Rajkumar Keswani is one of the most well-known journalists of India and was present during the gas tragedy. In his articles, 2 years before the tragedy, he had written about the errors in the system of the factory saying that these could lead to a major disaster. He wrote in a weekly magazine called Rapat, " Bhopal jwalamukhi ki kagaar par (Bhopal on the edge of a volcano)
I managed to get in touch with Mr.Keswani and schedule and interview with him for my project. His house was like any other person's house with a small garden before the front door and a living room as soon as one entered. He opened the door and led me in and asked me to make myself comfortable. My interview with Mr. Keswani was more of a conversation than a question/answer session.
He started off by narrating his story. He said that around 12:30 am on that day, his wife complained of choking and he felt something similar. He heard some noises and saw a lot of people experiencing the same feeling. He decided to call the police office and came to know that the tank in the Carbide factory had leaked. Mr.Keswani had been doing research on the Carbide factory for several years before the leak and even warning people through articles in magazines and newspapers, therefore he knew exactly how catastrophic the consequences of this leak could be. At this point, Mr.Keswani decided to take his family and escape from their house towards the newer areas of the city which were away from the factory. He described to me that they only had 2 scooters and they carried 3 people including themselves on each one. He said, "I told my wife that we will go in the opposite direction but somehow the journalist in me overcame my mind and I started driving towards the factory without realising before my wife actually told me what I was doing." He said that around 5 am in the morning, the officers declared that it was safe to go out then. By that time, everybody had started talking about what had happened and those who had read Mr.Keswani's articles started gathering around his house.
I was very surprised at the fact that he actually predicted this leak before time and kept on thinking that if measures had been taken appropriately, this incident could have been avoided and thousands of lives could have been saved. Mr. Keswani has received many awards for his work including the "Prem Bhatia Award" in 2010 and the "G.D Goenka Award" in 1985 for his work. He described that while making a speech after receiving the award, he mentioned that it is very unfortunate that he was unable to avoid the situation and believed almost that it was his failure as a journalist. He believed that his main obstacle was that people did not believe his predictions about such a large disaster actually occurring not only because there wasn't much knowledge about it or the lack of evidence, but also because Union Carbide was the only multi-national and one of the most reputed companies in Bhopal. He described that even the laborers of Union Carbide were respected among the society.
I went on to ask him about his research journey. At first, he said that he didn't take this issue very seriously but after the death of a close friend due to exposure to phosgene made him realise the importance. He described that it took him a lot of time and effort to conduct research without any science background and by the end of it he was convinced that some day a disaster would occur which would cost the lives of people. Mr. Keswani feels it is very unfortunate that he was recognised and that his words were taken seriously only after the incident occurred. Even after facing many obstacles through the process, Mr. Keswani emerged out to be a great journalist.
Hazarika, Sanjoy. "INDIAN JOURNALIST OFFERED WARNING." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Dec. 1984. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/11/world/indian-journalist-offered-warning.html>.
I managed to get in touch with Mr.Keswani and schedule and interview with him for my project. His house was like any other person's house with a small garden before the front door and a living room as soon as one entered. He opened the door and led me in and asked me to make myself comfortable. My interview with Mr. Keswani was more of a conversation than a question/answer session.
He started off by narrating his story. He said that around 12:30 am on that day, his wife complained of choking and he felt something similar. He heard some noises and saw a lot of people experiencing the same feeling. He decided to call the police office and came to know that the tank in the Carbide factory had leaked. Mr.Keswani had been doing research on the Carbide factory for several years before the leak and even warning people through articles in magazines and newspapers, therefore he knew exactly how catastrophic the consequences of this leak could be. At this point, Mr.Keswani decided to take his family and escape from their house towards the newer areas of the city which were away from the factory. He described to me that they only had 2 scooters and they carried 3 people including themselves on each one. He said, "I told my wife that we will go in the opposite direction but somehow the journalist in me overcame my mind and I started driving towards the factory without realising before my wife actually told me what I was doing." He said that around 5 am in the morning, the officers declared that it was safe to go out then. By that time, everybody had started talking about what had happened and those who had read Mr.Keswani's articles started gathering around his house.
I was very surprised at the fact that he actually predicted this leak before time and kept on thinking that if measures had been taken appropriately, this incident could have been avoided and thousands of lives could have been saved. Mr. Keswani has received many awards for his work including the "Prem Bhatia Award" in 2010 and the "G.D Goenka Award" in 1985 for his work. He described that while making a speech after receiving the award, he mentioned that it is very unfortunate that he was unable to avoid the situation and believed almost that it was his failure as a journalist. He believed that his main obstacle was that people did not believe his predictions about such a large disaster actually occurring not only because there wasn't much knowledge about it or the lack of evidence, but also because Union Carbide was the only multi-national and one of the most reputed companies in Bhopal. He described that even the laborers of Union Carbide were respected among the society.
I went on to ask him about his research journey. At first, he said that he didn't take this issue very seriously but after the death of a close friend due to exposure to phosgene made him realise the importance. He described that it took him a lot of time and effort to conduct research without any science background and by the end of it he was convinced that some day a disaster would occur which would cost the lives of people. Mr. Keswani feels it is very unfortunate that he was recognised and that his words were taken seriously only after the incident occurred. Even after facing many obstacles through the process, Mr. Keswani emerged out to be a great journalist.
Hazarika, Sanjoy. "INDIAN JOURNALIST OFFERED WARNING." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Dec. 1984. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/11/world/indian-journalist-offered-warning.html>.