Heard of Rasheeda Bee and Champa Devi Shukla?
Perhaps not. Not many people would have heard of them; frankly I hadn't either till recently. I just knew about the great cause they have been fighting for, for over 20 years now. These two brave women have won the Goldman award for environment this year for their relentless fight against the horrendous "accident" that Union Carbide was responsible for in 1984. At five minutes past midnight on Dec 3, 1984, the poisonous gas MIC (Methyl isocyante) leaked into the slums and bustees of Bhopal, instantly killing over 8000 people, another 20,000 more at least later on (I am sure these are just optimistic estimates). The ill effects still continue in the people around the area. Numerous research that has been done into this (Dominique Lapierre's Five Past Midnight in Bhopal is one very moving account of this) has me convinced that this was no accident but a series of safety lapses which had made the plant a ticking bomb waiting to explode.

To me, the award is a good recognition for these bravehearts, but isnt it hypocritical that no justice has been done? As for the survivors of the event, even until 5 years after, not a single paisa of the promised $470 million had reached them. Ten years later, they were finally paid about Rs. 60,000 (~$1500) for the death of a parent and about half that for a personal injury. And what about Union Carbide? Union Carbide's chairman, Warren Anderson's whereabouts are not known - he left his mansion in Florida in 1986 and has not been heard from since. Union Carbide itself was bought over by the Dow Chemical Company, and guess what the CEO had to say - "It is not within my power to take responsibility for an event that happened 15 years ago, with a product we never developed, at a location where we never operated". Very fine capitalistic exploitation indeed. Of what use are these awards if no one can go up to even one of the survivors and say "Yes, I was responsible for this accident, and I am deeply sorry it happened". Or is that too tall an order in this world of today? I guess.

Not sure why, but I was reminded of the book The Future of Peace: On the Front Line with World's Greatest Peacemakers by Scott Hunt I was persuing sometime last year at the Keplers bookstore in Palo Alto. It is a collection of conversations Scott had with some of the influential personalities of this century - the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, M.K. Gandhi's granddaughter, Dr. Jane Goodall and more. "From some of the most horrendous chapters in human history," writes Scott A. Hunt, "these great leaders have emerged to show us a different path, proving not only that the cessation of war is possible, but that the removal of hatred and violence from our hearts is possible as well . . . they show us that the promise of peace remains intact. It is to these people that we can turn in order to replenish our encouragement, hope, and inspiration." These personalities have lived through some inexplicably horrible times, and they seem to have been uplifted by the greater cause of humanity. One common thing that I noticed in the book - none of them think they are special at all. Each one claims he/she is only too simple to be casted as belonging to a higher creed that boasts of the kinds of M.K Gandhi or The Buddha.