Wednesday, January 19, 2005

It was five past midnight 2nd to 3rd December 1984, Bhopal.



Had stumbled across a detailed information on this incident on Dec 3 2004, when I decided that I should be reading this book.

Begins with the story of Ratan Nadar, a typical Advasi Indian peasant and the story follows his and his family's destiny. Without any kind of rhetoric nature, the story goes in a detailed manner presenting most of the information objectively. Ratan Nadar's children aged 5,6 and 8 going to work a match factory and handling toxic chemical which onces catches fire and padmini, the eldest discovers her brother dead.
Ratan like many others continuosly faces hardships in his village. He moves to Bhopal,a big city,gets a job as a worker constructing the Bhopal Railway station.

Union Carbide discovers sevin pesticide,which can improve the crop productivity. Plans to establish a factory in India, Bhopal. The chief architect Eduardo Munoz doubts the need for UC like factory in India, feeling the nature of India and its problems, but UC's board of directors get better of him.

The motives are profit! But story reveals several earnest people establishing and working at the UC Plant in India and how Union Carbide is a dream company.

Things take a turn.

The book is about the people living at Oriya Bustee, Kali Ghats, their custom and their work and their relationship with UC. How things change. How people help each other when the real need arises. How people are indifferent to each other. How can some indifferent attitudes prove too costly.


Concern for man himself and his safety must always form the chief interest in all technical endeavours. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.

- Albert Einsten



No comments: