P Hd in Disaster I had gone to Bhopal for a conference on Electoral Reforms. My wife Nutan and children Tanaya and Aditya were also along with me. On my returning day, we thought we would go and have a look at the site of the Union Carbide Factory, just to have a feel of the torture, trauma and pain the people underwent through. We came to know that the factory area was near the railway station and hence it was decided that we would visit there before finally arriving at the railway station. From the new city of Bhopal, which is quite open and pleasant-looking, we went to railway station and from there to the Old city which is like any other old city in India. Crowded, chaotic, congested and giving a conceited look. It must be some two-three Kilometers from the railway station that we reached the site where the worst industrial disaster in the world has taken place and where as per many versions, justice has still not been done even after the passing of more than 25 years. From the roadside, the whole factory seemed vacant and deserted. Having taken a round and being unable to understand much about the entire matter, we thought it prudent to contact someone working in the field. There were a few pleas and wall-painting on the boundary wall along with some telephone numbers. I picked one of these and dialed the number. The other side was a lady named Ms Rachna Dhingra. I introduced myself briefly and she said that we might go to Sambhavna hospital which was nearby and which everyone in the area knew about. There we would get a person called Sathyu who would certainly help us. Reaching the Hospital was very easy. There we were escorted to a room where a person was sitting on the Computer doing something. From the backside he seemed to a tall and imposing figure. The person was wearing tradition Indian clothes with a Pagdi on his head. When he turned back, we had before us a broad face, slightly darkish in texture with unruly hairs on his head, wildly covered by the Pagdi. Interestingly, he was also wearing Tops in both his ears. In short, he looked like one of those social workers, who might be dedicated to their job but who hardly had much formal education or mental acumen. He gave the general looks of being more a follower of Ms with whom we had a talk. I gave my credentials to which he nodded gently and asked us to sit down. Then I asked about him. It was at this juncture that his true personality started revealing itself. This person was Mr Sathyu alias Satinath Sarangi. He belonged to Orissa. He was a B Tech from Institute for Technology, Banaras Hindu University. This was followed by a M Tech and an enrolment in the P Hd program in 1980. By the year 1984, his P Hd was on the verge of getting completed after which he would have got any kind of job he wanted, in India or abroad. But destiny seems to have decided something else for him. Come the fateful night of 2nd December 1984 and by morning the early news of the huge tragedy had started coming. This to-be-doctor in Metallurgy also heard this news. Somehow, he seemed to be waiting for this call. Without waiting for a while and without thinking twice, he boarded the first train to Bhopal and he was there with the crowd there where so many things were happening and being done at the same time. This chaos and utter confusion remained for days. Mr Sathyu admits that when he had started his journey, he had not envisaged that he would remain there in Bhopal forever. It was to be a brief sojourn and the moment the things were streamlined he would come back to complete his studies. This never happened. His stay in Bhopal went on extending on one context or other and he became a part of the place. With time he formed a Trust for the hapless victims of the disaster and started a Sambhavna hospital for these people. He, along with many others, has been pursuing the cause of the disaster victims for years now. It is at this point that we came to know that Ms Rachna to whom I had talked was his wife and that they had possibly got married the last year only. Ms Rachna herself left her promising career as a manager in a Multi-national to immerse herself in the pathos of the victims of Bhopal. When we wanted to congratulate him for his great work, his dedication and his extra-ordinary gesture, he replied most ruefully-" I deserve none of these because I think I have not been able to do anything for these people." He feels that all his struggles and that of many others have got wasted as the authorities have been denying these poor lots all their dues. Not commenting on his observation, which as an expert deeply embedded in the affairs, he has every right and authority to present, I will definitely make an observation of my own- " Mr Sathyu and his works made an extremely positive impression upon all four of us." I would never have had the strength and courage to leave the comforts of my future to put me into the complete uncertainties and dangers that Mr Sathyu put himself in.
Amitabh Thakur, IPS, Currently at IIM Lucknow # 94155-34526
