Carbide Dismemberment Fund, and used to build comfortable dwellings for all the survivors, with an option for at-home healthcare for life (and for the lives of the next five generations) or beautiful hospitals, set up as comfortable nursing homes, for those that were severely injured. Researchers visited from hospitals, universities and foundations all over the world to undertake the largest study ever done in the history of the world - a hundred-year long term study of the effects of the gas on the current and future generations, as well as the best remedies for treating these effects. For those survivors that wanted to work, there was plenty to do – the government had set up (again, with UC money) extensive workshops, entrepreneurial help centers, universities and schools so that they could piece their life back together.

A few months after the disaster, an extensive air and water monitoring program was launched that caught the pollution and immediately isolated the problem and began working on cleaning up the factory site. All the soil was dug up, sealed into enormous airtight containers and shipped off to the now-unused Union Carbide sites in the United States for disposal. The water supply in Bhopal now entirely relied on rainwater harvesting, with above ground reservoirs set up, and complementary water shipped in, until a week or so ago, when the underground aquifers were declared pollutant-free, to much jubilation (hence the persistent visits to Delhi to garland the PM, a former Reserve Bank chief economist who quit his job, moved to Bhopal and worked 14-hour days in the years following the calamity in a dedicated effort to manage the finances of the Carbide Dismemberment Fund – for years he was seen walking around Bhopal in his red turban muttering numbers under his breath – that is, until he became the PM of course).

Right now, as the situation stands, Bhopalis are considered the golden standard of rehabilitation of a population after a disaster, and universities and bureaucracies around the world study their case as one that should be emulated. While there are still a lot of sick people in Bhopal , in all interviews they seem to express great satisfaction at the care that they and their families are receiving from the Carbide Dismemberment Fund. The healthy family members have grown prosperous working at the various workshops, and starting their own businesses; the children have received the best schooling and now study at the most prestigious universities around the world, with a particular predilection in medical sciences and disaster management. We talked to a few of these kids and they said that they feel so blessed to have been so well-taken-of by the benevolent and efficient government, that they want to share their good fortune with all by helping in any possible manner.

Coincidentally, there was another multinational chemical company, Dow, who saw the Carbide disaster and pledged to mend its own bad ways. It morphed into a non-profit organization called Dow for Human Elements, sold all its poisonous assets to help the victims of its own crimes. Lately it has taken over the old Carbide site and works with hundreds of Bhopalis who run their kitchen gardens on the site using Dow's expertise in its new area of specialty - organic farming.

Disclaimer: This article is really not meant to hurt the feelings of those stuck in the other calloussarkaar universe. Though we realize that it may cause deep depression, hair-pulling and chest-beating in that universe, we in no way acknowledge any liability for that. All we are trying to do here is report facts.

Day 21 of the hunger strike - June 30, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

21 days, three weeks. I can scarcely believe it has been this long that our friends have been starving themselves. This is a terribly long time –Slate magazine quotes:

“It's all downhill after Week 3, or whenever weight loss exceeds 18 percent of the starting weight. The body tries to compensate by slowing down its metabolism, entering "starvation mode." Still, once fat stores are entirely depleted, the body has no choice but to mine the muscles and vital organs for energy. The striker simply wastes away as his body, quite literally, consumes itself.”

The doctor is strongly recommending the termination of the fast – symptoms indicate that at least one of our bhook hartalis is in near-mortal danger.

To add to the tension surrounding the situation with the hunger strikes, another little confrontation with the cops today – and this time recorded for posterity by various members of the media. The kids – Sarita, Yasmin, Aamer, Raffat, Abhishek – and Shalini had gone to the Prime Minister's office along with Arvind Kejriwal to hand over RTI applications. As soon as they got there, they watched as the security called the Parliament Street police station – the Bhopali kids are here! – and a large contingent of policemen came running. One of the cops, Divedi, started barking out abuses and threats and refused to let Shalini and the kids in. The abuses turned plaintive – “Of all the protests here at Jantar Mantar, nobody gives us as much trouble as you do; if you have a problem with the government, fight them - why do you harangue us, we are just cops?” (Right. Just cops that beat children). Then they turned petty as they condescendingly told the kids – “All these NGOs are just using you to get foreign funding, you know that right?” To all of these attempts to demoralize us, 14-year old Sarita more-than-adequately put the cops in place. “You are part of the government that is causing us all these problems,” she said, adding “As far as the NGOs go, they're the one who have been with us, arranging for our food, staying with us for four months – we don't see the cops or the government feeding us at the dharna!” A bunch of media-walas who had gathered told the police wonderingly that they have never seen a group of cops so intimidated by a handful of kids! Later, Arvind Kejriwal, who was the only one allowed inside the PMO to give the RTI applications, gave a press conference condemning the fact that the RTI office was so inaccessible to the common person. If the PMO security is so paranoid, put the RTI office outside somewhere. There was so much security – at one point, there were 60 cops for the 5 kids!

In the afternoon, a rock band called Adverse Pain came to perform at the dharna. We arranged for them to perform on the middle berm, but the cops marched up and told us we had to get permission. Wearily Vikas and the band manager, Harjot Singh walked down to the police station to fill out the application. They didn't wait for it to get approved – just came back and growled to the cops that it had been submitted. The music was lovely, a great distraction for the hunger strikers and the rest of the rally that had come in this morning.

And distractions are needed. We have now been here so long that we have literally become part of the scenery. Tourists stop by curiously, we're probably featured in some of their guidebooks. And an ecosystem of sorts has formed around us. Today, as Dharmesh was looking for a mic for the band, he opened a box and an entire nest of ants poured out onto the dharna sthal, sending everyone rushing out onto the street. He also counted some cockroaches, crickets and one mouse as they indignantly marched out to protest the disturbance.

Day 20 of the hunger strike - June 29, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

Quiet sunday at the dharna today. Health of the fasters is holding up, some of the scariest symptoms seem to have settled out, and they are complaining of stiff joints due to the lack of activity. It's tough because they get so tired when they do something, but get so restless when they don't. Long naps during the day, punctuated with leisurely strolls to the market, to chat with a friendly minister or member of parliament, or engage in shooting dirty glances to our rude neighborhood cops seems to be the resolution they have settled upon. And distractions abound – novels, conversations, and today's special: a colorful gay pride parade through central Delhi that most of our dharna joined in solidarity.

During this lull, I shall take the opportunity to blog about the men's experiences at Tihar. It was significantly different from what the women endured – far harder in many ways. I have hesitated to write about their experience – it is bothersome and shameful in so many ways: That we live in a country, indeed in a world, where one is mistreated in this manner for peaceful protest, that police brutality exists at this level in our capital, that our jails are so overcrowded and corrupt, and finally that through all of this, our friends were isolated for so long without knowledge, without contact and most importantly (as it turns out) without money.

Here goes the account:

Of the 22 that were incarcerated for 11 days in Tihar jail, only two were men. Imran, 19, and Suresh Pal (fondly called Pappu), 20, were separated from the ladies and had a terrible experience in the men's section of the infamous holding facility.

For one thing, they had no idea what was going on. On entering the jail, Rachna had surmised that bail would be posted and all would be released in one, maybe two days at most. As the days passed and no word came, the guys were terrified that they had been forgotten. Imran even sent a postcard – “Bhool gaye kyaa, milne ko aao, zamaanat karo” (Whats going on? Have you forgotten us, come meet us, get us out). They couldn't know, as the ladies did, about the stalling tactics of the magistrate, about the tireless efforts of those at the dharna to gather guarantors, raise hell at the police station and to whoever would listen to them. On the second day when we visited the ladies at Tihar to explain what was happening, we were not allowed to visit the young men – the reason of which is still unclear to us, and should have been followed through.

Secondly, Tihar is a place where money speaks volumes, in fact, it is the only thing that speaks at all. Whether you can or cannot pay off the “bhais” – bullies who are typically serving life sentences – decides whether you get to live comfortably or your life is a living hell that, in the words of Imran, “duaa karte hai ki hamaare dushman ko bhi aise jeena na pare” (I pray that nobody, not even my enemies, has to endure).

The third factor that was against their favor was their isolation. If there had been twenty guys in there from our group, they would have taken care of each other and been left alone. But since these two guys were alone, they were prey to the worst of the mistreatment.

Here it is important to record what they went through. These are scared kids, out of their hometown, come to Delhi to fight an injustice to their community and it is our collective disgrace that they were left in this condition for ten days.

They were staying in tiny rooms packed with as many as 60 guys. If they were lucky, they would get to sleep on a sheet. In the morning, they were woken at 4:30/5:00 a.m. and sent out to the compound where they had to stand in columns of four each for the attendance. If, by mistake, a group of five came together in a column, all five were taken out and beaten. Then, they were sent to wash up. Since there was only salty water available, it was no use, and for the first few days our boys hardly washed at all. Then they had to fight for a little bread, and sometimes didn't make it, and some watery chai. And then the work began. An announcement was made and the “new boys” were called out. They had to sweep and mop all the cells and the compounds. In between all the rooms were ditches were the garbage was collected. They were forced to get into these ditches and scrub at the hardened dirt. They got out of bathroom duty by saying they were willing to do heavy work instead. Heavy indeed. The rest of the morning they were made to carry 25 bags of wheat, weighing 50 kg each, from the godown to the kitchen (about 300 m.). They had to go through the wheat, process it, then fill up the bags again and carry then to where the wheat could be ground into flour. Only then did they get lunch, five rotis with watery dal. From noon to 4 pm they were locked up again, and then again made to do work of some kind. Then at 7 pm came Rihaai, where they had to sit again in lines of 4 while names of those released were called out. And then it was bedtime.

None of this includes the random beatings done at the whim of the powerful in the jail. They would make the guys crouch, raise their shirts and hit them so hard on the back that the marks of the five fingers were clearly visible. Beatings with sticks were far worse. At times, some of the boys would beg that their backs/stomachs hurt, and the bullies would box their ears till they rang. Once Pappu spilt the tea of one of the inmates, and that guy had him and six others in their ward arbitrarily beaten up. There was no reason, no point and no pattern to the beatings – the idea was to make life so difficult for the inmates that they would be forced to get money to buy protection from the Bhais.

Where were the jailers through all of this? Nowhere, apparently. Almost everything was run by the inmates, and the roughest ones with the longest sentences had the most power in the jail. That is to say, our boys were at the mercy of a madhouse run by the most violent, most sociopathic of murderers, dacoits, rapists and thieves.

Through all of this, our boys did not have a paisa and did not hear anything from us, from the outside world, until the SEVENTH day! They reasoned that someone was trying to get them out, but a nagging doubt prevailed that the women had been let out, and they were left in the jail for who-knows-how-many days. They'd go to the lawyer in the jail who waved them away, saying that they should get out in 4-5 days, though once to their horror he said it may be as much as 24 days! Then finally Vikas came on the seventh day, reassured them that they would get out soon and gave them tokens worth Rs. 200. Of that they used Rs. 150 to pay off the Bhai (and finally were relieved of the heavy work and beatings) and used the other Rs. 50 to get edible food and chai from the canteen. This is an important lesson – if one of our comrades has to go to jail, we need to make sure they have tokens to guarantee that they aren't abused by the inmates. It may seem unpalatable to a few, who may want to suffer in the name of their cause by enduring whatever a penniless prisoner has to endure, but that should be their choice.

Finally, when they were released, their name was called out and they were dragged out, with a few last slaps and told not to come back. I can't imagine why they would want to. Yet, right as they ran out and were reunited with their friends, they recounted the entire story, and Rachna remembers both of them saying at the end of it: “Didi if we had to go to jail again to win, we will do it without any hesitation.”

Day 19 of the hunger strike - June 28, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

A lot of activity at the dharna today, with a couple of major activities to commemorate the 19 th day of hunger for our bhook hartalis. All week, the children with Shalini in tow, went around talking to Delhi kids, putting together their Have-a-Heart campaign, and today a bunch of Delhi grown-ups showed up in person (with over a hundred individuals around the world coming forward in spirit) to fast with the Bhopalis as part of the Global Hunger Strike.

In the morning, we had a press conference on our Have a Heart campaign. Surendra Mohan, former MP, now in his nineties, just got out of the hospital and came straight to the dharna to express his support. Senior correspondents Pamela Philipose and Neerja Chaudhary were also present. In this setting, Sarita gave a beautiful speech asking the Prime Minister to think not only with his mind, but also with his heart. She detailed the efforts done in the “Have a Heart” campaign – with kids from all over Delhi cutting out and writing beautiful messages on paper hearts. At this point, she mentioned that they would be going shortly to deliver the hearts to the Prime Minister's residence (PMR), and a pandemonium broke out. The police sat up. What! Did we hear that someone is going to the PMR! They started making frantic calls to each other, one police station calling the other, who called the Special Protection Group (SPG), who called the PMR. Everyone alert! Eight young children want to deliver paper hearts to the Prime Minister!

And thus commenced a farcical episode. The police told Madhu that she could not take the kids anywhere without an escort, and definitely nowhere near the PM's residence without express permission from someone inside. Madhu talked to a reptilian character (with due apologies to reptiles) inside the PMR to get permission. He rudely asked why they would want to come there, even smirking at one point – “Are you trying to celebrate their [Bhopali's] misery?” Finally, he said that only two children would be allowed. Madhu and the kids went to the PMR in a car with a corpulent policeman accompanying them. They were then stopped 50 meters away from the gate and the hearts were snatched away. These beautifully colored and written-out hearts had been mounted on sticks, so that they looked like banners, and the machine-gun wielding cops refused to accept these wooden poles, citing that they could be a dangerous weapon! One of them even questioned “Why so many hearts?” to the 250-300 hearts presented. Well mister hawaldaarji, if you could just lower your paranoid armor and shields, you would realize that it is actually quite touching that so many kids from such different backgrounds all over Delhi had made this connection with children from Bhopal – empathizing with them, understanding their plight, and supporting them by making out these beautiful messages to their elected leader. The buck stops at the Prime Minister, and young children from his own capital are holding him accountable. It is telling that their trusting, sincere missives are greeted at his enormous, impenetrable iron gates with guns and grunts of fear from big armed men in uniforms.

Several Delhi-ites gathered at the dharna-sthal and lounged around all day in a one-day solidarity fast, a testament that some grown-ups in Delhi are not too far behind her kids when it comes to social awareness. Selva, on the second day of his 3-day hunger strike in solidarity, wore a banner hung around his shoulders and walked back and forth between groups gathered on the middle berm and under the tent. A bunch of kids from Timarpur, a slum area in North Delhi where AID has started a weekend school, stopped by to meet with the Bhopali kids. They were on a field trip, visiting sites all around Delhi. Jantar Mantar, where the spirit of Indian democracy vibrates and thrives in the form of dharnas, rallies and peoples movements from all over India, was their final stop. Incidentally, our corner - at the intersection of Parliament Street, Jantar Mantar Road and Tolstoy Marg, has been our home for exactly three months today.

Day 18 of the hunger strike - June 27, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

Things looked up somewhat today as the doctor came to perform a series of health tests on the hunger strikers. Meera and Irshad's pulse rate has recovered and is in the sixties. There are three people, Jabbarbhai, Rafiqbhai and Gabbarbhai, whose pulses are still in the low fifties and Meera's blood pressure is still worryingly low.

Meanwhile, another rally came in from Bhopal this morning. The government official we talked to said that “things are in movement” regarding the meeting of our demands. In movement ? As opposed to utterly, painfully, morbidly stagnant for the last 23 years? Where every morsel of progress has been eked out by painful sacrifices, jail sentences, police beatings by a few– only to be reversed, nullified or rendered irrelevant as loopholes allow more greedy corrupt officials and companies to dive in for a portion of the kill? One of the most outrageous things about waiting for our demands to be met, is that one of the major parties holding up progress is the Madhya Pradesh state government! By closing off their access to the funds of this specially empowered commission that we are seeking, it means that more money will get spent actually healing Bhopalis, and less will morph into cash and jewelry in their private lockers. It would be laughable that they are so transparently trying to keep their cuts of the commission's funds, if their stalling tactics weren't so deadly serious for our hunger strikers as well as for the 500,000 others living with Dow's poisons firmly imbedded in their bodies.

An update on the lady in Bhopal Memorial Hospital, Nirmala Thakur, who was “allowed” to stay there with eleventh hour phone calls (another painfully eked out “morsel” of progress?). She will probably get the Prime Minister's Relief Fund to pay for her treatment – for pulmonary TB and a second kidney transplant. The formalities are being worked while an agreement in principle has been reached.

Day 17 of the hunger strike - June 26, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

Irshaad and Meera have critically low pulse rates – 44 bpm! They are hanging on bravely, Meera is even sitting up and chatting happily with everyone who comes in. I had no idea things were so bad until Rachna gave me her update. I panicked and scolded Meera – she should be lying down! She grinned and said (and I paraphrase here) – better if I am distracted and active. I suppose it takes the mind off the uncooperative body.

The rest are holding up, but extremely anxious about the health of these two. We're all glad to hear Diane is out of jail – though disheartened to know that the police and the jails in Houston are as disgustingly callous as the specimens we have to deal with here in Delhi. The next time I hear someone chatting excitedly about how India is catching up to the west, I will have a thing or two to say about that. She was just gently, peacefully sitting right outside the Consulate office, doing nothing but distributing fliers! That the conscience of so many got mercilessly jabbed and pricked and punched is really their own demon to deal with.

But I digress. Leaders of the Autorickshaw Union Nyaybhoomi stopped by at the dharna. They promise to distribute 2000 posters to their members to post at the back of their rickshaws. They will be distributed at the central rickshaw repair shop over the next couple of days, so if you are commuting in central Delhi, expect to spend your (long) time in traffic getting happily educated about the cause.

At the dharna today, the kids are busy organizing the hearts that they shall hand to the Prime Minister tomorrow, and the ones that they shall hang around their necks for the photo-ops. This is the grand culmination of the Have a Heart Campaign by the kids and Shalini and all the supporting children in the organizations all over Delhi. Tomorrow, we fervently hope that one of these spectacularly touching hearts will ignite some spark in the long hibernating, deeply concealed, protractedly absent emotional centre in his soul.

Our fabulous Shweta, also on her 18th day of hunger strike, reports from Chennai:

“Oh Well I am hale and hearty! Seriously, people here do not even believe when I say that I am on my 18th day of fast.

Ketone levels are about 30-40, BP has been constant at about 110/90 and more over I am even going to our lawyers office in the High Court (for the last 3 days) to help out on one of our critical cases where we are demanding that Hindustan Lever (HLL) clean up its mess of mercury contamination in the hill town of Kodaikanal and provide long term medical rehab for the all the workers exposed.

Day 16 of the hunger strike - June 25, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

This evening, we had an encouraging meeting with an official of the government. He said that they had met and will “soon” send the report to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). This will then have to be approved and signed by the PMO, who will then come out with a statement.

You can let out half a sigh. This is good news. He also said that the only reason that the legal liability is being pursued is the pressure brought to bear on the government by the long trek, long stay and very long fast. The urgency created by the hunger strike is also causing them to speed up the process.

The other half of the sigh should be held back in reserve. What is the meaning of sending the report “soon”? And how long will the PMO take to sign it? We don't have much time – 16 days is a morbidly long time to go hungry – remember, even Gandhiji never fasted for more than 21 days, and we all remember how weak he got. Some of our hunger strikers are holding up well – the light in their eyes shines out as they greet me at the dharna – but inevitably there is one who is dangerously ill, with low pulse rate, and is only staying on the fast with sheer, ridiculous mental gymnastics. If “soon” can be “immediately”, we would really really appreciate it. The days at the dharna are getting to be long, and every day that the process is expedited will be a huge deal for the indefinite strikers.

A big rally comes from Bhopal tomorrow, and a big event – the Global Hunger Fast – will take place the day after. The success of this event is critical, with people all over the world rejecting nourishment for the day to be in solidarity with our friends here (on their 19th day at that point), for justice, for rights of all human beings to prevail. Please join, and please make a big noise about it wherever you are (in the words of a popular Hindi movie, and now a popular slogan at the dharna – Halla Bol !)

Another reason that the group of us had trooped to the Ministry of Chemicals had to do with a lady in Bhopal , Nirmala Thakur, badly gas-exposed at the age of 12 on that fateful night. This particular lady is residing in Bhopal Memorial Hospital , being treated for pulmonary TB and receiving dialysis for kidney failure. Their hospitality apparently comes with an expiry date and they were trying to discharge her. They said that they didn't have the facility to do a kidney transplant (they have already lined up a donor), so she would have to go elsewhere for the treatment and pay for it herself. Her discharge was set to occur at 3 pm. We knew we wouldn't get to meet with Sampath till 5 pm, so we asked our comrades in Bhopal to stay put in the hospital, along with the sympathetic media, and stall till the evening. Happily, it is resolved, at least for the time being – Sampath called the head of the hospital, Brigadier Mauder, who assured us that her stay would be extended until she could get further treatment. Meanwhile, we are filing an application with the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to pay for her kidney transplant. Another victory – a life saved. Unbelievable that an individual case requires this much effort, with the Secretary of the Ministry of Chemicals having to make a personal phone call!

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, the kids went on their rounds again today. This time they met with a group of children in a slum, Indra JA Colony, about 30 kids of various ages. The interaction was good, but these kids barely know how to write, another tragedy in itelf, so not too many additional hearts were written out to the PM. In the bus going to the event, Aamer felt a hand in his pocket and effortlessly turned to grab the criminal by the collar – this is a fourteen year old boy holding a forty year old man – and gave him a good chastising. Hey – when you're used to fighting the second largest chemical (and first largest criminal) corporation in the world, what is one little pickpocket?

We hear that tomorrow more than 100 members of the Trichy based Tamil Nadu Environmental Council – that has offices all over Tamil Nadu – are fasting in support of Bhopal . They have also held rallies in various places, distributed more than 2000 pamphlets on Bhopal , the hunger strike and why it is so important to support it.

Day 15 of the hunger strike - June 24, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

When your body starts producing ketones (and it will after 15 days without food), a peculiar smell gets emitted in your breath, very much like over-ripe pears. If it wasn't for the pollution in Delhi, in particular in Central Delhi where we are lodged on a busy roadway, our dharna sthal would be reeking of it. Ketoacidosis, the condition caused by an excess of ketone bodies, is a real danger for Sanjay and Rachna, and hovering around the corner for the rest.

This is heart-wrenching to report, and I cannot imagine how scary it is to endure. I don't need to say that we need to mount the pressure even higher, ratchet up the phone calls, whatever it takes – surgically implant a heart into the maddeningly silent Prime Minister. Saving Bhopal, indeed the world, from corporate greed and government corruption is a heavy burden, and our friends are slowly fading under the weight of it. Please double, triple the effort you are making in support – the government is making encouraging noises, but we need the pressure to be critically painful at this point.

Aamer, Yasmin and Rafat sat with their father, Jabbar Khan, on his fifteenth day fasting. I have given up asking how he is doing, so I asked them what they felt – Bahut bekaar (very pathetic) came the characteristically understated reply.

And the children continue their good work. Today they went to Don Bosco Ashalayan school and met a fantastic bunch of teens – 15-16 years old. They were greeted with a sweet Hindi song – Tum Aaye to aayaa mujhe yaad, Gali me aaj chaand niklaa (you came and I was reminded – the moon is out tonight), which delighted the girls. They chanted slogans, wrote out angry messages on hearts, then took our kids around their school and gave them a wonderful lunch. They asked enchantingly audacious questions –“The Bhopali authorities must be drinking clean water, why don't you break their pipe so they will have to suffer with you?” “Why don't you block roads and rails like the Gujjars?”

Sarita replied to the last question: "Hum nahi chahte ki ham yeh ladaai hinsa se jeete, hum chahte hai ki hum shanti se ye ladaai jeeten. Ladai sabko saathlekar chalene se jeeti jaati hai, unhe nuksaan pahuncha kar nahi. Isse aane waale peedhi ko lagega ki sahi aur shanti se bhi ladaai jeeti jaa sakti hai." (We don't want to win this struggle by violent ways. We want to win our demands through peaceful means. Struggle is won by taking everyone along and not by harming them. This will ensure that the coming generation realize that struggles could be won through peaceful and nonviolent ways as well.  )

Next, the kids went to Jagori's community center in Madanpur Khaadar. Jagori is an acclaimed women's organization in Delhi. Savita, community worker tells us, "Jagori  started its work in 1984 and Bhopal was one of its most intense engagements then ." The women and adolescent girls present listened to the kids and assured them that they would come out whenever they were called.

Day 14 of the hunger strike - June 23, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

How does it feel to go 14 days without food? I don't know, and could not guess. When I ask Rafiqbhai (aka Maamu) how he is, he is quick to shoot back – Fine, and how are you ? He isn't fine – his face is withdrawn, he doesn't have ketones in his urine yet, but it's just a matter of time. I go to Sanjay, who has a dangerously high ketone count and low blood sugar – he laughs – “I haven't been very good about taking fluids – I promise I'll do better”. This nonchalance, this bravado is bewildering – how do I communicate their suffering, the urgency of the danger they are in, when they won't talk about it? I am anguished and frustrated and it must show; Meera – her high spirits on display as much as her cheekbones on her scarily thin face – actually consoles me ! We go on a walk and she assures me that everything will be fine. And when (not if, but when) we get our demands met, she wants me to take her out for a burger.

Meanwhile, the kids are still at it, visiting more schools to ratchet up support. Today they went to a school run by Dr. A.V. Baliga Memorial Trust with Shalini and met with a group of fifth-graders. If you think you're smarter than a fifth-grader, well, you haven't met this bunch yet. They listened attentively and filled out more hearts to send to the Prime Minister.

I asked Rafat if they had trouble catching a rickshaw again today and she nodded solemnly. Really? I was mad – we thought we had appropriately chastised the cops yesterday – and then she giggled – no, the problem was that the rickshaws didn't want to allow the six of them to crowd in! Not that the cops are behaving – this morning they stopped a few ladies who were going to the gurdwara – only after the involvement of others at the dharna, and a few phone calls, did they let them go.

This afternoon, the Tihar 22 had to report to the magistrate again. They were forced to sign a statement saying that they would not breach high-security areas again, otherwise another date would be set, and the case would be dragged out. The magistrate assured them that they could continue to protest elsewhere, just not the high-security zones, and had complete freedom to move around the city – he would have a word with the harassing cops around our dharna.

Day 13 of the hunger strike - June 22, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

The day started as usual with Sanjay's jokes. It is hard to believe he is on the 13th day of fast. Full of life and humour Sanjay adds much life force to the dharna sthal . Ever ready with jokes to cheer up your spirit, Sanjay is hugely popular with kids. He and the other hunger strikers were quite delighted when we received a personal invitation from Popular Indian singer Rabbi Shergill to the release of his new album and concert in the evening.

But, today's main headline was 'Times of India covers Bhopal'. One of the main national dailies, the Times of India hasn't been very consistent with news on Bhopal. Today it was a pleasant surprise for everyone when they found two news stories on Bhopal in the TOI – ‘GoM not in favour of letting Dow off the hook' and ‘The govt must stop obstructing justice'.

The second story brought out the relevance of hunger strike as a non-violent protest action in today's times. In fact people at large, especially youngsters, are often seen questioning the feasibility of non-violent protests. And they are right to ask this when the Government doesn't seem to care for those who resort to peaceful ways. Just some days back the Gujjar community protested to get the railway reservation quota as ST. The protests were not always peaceful and media did report violent outbursts at some places. Finally, the government succumbed and accepted their demands. Yet here are Bhopalis, who preferred taking a 800 km long March to Delhi than blocking the roads and railway tracks, who staged die-in (laid on the ground as dead bodies) instead of violent actions, who wrote letters to Prime Minister, who chained themselves to Prime Minister's House and who finally knocked at Prime Minister's Office. The PM's response? Silence, indifference, apathy and, finally, the Bhopalis's arrests and subsequent manhandling in the jail.

Do we feel bowed down? Do we feel dissuaded? Absolutely Not! We are as determined as ever to continue with these peaceful protests.

Today is the 13th day of the fast and the hunger striker's urine test reports reveal the presence of ketones. It's said that fasting becomes dangerous after just three to five days, at which point the body begins breaking down fat in order to produce energy. When the liver is reduced to breaking down fat (in lieu of the usual glucose), it produces ketone bodies, a toxic byproduct. These can be excreted through the urine, and a particular variety known as acetone can be expelled through the lungs (acetone makes a person's breath smell like pears). Ketone bodies can also be oxidized by the brain in order to make the fuel it needs. But when ketone bodies become too numerous in the bloodstream they can cause ketoacidosis, a potentially lethal condition that afflicts some diabetics.

It's ironic that in a country whose twentieth century freedom movement was defined by hunger strikes, that had an enormous impact on the Colonial rulers, the only response this Government finds for the fasters is - silence! Howsoever hard government might try we are certain that we will occupy the space in their heads and hearts. We are certain that soon there will be no other voice left in their head but the voice of conscience. It takes a long time before it comes to life these days. But when it does, it doesn't let the human die in you. We are counting on this human voice. We are counting on the Prime Minister becoming alive again!

Day 12 of the hunger strike - June 21, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

The day began with the usual hustle bustle. For most part Jantar Mantar has now become our home. Even the government posts for us come at this address. If nothing else this reflects the way government looks at the protests camps - that they are here for a long haul, they are here to stay before their voice finds a place with this 'democratic' government. And so Tibet and Bhopal exist side by side marked by distinct comradeships. One is trying to give up its refugee status here in the struggle for freedom, and the other is struggling to establish that they are indeed the citizens of this country whose rights should be respected and upheld.

Some time back I mentioned how Jantar Mantar has been designated as the place to protest in one of the world's largest democracy and how this place suffocates any protest that you might want to register. Today a group of around 21 Bhopali children was eagerly looking forward to the meeting with children of an upmarket Delhi residential colony. They prepared posters, took the album of second generation affected children and finally discussed the manner they wanted to conduct the session. The response from Tehelka foundation childrens' group has enthused a new vigour in them. They were ready to talk their concerns with anyone who care. So they were all looking forward to this meeting. It was their first in any residential setting.

All preparations done we stepped out of the dharna sthal and stopped an auto. The autowalla readily agreed to take a group of five children to Saket. But just as kids settled in the auto, around 4 cops stopped the autowalla and asked him not to take the kids. Shalini and the kids protested. Sarita screamed at the policeman. Aamir, Abhishek and even Arti asked the cops, “why are they being stopped?”. Soon Sathyu and Rachna joined and questioned the cops - "By what right do you restrict our movement?" The autowalla was too scared to refuse the cops and so he fled. Shalini and the kids marched to Tolstoy marg hoping they would be able to get autos there. But the cops followed them and more cops joined at Tolstoy Marg, which connects Jantar Mantar with the popular Janpath market. Usually calm and composed Shalini screamed at the cops asking them to leave immediately. The cops kept telling her to stop being hysterical. But, she wouldn't. She kept asking them, "Why will you have one policeman for every kid? Why will you not let us take any bus or auto?". She got even more enraged when she saw the cops grinning. Soon the group was surrounded by a number of passersby. Looking curiously from kids to cops they all had similar apprehension in their eyes - "Are these kids troublemakers?" Meanwhile our lawyer friend Nandita, Vikas, Rashida Bi, Hajira Bi and others also joined us. Nandita was mad at the cops - "where do you hide when a woman is being raped in Delhi? Where are you when a crime is being committed? Is your duty only to stop these children from attending a program? Shame on you! Is this why you joined police force?"

Finally, Bhopalis forced the cops to arrange the autos for the children. Much time was lost and the kids didn't want to be late for the meeting. They packed themselves into three autos and rushed to Saket. The meeting was in a park and organisers (Ashalata Trust) had arranged water, refreshments and stationary for the event. Soon we were joined by several children. Sarita led the meeting by narrating the events of the fateful night of the disaster. Aamir, Yasmin, Abhishek, Salim, Haseeb and others pitched in with stories of protests at Prime Ministers' office, arrests and police brutality and finally the very disturbing incident of the day. Abhishek explained the significance of the "have a heart' campaign and urged the group to donate a heart to Prime Minister. Like always this worked wonders. Kids wrote some very hard hitting messages to the PM on little hearts! Organisers gifted the kids with clothes. This gesture was the first of its kind for Bhopali kids. They were jubiliant! 

Finally the group boarded a bus to Jantar Mantar. Though the meeting was great fun, it was difficult to forget the event with the police. To some it meant humiliation, to others a mockery of the police force itself. And I remembered the message written by a Delhi kid on one of the hearts -" Sir, is dil par itne jakhm hain ki baagi banne ko ji chahta hai. Isse pehle ki der ho jaaye in Jakhmo par marham kijiye. Yahi aapka dharm wa kartvaya hai " (Sir, this heart has suffered so many wounds that now it wants to rebel. Tend to these wounds, before its too late. This is your duty as well as responsibility).

Meanwhile, in Bangalore:

Over 75 supporters of the struggle for justice in Bhopal  gathered at MG Road this Saturday evening to show solidarity with the survivors of the twin tragedies of Bhopal , the gas-leak of 1984 and the issue of poisoned drinking water. Songs, poetry-reading and candle-lights marked the evening in an air of friendship as people from various walks of life joined in.

'Thamate', a Dalit group from Shira (about 200 kms from Bangalore ) started off the proceedings with songs on justice and freedom. They encouraged the people to join them in chorus and soon everyone was singing together. Brief statements on the situation in Bhopal and Delhi followed. Senior Kannada actor Mr. Shivaram who joined the demonstrators said that Bhopal is an issue that needs the whole nation's attention and that it is extremely regretful that the peaceful protestors in Delhi were arrested and put behind bars for voicing their demands.

More songs and poetry reading followed including the Bhopal favourite - Hille le Jagjor duniya. The supporters also wrote messages to the Prime Minister to 'have a heart' and heed to the cries of the Bhopalis. As the light from the skies faded, the candles cast a mellow effect on the evening, with people reflecting on the issue and promising continued support to the struggle.

Day 11 of the hunger strike - June 20, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

The joy and relief of having our friends back with us is slowly sinking in. For ten days, when they were under arrest, life at Jantar Mantar meant another struggle. The struggle between hope and despair. And in true Bhopali spirit, yet again hope won. Children would sing Nafas Nafas every morning, while every evening we would gather to discuss the action for tomorrow. The spirit of hunger strikers is at an all time high. They realize the significance of their action and are determined to settle for nothing less than absolute victory.

Imran and Suresh have already narrated the tale of police torture so many times that it no more appears their story. It is a collective grief and it has led to a collective rage against those who ordered the police to act tough on our children - on any children.

However, the great relief of getting our comrades out of Tihar last night and the attendant celebrations were a welcome distraction from what is our big problem. The hunger strikers are getting weaker.

Rachna and Meera, who continued their fast from Tihar Jail, have lost substantial weight. Even still, their enthusiasm remains infectious. They joke about clothes becoming loose. They have several stories to share. Irshad shakes his head sadly and wordlessly when I ask how he is doing – he looks withdrawn and weak. Sathyu is lying down at the dharna sthal, covered by a sheet, a sight that caused momentary panic – he is always pottering about, talking patiently to yet another reporter on the phone, peering through his glasses at the laptop – and seeing him looking weak was disconcerting. He quickly brushed off concerns, grinning and teasing everyone around. Others are holding up, but the expressions are ever so slightly more serious, more somber; the replies to my inquiries after their well-being are less perky, the glazing of their eyes as they look away is slightly more scary.

These are the heroes of our times. They don't wear capes and they can't fly, but their endurance, their selflessness is epic and I increasingly opine that the rest of us, lesser mortals all, will be defined by the question: What were we doing while they starved to near-death for the cause of justice?

It's a question that will be answered readily by the young Bhopali children who have joined the movement in large numbers. Word is spreading fast in Bhopal , and in every rally that comes from there we see more youth joining in. Meanwhile, Krinna - a supporter - discussed with the Bhopali children before designing a 2-3 seating session where in the children are asked to write their experiences from the Padyatra and dharna. Today was the second time the group gathered to write. While the writings will be shared soon, Krinna is all inspired by what she has read so far. She says, "the kids are so well aware and articulate that if anyone ever had a doubt about the future of the movement the answer is right here. The struggle isn't 23 years old, it has the vigour to continue for yet another 23 years if need be. These kids are the leaders."

Day 10 of the hunger strike - June 19, 2008

Tihar Jail, New Delhi

Before mid-day, Jabaar, Gabbar, Shalini, Vikas and Ashish sat themselves outside the gates of Tihar, waiting impatiently for the first batch of releases. First out were Imraan and Pappu - our only two boys in jail - who had been separated from the rest and put into the male section of lock-up. The two of them ran out, and there was absolutely no stopping them, not even the speeding traffic outside Tihar. They ran into the waiting arms of our two hunger-strikers, ran across the road, back, across the road and back again.

Imran, Zabbar Bhai, Gabbar, Suresh Pal and Ashish (volunteer) in the upbeat mood outside
Tihar Jail

All this while, they told stories of what had happened inside jail, not knowing where to begin or end. They talked about the local ' bhais ', chiefs among the inmates who disciplined them regularly with sticks. They talked about how money ran the whole operation inside: if you were able to pay you sat or slept all day. If you weren't - like them - you were beaten at the slightest pretext and made to work from morning till night. We waited for the others while listening to their stories, and soon enough the next batch of a dozen emerged. Rachna, Meera and Vikas led the group, waving to us from inside.

Vikas with the two incarcerated hunger strikers, Rachna and Meera

Rachna & Shalini catch up on hugs

Then Hazra apa and Rashida apa led most of the women out; nobody knew whose arms to fall into first.

ten days after their gentle protest, some of the remaining 22 head for freedom

oops, not this gate

Big Bhopali hugs went all around and story-tellings began that will not stop for many days.

Getting our friends released is only one victory among many others that must be won. But if you weren't there, you might find hard to understand the uncontrollable joy, relief and happiness that even these small victories bring.

Soon, Rachna (whose energy seems unaffected by 10 harrowing days in jail, *while* on hunger strike) and Nithy were back outside Tihar Jail waiting for a last batch of friends to be released.

Rachna (sitting) gets straight back to work

Meanwhile, Meera and Sathyu had brought the rest together at the Delhi Metro station where we were all to gather. (Don't forget, Meera too has been on hunger strike while in jail. When a bunch of jail authorities gathered together to intimidate her and threaten to break her strike with drips, Meera had silenced them by reminding them of Gandhiji's fasts in jail.) By sunset, all our friends had been gathered together at the Tilak Nagar metro station, ready to depart for Jantar Mantar for a long due reunion with families and friends.

In the evening, the dharna sthal was buzzing with an electric energy. The Tihar 22, as they shall go down in history, were getting out today and due "home" soon. A couple of dholak artists were hired, sweets were brought, the girls got ready, wearing their best outfits in preparation of greeting their close friends and family members. The lines between the two have indeed blurred with the closeness, the kinship that has formed over these long months of struggle. And so we sat, anxiously looking to the cellphone-users among us for updates of where exactly they were: now they left Tihar, now they are boarding the Metro, now they are disembarking – which Metro station will they come from? What is the best location to go and greet them? We looked anxiously out, fidgeted around, the dholakwala started playing, then stopped, we went to the nearest Metro station, came back – Where were they?

Dwai's car pulled up and the two guys – Suresh Pal (Pappu) and Imran got out. A roar went up at the sthal – they were surrounded and pilloried with hugs. Not just the friendly, pat-on-your-back hugs, but the real thing – they had the hardest time in the jail, separated from the rest of the group, forced into labour, beaten hard with a terrible regularity. Still, they had wide grins on their face as they greeted everybody with assurances that they were alright. The dholaks went nuts at this point, and the kids started dancing with an urgent, frenzied intensity.

Pappu and Imran were pummeled with pleas to dance and they laughed – we've just gotten out of jail, give us time to breathe!

Then another roar went up as the women were spotted coming around the corner from Jantar Mantar and everyone ran pell-mell to greet them. Hindu Singh, who had been waiting anxiously with his son, looking out on the road all day, could scarcely believe that his wife had gotten back and had to be pushed out – She's finally here! You can relax now! Rashida Bi greeted everyone with flushed happy smiles, Rachna grinned happily, pushing all the garlands back – Stop giving me garlands, Here – you wear them!, Hazra Bi shouting at the top of her voice – Yeh rone ka time nahi hai! Rona band karo! (This is not the time to cry – stop crying!).

Meera was rushed to the dholaks and danced with an energy that belied her hunger (She, along with Rachna, are on indefinite hunger strikes too). Laddoos were passed around (except to the hunger strikers of course), a round of slogan shouting led by Meera (how does she do it?!) -

Na Chori Ki, Na Daakaa Daalaa!

Phir Bhi Humko Jail Me Daalaa!

(We didn't steal, we didn't commit any crime,

Why were we held in jail!)

 
watch the scenes at Jantar Mantar as the released Bhopalis arrive 'home'

After all the excitement, we took a quiet moment to reflect – What exactly were we celebrating again? But this was not the occasion – plenty of time for grousing later. Now, we were just glad, to put it mildly, that this particular ordeal was over. The bigger one, the longer one (23.5+ years now) continues…

The last couple of days has actually been quite exciting asides from the happy commotion upon the release of the Tihar 22. In the afternoon Delhi solidarity groups organized a press conference addressed by Justice Sacchar and Sathyu. An open letter to Prime Minister endorsed by 224 organizations including trade unions, people's struggles, NGOs and National alliances from 19 states across the country was released demanding immediate resolution of Bhopal issues.

Yesterday, six kids – Sarita, Yasmin, Aarti, Rafat, Abhishek and Aamir – went with Shalini to visit the Tehelka Foundation's Yuva-Ekta summer program, a lovely program with about 60 kids from the entire range of socio-economic strata found in Delhi. The purpose of the program is to "interact with one other and ideate on a number of socially relevant issues ranging from the Right to Information to appreciating what one already has, to human rights issues and environmental concerns". Our six kids talked eloquently on various aspects of the struggle, and finally young Aarti invited their hosts to the dharna sthal to help the Prime Minister to "Have a Heart". They agreed, and came by today for a fantastic program: They sat together in the middle berm, talking, and a bond formed between as easily as it does at that age.

They (the 60 kids from the program) had just finished performing for a street play that they had put together, and Sarita asked that they all work together on another play related to Bhopal . She was assured that they were interested and would look into it closely as soon as they had finished with their current program. They asked some questions – Why didn't the government just move them, providing houses far from the polluted factory site? Why didn't they just leave, and move away from the site? Sarita explained that they couldn't sell their houses – who would want to buy a poisoned place? – and as most people survived day-to-day on wage labor, it was impossible to just abandon their houses and buy a place somewhere else.

All the kids got together to cut out cardboard hearts and wrote notes to the Prime Minister on each (link goes to a .rar folder) – These will be delivered shortly in the hope that a cardboard heart with a sweet message, if nothing else, will occupy the vacuum that exists in that cavity in his chest.

All the kids, from the Foundation and our dharna, then marched up in the Jantar Mantar street shouting slogans together.

The cops were taken aback, a rally by children isn't something they are prepared for. Some of them followed the rally and found themselves in a difficult situation when a volunteer handed them the Padyatra brochure. Some were seen keeping the sticks back in the police jeep and looking anxiously at the kids marching down the Jantar Mantar. People in other protest camps at Jantar Mantar grinned and waved hands encouraging the kids to lead on. Finally, all the children formed a human chain in front of the dharna sthal and shouted slogans targeting the Prime Minister. Sarita and Yasmeen were too happy to articulate vote of thanks. Taking their leave, the kids promised not just their support whenever needed but also to be back with more hearts for the Prime Minister. As one of the kids wrote on his heart to PM - "I am giving this heart because I think and have realized that you don't have a heart, that's why you did not feel the pain of the Bhopal gas tragedy victims. Please think about them, they are part of your country and votebank. At least think of yourself, you will also meet God one day and he will ask what you did? You will be left with no answers".

Day 9 of the hunger strike - June 18, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

Today was a victory of sorts for those at the dharna.  A couple dozen guarantors, Nity and Shalini, Vikas and an indefatigable Gabbar (hunger striking only seems to lift his spirits) trooped off to the the magistrate's office to try to post surety for the bond for the third time.  However, the esteemed 'judge' who had on Monday asked us to come back on Wednesday was now nowhere to be found. We then learnt that he was attending a training, and his replacement was one Mr. Malik, the same magistrate who was kind to us the time when the Bhopalis were arrested for chaining themselves to the PM's house. So where was Malik? In the Chinese embassy, we were told. Our persistent lawyer Ashok Agarwal spoke loudly into the phone to Mr. Malik demanding to know why the Bhopalis have to suffer just because the cops couldn't get their scheduling together. Mr. Malik directed Agarwal to meet the DCP Mr. Anand Mohan of tough cop fame. Fortunately, one of the guarantors -- Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy -- knew Mohan. Mohan was his student at JNU. We were ushered in without delay. Mohan heard us out but was insistent that the incarceration was justified given that the Bhopalis had threatened -- it is recorded on camera -- to return to the PM's house for as long as it took the PM to hear the Bhopalis. However, he relented soon enough and called Kamal to let him know that Mr. Malik will be back shortly and that the Bhopalis would be released on surety.

After much coaxing and convincing, this new judge decided to allow bail for all but six of our jailed friends.  Curiously, another trouble began. From demanding the release of the Bhopalis, we began seeking out ways to keep the 16 in jail for just one more night. The conditions in jail are such that when a group of 16 leave, no reasons are given to the others that remain. We did not want the 6 people to think they had been abandoned. Jabbar bhai, whose wife Nafisa was one of the 16 to be released, was one of the first to point out that all 22 should get out together. Finally, it was so engineered that our brave friends were left to spend another night in prison for the sake of the 6 that will only be released on 19th evening.

But here, a note of appreciation for our guarantors. One can only admire and appreciate the spirit of these 22 supporters who were undeterred by Magistrate's decision to postpone the hearing twice. They made it to the court every time despite their very busy schedule. Today it was a very special scene in the Court- campaigners and guarantors both constantly on their phone contacting their friends and colleagues to come and stand surety for Bhopalis. 

Immediately, six other guarantors were rounded up by an untiring team led by Shalini, and they managed to receive an assurance that even the remaining six jailed protesters would be granted bail the following day.  Just to make sure, Vikas headed off to Tihar jail with the court officer to make sure that the documents were handed over without any further delay or mishandling.

Meanwhile, Sathyu and the others on hunger strike headed off to NDTV for a show - 'Fight for Your Rights'. The morale at Jantar Mantar has undoubtedly risen. For those of you who may have doubts about the outcome of this Mahabarata-length campaign, please check the website for earlier hunger strikes. All hunger strikes till date have yielded results -- pushed the bar one notch higher.

While we wait to see what the coming days bring, we've now uploaded some interviews with the children at the dharna sthal. Some of them recount their experience of being abused by the police.

Interviews with some of those brutalised by the police  

 
Sarita's appeal

Meanwhile, stay tuned for the happenings of tomorrow. It will be a wild, wild day tomorrow, with promises of wilder days ahead

Day 8 of the hunger strike - June 17, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

Tolstoy Marg, the street in front of our dharna, lit up tonight with hundreds of candles. It was a sombre and diverse, procession; Bhopalis and Delhiwallas marching together, protecting the wavering flames of their candles, and chanting in solidarity. Yasmin Khan, 11 years old, the youngest padyatri, whose mother is currently in jail for the cause, and whose father is on hunger strike (what a pedigree!), led the procession with the chants. Her voice was powerful, belying her age, and at times broke from the strain, but she kept it up for the entire action. At the end of the march, we gathered to spell out No More Bhopals with the lighted candles. Madhuresh, Pallavi, Selva – just a few of the residents of Delhi who are active supporters of the dharna – gave speeches for the occasion, assuring solidarity – whatever it takes, as long as it takes.

And so the hunger strike continues. News of actions around the world hearten the strikers, every message, every action, every person undertaking another day without food, bolsters their strength. Visitors pop in regularly to check on their health, which seems to be holding up well considering that their body has now exhausted its glycogen and switched to fat reserves – thus building up the infamous ketones in the body. It is an irony of hunger strikes that the actual hunger evaporates just when the body begins to destroy itself. The bhook-hartalis (hunger strikers) are now well into the dangerous phase – ketones are a toxin, and an excess can cause serious damage to a few – and in a few days will start consuming muscles and organs. Irreversible damage.

Now, with the exception of Sathyu and Rachna, all the bhook hartalis are gas or water peedit. Any gains they may make to their health by successfully shaming the government into providing adequate healthcare may well be nullified by the health risks of undergoing this hunger strike. For a world that is rendered cynical and thinks in terms of maximizing profit, utility, comforts, this action may be head-scratchingly irrational. But yet, here they are. They say they are doing it for their kids, for their communities, in memory of late parents who suffered in their last days – all good, in fact great reasons, for a long walk, for a long dharna, perhaps even for imprisonment, in the jail-bharo spirit – but this kind of slow, painful self-destruction? Others block roads, throw stones, inflict violence on their foes, on random passers-by, out of desperation. Who are we to stand in judgment, but here we have a group that is beyond desperation, that has already lost so much, but yet refuses to turn its bitterness outwards, refuses to lash out against an indifferent world, a callous government; instead directing the violence at itself, individually, at their own bodies. The blockade at which they find themselves is an internal one, their body crying out for food, and their spirit denying it – the humblest quest for justice – seeking it in such a manner as if to say: We are right. And we will let your conscience bear witness to the validity of our demands by the nature of your discomfort in reaction to the torture we are inflicting upon ourselves.

It takes a deadened soul to not respond to this call. And that of our Prime Minister has been long buried. As Rafiqbhai, one of the bhook hartalis, said drily: "Alright then, if the PM cannot fulfill any of our demands, then we may as well fulfill a few of his – Lets go camp out in front of his house and ask if there is anything we can do for him."

Day 7 of the hunger strike - June 16, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

Today a bunch of us went to Tihar to meet the jailed 23. The ladies are all together in a group and seem to be coping well. However, the two young men, Pappu a.k.a Suresh Pal and Imran, both around 19-20, are having a terrible time. Pappu is having a particularly terrible time. Imran, being a streetsmart guy, is getting off lightly. Pappu, though, has been forced to do very heavy work, and has also been beaten two times. Pappu was on the verge of tears, talking about how he felt ill, but was still forced to work, threatened constantly with terrible beatings.

The jail itself is a den of vice, much like our parliament, the police station and other centres run by the Government. If you have cash and connections, you can get everything from a full-body massage to tandoori chicken and booze, we're told. The sign at the gate to the Tihar Jail reminded me of the "Don't feed the bears" sign that supposedly graces zoo entrances. Only, here it said "Don't bribe the jail staff." Easier said than done.

By way of abundant caution, we had a few extra guarantors come in today. Of the 22 who had earlier stood guarantee, 18 people passed the verification test. Four had some minor problems, nothing that a police man with common sense couldn't have dealt with. The magistrate called the police for instructions and summarily told us that we could come back on 18th since he wanted everybody to be released at the same time. No amount of arguing helped. He had made up his mind. Rather, it would be more accurate to say his mind had already been made up for him.

Meanwhile, the hunger strikers have not eaten for seven days. The doctor came by today to check vital signs – all are holding up well. Lost weight and all. But pulse and blood pressure is good. Rafique bhai aka Maamu says his trousers have gotten loose, by about 6 inches he says. Spirits are high at the dharna sthal , despite the adverse conditions. Sanjay, mindless of his condition as a hunger striker, remains the quintessential prankster and the favourite of the * bacchon party* (the gang of kids).

While 22 Bhopalis languish in jail for disturbing the prime minister's peace, Dr. Manmohan Singh is busy plotting new ways to screw his own country for a few dollars more. His actions, no inactions, are disturbing the lives of hundreds of thousands. But that is another story.

This is the "lesson" that Bhopalis are being taught for struggling peacefully for their basic survival. And we call ourselves a liberal democracy! Those who fought for our independence, went through these same struggles, these same imprisonments, these same hunger strikes, just so we would not have to. Now the white man has left, but the coconuts remain (brown outside and white inside) to rule us. The seeds of the new independence struggle have already been sown.

I arrived at the dharna sthal today under a deep cloud of depression – things were just so awful. I was gaily greeted by Raffat, whose mother, Nafeesa Bi is in prison. Not a sign of sulking or brooding at the dharna sthal – these were just not indulged in when there was so much to be done. Sathyu and Nity hummed away on their laptops, the kids sat to do their slogan chanting – vociferously, confidently – and several passersby stopped to stare. Sanju, younger brother of the much-remembered Sunil, and also a hunger striker, jumped up to give pamphlets. This is a busy roadway, with myriads of different types of vehicles weaving their way past our dharna sthal , and several people poked their heads out of their vehicles to catch snippets of our songs. A couple of guys drove by on a motorbike and waved encouragingly. All of this gave us strength at the dharna. This is what Bhopalis do – gain strength, courage, a defiant cheerfulness even – when times are rough. It is the government that should be kept at its defensive – and so it is.

Day 6 of the hunger strike - June 15, 2008

Tihar Jail, New Delhi

What is morality? A heavy question for a humble blog, but one that has been weighing on my mind in the current situation. I would like to propose that it has something to do with making a sacrifice at an individual level, where the benefits are reaped disproportionately by others. Motherhood comes to mind.

Well, here we have a situation where twenty women and two men are languishing in prison so that their community can have a chance at survival – so that a historic wrong can, better late than never, be corrected. And this is not just for their kin – their actions, their sacrifices will ensure that 500,000 gas-and-water affected of Bhopal stop being poisoned, and start to regain a chance at a normal life. And that when justice is finally served, a message can go out to the world that corporate executives can no longer dispose of human lives as "collateral damage" in their ever-increasing greed for higher bonuses, that elected government officials can no longer indulge in incestuous deal-making with these same executives, offering its citizenry to their altar in order to get a cut of their bonuses. So yes, the Tihar 22 are doing it for all of us.

Their sacrifice is enormous, and it isn't pretty.

Here I shall write first about the experience of the women. Of the twenty women, a few have been notable fighters who laugh in the face of hunger strikes and jail sentences (and in the present case of Rachna and Meera, doing both at the same time). But a few of the women were just casual supporters, willing to sacrifice only a few days to the cause, coming down for a rally every now and then, already weighed down under the burden of fighting the triple evils of poverty, sexual oppression and Dow's poisons. These women are suffering in jail, perhaps not more than our experienced comrades, but with far less tolerance.

One of these women, Sahodra , had given birth to eight children, and not one of them survived more than 8 days after birth. She is in jail with her five year old son Akash, adopted from her sister-in-law, and she is currently two months pregnant. She doesn't know if this terrible infant mortality is because of the poisons in the water – how would she? Even now, she only knows a bare minimum about the struggle and is crying her heart out for hours at a time, beating her chest, because she is terrified that her husband will not take her back after such a long absence, compounded with a jail sentence. She lashes out against Rachna and Rashida Bee, the two people in the jail cell whom she accuses of being the cause of her misery. She says that this is not what she had bought into, she had only come down for 4 days with a rally. The worst thing for these few women was the uncertainty – bail was attempted, then denied, several days came and went, nobody knew when they would be released. Every evening the jailers came in with a list of the people to be released, and when they realized that they were not on the list, fresh chest-beating and wailing would commence.

It is hard to write about this. We like to think about all Bhopalis being united, heroic and stoic in the face of the colossal injustice that happened to them. We forget that some of them are just, well, human.

It has been hard in jail for the stoic ones too. The lamentations of the few women, their weakness, their accusations have been far harder than the privations of the jail. Rachna and Meera are on hunger strike, don't get enough water, and are suffering from terribly dangerous plunges of their blood sugar level. On top of it, Rachna is getting painful headaches, and is not sure if they are from the stress of the accusations or her hunger. Rashida Bee, our stalwart leader in all these times, is taking it particularly hard. She had an episode of high BP and palpitations and was taken to Deendayal Hospital for some time, and then had another anxiety attack during one of the chest-beating sessions. Rachna tried to get the doctor to keep Rashida Bee in the hospital so that she would be away from the stressful environment of the jail cell, but the doctor, kind though this one was, could not justify it based on her symptoms.

And the privations of the jail are not to be laughed at. The food is so bad that Nafeesa Bee is on an unofficial hunger strike of her own – she just cannot stomach it. The tea is terrible. The cells have to be cleaned – the ladies came in the very first day and scrubbed the floors, even the walls, just to make it habitable. Some of the other women in the jail pay their way out of errands, and get better food – but the jailers take a particular pleasure in depriving the Bhopalis. These other ladies were an interesting study, they were put in prison for everything from drug dealing, to a woman whose daughter-in-law had committed suicide for dowry. Some were uncommonly vulgar in their speech and jokes, to the amusement of some, and the horror of a few Bhopalis (I shall not name who was in each camp). When Rashida Bee had her attack, they rang the bell frantically 25-30 times with no response, and then banged on their plates in solidarity with our group. They banged them flat before someone finally came and took her to get care. Complaints were filed the next day and the superintendent "Badi Madam" responded by warning the jailers to be more responsive. The jailers in turn threatened the Bhopalis to withdraw their complaints.

Not that there weren't beautiful moments. One of the cellmates, a complete stranger, took Rachna under her wing during the lowest of her days and forced her to bathe, arranging buckets of water, soap, shampoo. Bano Bee was a fount of compassion, listening patiently to all the complaints of the "chest-beaters" and trying to calm them down. Several times, the ladies sat down to sing their inspirational songs, and were joined by others in the jail. And Meera, brilliantly spirited through it all, taught the jailers a thing or two – so many of them were actually inspired by her passion; when they tried to put her on a drip, she asked them with scathing contempt how they could just justify it – didn't they remember Gandhiji and his fasts in jail? And they didn't force her – they actually agreed and admired her! And here is the best part - after Rashida Bee's anxiety episode, when she came back, all the women felt so bad, so ashamed, that all
the crying ceased and they fussed all over her.

The jailers just couldn't fathom Bhopali women – they were unlike anyone they had ever seen – there was an episode where they joined their palms and said "Deviyon, aap kab niklogi, hum phir chayn ki neend soyenge" (loosely translated to "Goddesses, when you finally leave, we'll get to live in peace").

Deviyan indeed. The jailers don't know how close they have come to the truth.

Day 5 of the hunger strike - June 14, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

More than 200 people gathered -- mostly Delhi youth and bystanders -- to sway to the soulful music sung by Rabbi Shergill (of Bulla ke Jaana Mein Kaun fame), Jigri group and Manzil. Abhay Sharma, a 10th grade student, played a number of soft popular numbers on his saxophone. Shalini met him when he was playing in Central Park, in Connaught Place, and invited him to come over.

Abhay Sharma

Abhay was quite delighted as well, we learnt, because he got to meet stalwarts of the progressive music scene like Rabbi at this informal setting on a traffic island across the street from the Bhopal dharna sthal.

The crowd grew, and gradually spilled over on to the street.

The sound of the music waxing and waning with every passing bus, and noisy car. The crowd didn't mind. The musicians played on undisturbed.

Rabbi Shergill plays his first traffic island gig

Electricity was from an overhead line -- the same electric line that the Bhopalis have tapped their electricity from. Gabbar, one of the padayatris and hunger strikers, is also our man for tasks such as this. Give Gabbar half an hour, and nothing else. He will be able to hook up a tent and shelter, electrify it, and make it a home or open air theatre or whatever it is that you may need.

Gabbar fixes a fan

Narmada activist Medha Patkar visited the dharna sthal after a press conference on the issue of the breach in the Narmada main canal a few days ago. That was good. She stayed pretty much till the end attending the concert, sitting with the women.

Medha Patkar watches the gig

After Sathyu, Meera, Rafat, Amir, Yasmin and Arti belted out the popular "Nafas Nafas Kadam Kadam" with militaristic cadence, Vimlendu -- the moderator for the day -- invited Medha to sing one for the crowd. She obliged.

Sathyu and the children sing  "Nafas Nafas Kadam Kadam"

 
Medha Patkar at Jantar Mantar

Sarita and company

One senior activist who was right at the back was quite overjoyed to see the Narmada-Bhopal coming together. This is not the first time, though. Two years back, when the Bhopalis were camped out at Jantar Mantar, the Narmada campaign was across the street. Indeed, quite a few shared events were organised.

The audio system gave us a few anxious moments initially, but things ironed out well. There were a few wrinkles. But that just added to the khadi effect.

The organisers were a motley bunch of young, and recently young Delhi-based activists who call themselves the Delhi Support Group. Vijayan, Madhuresh, Joe Athialy, Benny Kuruvilla, Bipin, Sreedevi, Aanchal and her friends from Kriti, friends from Jagori, CEC, Delhi Forum, The Other Media all picked bits and pieces of work to make the evening happen. Shalini, who anchored the whole thing, has been promised a piece of halwa in recognition of her services.

So what does music have to do with activism? Do you think these kinds of events will change the minds of the Government? These were some of the questions the media was curious to get answers to. I'm sure different folks have different answers. But some of us who were involved in conceptualising the evening were motivated primarily by the need to bring young people and Delhi-based supporters together. The best way to make them run for cover is by threatening to invite them to a lecture. Music, on the other hand, is quite another kettle of fish. Also, as may have been seen from the Bhopal campaign's Mir Zafar Awards ceremony (where national leaders were felicitated for their treachery) or the Bhopal-based campaign against Tata's proposal to clean up Bhopal -- The Bhopalis took out a procession of a papier mache dog peeing on a bag of Tata salt -- the Bhopalis are not a morose lot. Give them a bad situation, and they will find a funny vein to twang on. After all, the Bhopal struggle is not a fight about the people who died. As a fight for the living, it is more than anything else a celebration of struggle, of dissent and of being alive.

an edited video of the music  

seven of the nine Bhopal indefinite fasters at the gig. Two remain in Tihar jail

Day 4 of the hunger strike - June 13, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

Today seven other Delhi supporters came forward to post bail for the rest of the jailed 23. Again, they were told that their addresses would need to be verified, and they should return on Monday.

A press conference took place in Bhopal to discuss BJP's acceptance of campaign funds from Dow Chemical. Serendipitously, the venue of the press conference, Apsara, had just seen another press conference called by the BJP itself on another issue, thus ensuring that we got a great turnout and good coverage of the issue.

Meanwhile, today is the fourth day of the hunger strike. It is hard to imagine how the hunger strikers in jail are doing – yesterday they had complained that they only got warm water to drink (its important to stay cool as much as possible in this heat).

We are trying to get an idea of when the government will respond to our demands, but their delaying tactics, their treatment of the survivors, their coolness in the face of our suffering (in fact, their generous contributions to our suffering) is breathtaking in the scope of its callousness.

Day 3 of the hunger strike - June 12, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

Today the Bhopalis set out for Tihar jail to check on their jailed friends and family.  After reports of police atrocities on the jailed protesters, nobody was prepared to take police assurances of their family's well-being for granted.  On getting there, the protesters received further evidence of the high-handedness of the unfeeling state machinery.  After waiting and negotiating for over one and a half hours, the Bhopalis were finally allowed to see the jailed women for all of just 20 minutes, that too across two grilled windows that separated the visitors and the visited by nearly five feet!  The visitors had to scream loudly even to be heard.  Nagma met her grandmother, Jabbar, Hindu Singh and Ram Dayal met their wives, Gulabi bai and Gora bai met their daughters-in-law, Shankar, Kamlesh and Rafat met their mothers.  

Even through this chaos, the Bhopalis managed to transfer some clothes and bananas, and in return hear of the plights of their jailed friends who were not even getting enough drinking water.

They heard too how the protesters had been housed in hot, airless rooms that made the hot summer nights almost unbearably oppressive.  It was comforting though to hear that Rashida apa had been able to get medicine for her heart condition.  After the meeting, spirits were lifted, both of the reassured families and the people in jail who were very happy to know that there were international supporters who were on also on an indefinite hunger strike.

In the afternoon, the sthal hosted CPI secretary D. Raja.  In expressing his support for the protest, he stated categorically that if the government did not withdraw the filed cases immediately and release the jailed Bhopalis, it proved that it was in no way fit to be called a government of the people.  The next visitor was Dr. Saurav Das, who came in to check on the hunger strikers. 

He took weight and blood pressure measurements and examined the general health of the hunger strikers, who were now in their third day. 

Let us admire the courage of the hunger strikers, and redouble our efforts to make PM sit up and take notice, so that the strike may come to a successful end.

Day 2 of the hunger strike - June 11, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

The hunger strike is on its second day. The heat is scorching, anxiety about our comrades in jail is mounting and the anger at their treatment is seething. Sathyu, Vikasbhai and others are shuttling back and forth to the police station, trying to work through the endless formalities. The seven on hunger strike at the dharna sthal sit in quiet dignity – never complaining – actively working on coordinating relief for our jailed comrades, visiting them in prison, talking to the media. I can only guess their private suffering, their pangs of hunger, the empty ache that this fasting creates – their proud bearing gives nothing away and they refuse to discuss it.

And they don't need to. The growing, gnawing emptiness inside them creates a pandemonium that is ringing around the world.

How did things get so bad? Bhopalis, who have the world's sympathies, who suffered the most chilling 23 years of entirely manmade, entirely preventable pain, who have nobly continued their struggle on the terms set out by none other than the Mahatma… are subject to beating and imprisonment?!?! If they are treated in this manner, what hope does anyone have of justice? Of living in peace and security? If one has been subject to injustice, is there even any point fighting a dignified peaceful battle, when you are going to be treated in this manner, a manner in which even criminals, even murderers should not be treated? The government has left the door open for glaring questions – and the struggle has now moved on to a new plane. We will get our demands met – our desperation, our resolve is absolute – and nine of us are ready to starve to death to prove it.

This afternoon, a bunch of Delhi supporters gathered at the dharna sthal . A ragtag group of environmentalist, advocates, human rights activists, doctors, and others - all fervent supporters of the Bhopali cause – lined up with their passports and bank statements. Shalini had spent hours on the phone trying to find residents of Delhi that would serve as guarantors for the Bhopali protestors, so that a few could be released early on bail. The attempt was unsuccessful – the magistrate insisted on checking every address and called all the supporters back on Monday.

The folks we wanted released were only a few of those that are imprisoned in Tihar jail right now. The rest, including the hunger strikers in prison - Rachna and Meera- are refusing bail. This despite conditions that are terrible – they haven't been given sufficient drinking water, they haven't had the opportunity to bathe in prison, they are staying in some sort of group compound, banded together with criminals and others brought in for minor offenses.

The one thing that I do know for sure is that our Bhopalis are giving their jailers an experience they never will forget. With their brilliant, towering spirit, their rightful anger, their slogans, their pride - the jailers will cower in shame at having to hold such a mighty bunch in such a despicable surroundings.

Back at the dharna shtal , Sarita, Yasmeen, Nagma, Abhishek, Salim and other Bhopali kids spent the afternoon painting.

Most of the pictures were of birds either flying or dancing, skies with rainbows or clouds, huts and natural landscapes.

Day 1 of the hunger strike - June 10, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

Sathyu explains to the press why he and eight others have stopped eating

At the dharna, there is outrage at the treatment of our comrades at the police station. Men, boys, women and little girls were beaten by policemen. This is undoubtedly illegal – only policewomen are allowed to handle women under custody and no one is supposed to be beaten at all – but obviously also skin-crawlingly, unbelievably perverse. These are Bhopalis – you can't get on a higher moral ground – and they are fighting an insensitive government, at the highest levels, as well as a global criminal corporation that poisoned them! They have been received with honors around the world and carrying out this fight for survival with the utmost dignity and grace. And the policemen beat them! They treated them as nobody should be treated, calling out coarse comments all day, using pejorative words, subjecting them to hunger, dirty bathrooms, mocking verbal abuse. And then, in an episode beyond comprehension, beyond words... they beat women and girls.

Some of the guys jumped in and took the worst of the blows, only to anger the policemen further, who subjected them to a horrible beating.

A government that has turned against its people, whose agents bully and hurt them when they ask for basic rights, is a government with no foundation, no legitimacy and no right to continue to rule.

Little Nagma, sweet Nagma – six years old, tiny little warrior – she holds her ground with the best of them, calling out slogans robustly, participating in the actions with her whole heart. A large policeman hit her so hard on her back that she was unable to sleep last night, and is still feeling sore – she has to rest her back on something soft for a while.

Yasmin, serenely confident, beautiful – an accomplished speaker for the cause at the age of 11 - was slapped hard across her face. Twice. Her ears ached, her head was spinning, and her face remained swollen the rest of the day.

Meera, 24, was about to be beaten, but Vikas managed to get in the way and take most of the blows. He seems to be alright today, shrugging off the several rounds of beatings that he got, but much of it is posturing I suspect. Others were not so lucky. Irshaad bhai and Imraan bhai, also intervening to protect Meera and Rachna, were beaten badly. Rasheeda Bi (winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize) and Hazra Bi were dragged and pushed by policemen. The maltreatment of the two ladies, whom I have gotten to know as embodiments of dignity, is particularly hard to stomach.

We would have been indignant if the policemen had even spoken with disrespect to the Bhopalis – but this beating, pushing, cursing is beyond tolerance – the police will have to produce those responsible, and those individuals will have to be made accountable.

Today, sitting anxiously at the dharna, we got word that the kids were being released and would be arriving at any moment. I looked out anxiously at the road waiting for them to come. The past few months, I got so fond of the kids – they always greeted me with shouts, surrounded me with their news – just a few days ago we had gone to the park. They are well behaved, confident youngsters and never cease to surprise me with their subtle, sharp wit – a Bhopali specialty that they have already mastered. That they had gotten beaten yesterday was gnawing at me, troubling me terribly – but more than that, I think I dreaded seeing them come back from the police station, their spirit sapped for once. Well, nothing of the sort happened. They surprised me yet again. The kids marched back from the police station, 5-6 abreast, shouting slogans the whole way, eyes sparkling, head high. As we got up to greet them at the dharna, shouting slogans ourselves for a while, the relief to see them with undiminished spirit swept over me and tears welled up. They grabbed me and took me across the street for a chai. I told them that I needed to record everything they had been through, and they absolutely forbade me from taking notes until after chai and a breather. Of course, as soon as we got to the chai stall across the street, they couldn't hold back and all the girls poured out everything they went through – nonstop and all together, with little Nagma piping in whenever she could. As they were telling me these stories, two policemen sat keeping an eye on the dharna, hearing everything we said. They are part of the same police station, and as some of the more condemning details came out, I glanced at them – they had no reaction, sat there impassively, looking forward stonily as the girls talked of the abuse.

Some of the policemen's curses that they recounted to me make my blood boil – especially coming from little children that shouldn't even know these curses, let alone be exposed to them; and they most definitely should not be subject to them! “ Haraami ke pillo ko hataa do (move the bastards' pups)”, “ Ghaseet ghaseet ke le jaao, Kapde phaado (Drag them away, tear their clothes)”. Today, when they took the adults to jail, the kids insisted that they wanted to go too, at which the policewomen spat – “ Jail mein hee paidaa hoge – gharwaale jail ki chakki peeste hoge (These kids must have been born in jail – their family members must be frequenting jails)”. The sharp wit of the older girls, Raffat, Yasmin, Sarita, left no policemen's comments, however demeaning, unanswered. As they said proudly, “When they gave us one comment, we replied with two”. The police were flabbergasted – “We've never seen kids like this!”

Meanwhile, the adults who participated in yesterday's actions have been moved to Delhi 's Tihar jail, an overcrowded facility (by a factor of 2 – their website shows an occupancy of 11,300 compared to a capacity of 6,250) on the west side of Delhi. The conditions in that jail are grim, to say the least: "[Tihar]… is over crowded with no proper amenities and the life in jail is worse than a hell for non availability of essential facility like water…"

Rachna and Meera, who are also on hunger strike, are among them.

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