Five minutes past Midnight in Bhopal; By Dominique Lapeirre
Rating- 4/5 for the narration and ease of reading a story from the eyes of a journalist who is reporting a story in a paper! 3/5 for the lack of Indian touch and no matter how much care Dominique would have taken to maintain authenticity of the customs there will always be something amiss when it comes from someone who is not Indian!
5/5 for the effort and the subsequent relief efforts done by him and his organisation for the betterment of the people affected from the tragedy.
Non fiction depiction of the tragedy of Bhopal which directly and indirectly killed or affected thousands of people many of whom are still yet to receive any aid or relief from the government or the company.
The owner Anderson is still in hiding and escaped for good and never made to appear in any court for his role in the tragedy and given a safe passage though the novel narration of this event is a little biased towards him.
The factory which at the time was a hallmark of pride and efficiency is now an abandoned ruin with old signs ironically stating “Safety first”
It is sad that it took an international author to sit up and realise that Bhopal Gas accident was the actual tragedy of Monumental mismanagement and wrote about it giving full justice to the events leading to one of the saddest tragedies though there are so many books on this and without reading them I cannot give a comparative analysis.
In a typical narration mirroring a calm before the storm, Dominique narrates the simple story of a tribal family who migrate to Bhopal in search of better pastures. In a parallel narration, he talks about how pests such as aphids and locust are the scourge and the biggest problem in the agricultural industry and how DDT was a blessing (at least at first!). Then he tells about how further research leads to a better alternative to DDT called Sevin! The plant in Bhopal was the factory to manufacture Sevin! The essential ingredients were the Super dangerous Methyl Isocyanite and Phosgene! The most delicate and dangerous chemicals ever!
In fact the way they get delivered into the company and the ideal scrutiny or security measures in case of leak has been described so well.
Once the scene is set he goes on to demonstrate the Indian Red Tape and the Beurocracy and Indira Gandhi assassination and couple of minor accidents to lead to the final tragedy. Almost 70 percent of the book is not about the tragedy but an analysis of the factors leading up to it!
It is the same old story of starting with a Bang and ending in a whimper! The plant was opened with lots of positive predictions and hope and at the start it was managed very well. But as with most things in the world, maintenance is a big issue! Once the profits reduced and the management apathy started; it was downhill from the word go!
Even when there were warning signs and even couple of accidents as seen and reported!
On the d day just as Dominos fall, one bad decision leads to another and that caused a massive leak of one of the most poisonous mixture of gases whose composition even to this day is not cent percent clear which further made the management and investigation an uphill task! Just like Chernobyl; here also the senior management doesn’t even recognise at first that there is a problem and when they finally get up and smell the coffee (or in this case; boiled cabbage!) it is too late! The people then are severely under qualified to do anything!
You can almost feel when it comes, and then it comes; it happens so fast and this is where Dominique shines! I can almost see traces of his magnum opus Freedom at midnight and also the City of Joy!
How tragedy makes people behave. Some become so selfish and greedy when it is told how compensation will be allotted to people and people then start grabbing dead bodies!
Or when they show the humane side, like how everyone helped everyone else.
The story of the tent person who donated the tent for the field camp and incidentally was the the recipient of their care! The person who donated food for the entire population in trouble! And so many more examples including the sadhu baba who with his breathing skills of a yogi was the only one who survived in his area! How many who stayed were saved, how many who left were saved! The separation and then the reunion; albeit tragic for some. The doctors and medical students who put their own lives at stake and helped one and all and suffered from the after affects of the poisoning for ages to come! How the station masters and the coolies helped save more lives. It is a tsunami of emotions and gas!
A sea of human emotions which if had to be described by words then Dominique is the guy for you.
Then come the vultures, the politicians and the lawyers and the middle men! Ones who even make dead, their business.
All in all a very touching novel with a story which must be read and made into a manual to next time make sure what to do and more importantly what not to do!
I picked this up when I was doing a sketch of Dominique as a dedication when he passed away some days back. A great man and he will be missed.
Read this one for sure and make sure you pass it on…this tragedy must not be forgotten or forgiven…
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