‘There were dead people everywhere, lying on the road, in the gutters…’

Rohini Chitre, daughter-in-law of poet-writer the late Dilip Chitre, who was six-months pregnant in Bhopal at the time of the gas leak, recounts the trauma for DNA.

My husband Aashay and I used to live at Bharat Bhavan in central Bhopal about four km away from the Union Carbide factory. At 2 am on December 3, 1984, we were woken by a coughing fit. Aashay opened our window only to see hundreds of people running about, gasping for breath.

I was six-and-a-half months pregnant, but there was no time to think. We ran out of the house. The scene outside was chaotic. It was very cold (4 degrees ). There was no air to breathe. Even walking four steps left us breathless and we got bouts of vomiting.

There were dead people everywhere. Lying on the road, in the gutters and on hand carts. The rest were running.
We walked for an hour. Finally, my husband spotted a tree and made me rest there and decided to go in search of a telephone. He returned with two friends on motorcycles. We rode to their homes.

My husband realised in the morning that he had not locked our home. This made him go back. We realised that this was a mistake. Aashay got double exposure to methyl isocyanate gas.

Union Carbide declared it was MIC, only on day three, after the gas had felled thousands. We started showing symptoms, Aashay more than me. This ranged from respiratory problems to pain and agony. I remember him telling me, “It feels as if somebody is pulling my legs out of my sockets.”

On the fifth day after the leak, the doctor confirmed that Aashay had lost all sensation waist downwards. He told us to head for Mumbai. I was distraught. All trains were packed and airlines waitlisted. Finally, on day eight, I dragged Aashay to the airport and pleaded with an official to put us on the first flight to Mumbai.

In Mumbai, a toxicologist who examined Aashay said they did not have an antidote for MIC. He suggested that we shift to Pune to consult a homoeopath. The homoeopath told us not to expect any immediate cure.

Aashay had lost 10 kg in three weeks and was wheelchair-bound. He lost his lung power by at least 40%.Aashay was a cinematographer, but post the illness, he was reduced to doing desk jobs. He completely went into a shell. The only way we could bring him out was by encouraging him to paint. His paintings, which are in his parent’s home in Pune, still capture the trauma he experienced. Aashay never regained his old self.

I also started getting joint pains from 25 and have become susceptible to mysterious allergies. Luckily, our son Yohul was born without any complications.
(Aashay died due to asphyxiation following a gas leak in the house in 2003, which according to his mother Viju was precipitated by his weakened lungs)