As a young person, only 25 years old, I have heard accounts of many life changing events that played out before I was born. From old magazines, conversations with my elders and the Internet I have read about and vaguely pieced together a history shaped by these events. From hijackings to sport victories, assassinations to revolutions the ramifications of many of these events are still felt to this day. There is one picture however, that is seared into my brain, a photo that I happened to chance upon many years ago while rummaging through my Father's collection of newspaper clippings. A photo that still gives me the chills when I think about it, of an infant half buried in the earth, his eyes dead blue and staring out into the world that he was cheated out of, his lips parted and frozen by the rigor of death. "Bhopal", they said when I asked. "That was the Bhopal gas tragedy".
Then in November 2014 I heard about a play reading that had something to do with the tragedy. Without even asking for too many details I said I would like to attend; Honestly, I was just excited about being a part of a theatre production. At that first meeting I remember walking in on a circle of people sitting around and talking to a Man and Woman. The two spoke of Bhopal, of conspiracy, of murder. They spoke of Union Carbide India Ltd, of the Government of India and their apathy. They spoke of Sathinath Sarangi, Rashida Bi and Champadevi Shukhla, people I'd never heard of. The two who'd come to speak to us were from the Chingari Trust, and also from the ICJB (the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal) and talking with them gave us a lot of grounding for the work we were trying to do.
In the course of our practice sessions our group of actors came together. We were teachers, students, IT professionals, entrepreneurs and activists. Some of us had dabbled in a little bit of theatre, for other it would be their first time on stage but David Selvaraj (our director) and Maliha Ibrahim (our producer) held us all together. We learnt our character's lines, we learnt their stories and over time we learnt, in some small way, what it might have been to be ‘Sathyu’, Champa Devi and Rashida Bi. All the while we were becoming more aware of the damage that can be done when a corporation with no soul is in cahoots with a government without a conscience.
I played the character of Sathinath Sarangi. Sathyu was a PhD Student when he first heard about the leak and he dropped everything to go to Bhopal, where he has stayed ever since to help with the relief effort. I got a taste of his fire through the script itself but then I also had the good luck of meeting him in person. That meeting is something that I will always remember and it went a long way in helping me empathise with him. What I personally took away from the play and my involvement in it was the feeling of being a part of something that happened during my father’s time. Topics like these somehow don’t come up in regular conversation and so to learn about something as important as this, made me feel like I was a part of a thread in the expansive tapestry of a collective Indian sentiment.
In total we did seven shows, all over Bangalore and each time it was amazing to watch the audience involve themselves in the discussions after each performance. It seemed everyone had something to say about the issue. We have had, at every venue, elderly people recounting where they were when the mishap occurred all the way to youngsters getting agitated when they heard, sometimes for the first time, about how our government allowed Anderson to go free and tried to play down the incident. It seemed like the play, and the tragedy in general, really touches something in people.
As silly as it sounds, at the end of it all I felt like I grew up a little. I told my friends about the play I was working on and they came and watched it and then they told their friends about it. I loved that they were as interested in learning about this bit of our history as I was. I think this production was important because it not only helped remind those who had lived through that time, it also engaged the next generation so that they may learn something from a disaster of this magnitude.
Editor's Note : The Renegade Arts and Theatre Society is currently running a crowd-funding campaign for the next two weeks; Please consider making a donation to help the people in Bhopal.
You can read more about it here : http://bitgi.co/bhopal2014
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