“I ask Bano Bi to describe the moment and she lowers her voice to a hoarse whisper and says, “So many years have gone by and yet my hair stands on end whenever I look back and remember those scenes! We left the door of our house open and began to run. We joined the surging crowd. We ran blindly. Everybody was running; those who were weak and gasping for breath fell down. We did not stop to pick them up.”
The story of sixty-year-old Kamala Bai is even grimmer. She is gas affected and lives in Annu Nagar, one of the water-contaminated bastis. She lives close to the railway line in a shack made of plastic sheets and gunny bag. She has cervical cancer and gets her radiation therapy from Sultania Hospital. Her son and daughter-in-law have refused to look after her since they are too poor to take care of a sick member of the family. “I am ready to die,” says Kamala Bai, “I feel so alone and sick with no money at all.”
“All those who come and interview me I tell them the same thing. Do not interview me for your personal benefit. Do not refresh my wounds, do not treat my tears as water, do not consider this as a cassette that is playing and repeating . . . I give these interviews thinking that if our fight can gather strength and my voice goes far and if after watching this someone is being motivated, or has feelings of sympathy in his heart, and he adds his strength to the fight and maybe Bhopal gets justice soon.” – Hazra Bi, Survivor
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