Animal's People

The survivor of the gas tragedy, a young boy called Jaanwar aka Animal, is a product of tremendous imagination of the author. The author jots down the emotional urges and physical surges of the invalid so dramatically that you can virtually see him in front of you, as if he is not talking into the tape machine, but is ‘f**king’ with your head. Such an intricately detailed plot delves the reader into the snake-like crooked streets of Khaufpur where he is lost in the wide-spread horror and wrath which walk free during the nights and lay trapped in the human forms during the day.

The readers are introduced to the city of Khaufpur (pretend- name for Bhopal) which was once clouded by thick lethal gas coming out of the American company’s factory gate. The central character ‘Animal’ is the product of this tragedy who walks on all four limbs. He looks at the world with scornful eyes as he secretly longs to be a normal human and engage in what normal humans do. His deep love for Nisha and hidden admiration for his love-rival ‘Zafar’ shows his heart is not as deeply lodged in hatred and cynicism as his actions might point. But the story is not only about this Animal’s filthy grudge and sexual frustration, it delineates to numerous other characters who have been the victim of gas tragedy. The author delves into such depths to describe the city and its dwellers that you can actually stand in the middle of Khaufpur and walk up to Pundit Somraj’s house without asking anyone for directions, at the same time waving to familiar imaginable characters. How can you forget Khan, the malformed human embryos who talk to Animal? Such stunning images of these embryos make you sick in stomach. The goodness in the story emanates from Zafar, who has given his whole life fighting against the company, finally ending it with his breath. Doctress Elli, the American doctor who opens a clinic in the neighborhood to help the victims is met with immense hostility until we find out she was not really the agent of the company. The author has brilliantly matched the dissents and pretentious diabolism of Animal with Zafar and Elli’s humanity. No where does the reader have apprehensions about each of these behaviors as each has been intelligently developed during the story. At various places do we see the human side of Animal: his love for apocalypse obsessed French nun, his admittance of all guilt to Zafar, his concern for Aliya. The story, in fact, culminates with a humane Animal.

The author has elaborated some theories at various stages of the story which catches the reader’s imagination. Like the one on promises. How the sun has promised to rise every morning and the sea has promised to cool the parished earth. These have been eloquently spoken by Elli and leave a lasting impact. The other example being Zafar’s belief that Khaufpuris are far stronger than the kampani wallahs as they have nothing to lose, they have the power of nothingness on their side. Look how he paints an ultimate and unambiguous picture of the company in these lines: “Behold, the Kampani. On its roofs are soldiers with guns. Tanks patrol at its feet. Jets fly over leaving criss-cross trails and its basement contains bunker full of atom bombs…..Its stuffed with bank notes….doctors doing research to prove that Kampani’s many accidents have caused harm to no one…thousands public relation consultants…. Job of the PR to tell the world how caring and good and responsible the kampani is…..kampani throwing a party for generals and judges, senators, presidents and prime ministers, oil sheikhs, newspaper owners, movie stars, police chief, mafia dons, members of obscure royal families etcetera etcetera.” Such reliefs offered at various stages of stories give a remarkable insight into the author’s connectedness with the tragedy.

Now focusing on this misshapen survivor, he has created a hard crust around him and pretends to be mostly impenetrable. From his height, he sees an entirely different world, that of pissy gussets and unwashed balls. The some twenty year old boy has clear objectives – first is he wants to walk straight and the second is to sink his beak. He detests the world, can incredibly read your and my mind and is in love with Nisha. He understands how love is sweeter than f***. We may not comprehend the meaning of archaic words like democracy and justice better than him as he has been to the bottom most point of the chasm, smelt the reeking pungent odor of justice, tasted the staleness of sanctimonious human rights, felt the chaff of adequate monetary compensation, heard the cacophony of fixing liability and seen the unsightliness of government’s sympathy, and then climbed back on his four limbs. His magical life carries on within the confines of huge walls which cage the remnants of the factory, the factory that spew a strange gas from its huge metallic pipes, the pipes which lay in shambles, the pipes which now give support to creepers, the pipes which are straighter than this freak’s back. He is not scared of returning to this brick-mortared dilapidated monstrous exhibition of corporate terrorism. In fact, he finds a strange solace surrounded by other four- legged animal who cannot mock his U-shaped back, who cannot imagine him having sex only in doggy –style, who cannot torment the weirdness of his shape and existence.

This work of the author has stabbed my social conscience and also that of hundreds of the fellow readers. His enchanting ventriloquism has dealt a serious issue in a simple, humorous way invoking sympathy. Woven around the secrecy, love, passion, voyeurism and injustice, it symbolizes the small wars waged in different corners in the world against corporate injustices. This particular tragedy strikes a chord with so many millions, not just the victims and survivors, but also those who know such tyranny can be directed towards any of them.

The victims of the tragedy are yet to have a formal closure. The war against UCC or Dow Chemicals is lost in vociferous demands for extradition of the company officials. What about the basic medical facilities at Bhopal? What about the toxic water supply in Bhopal? What about the governments such apathetic attitudes towards its own citizens who walk miles in hope of finding an audience with the PM but are turned away? These questions do not stop here. I raise these questions selfishly because I am scared of the Nuclear Liability Bill, I am scared because DOW Chemical’s is operating profitably from Pune and making pesticides which are integrating into our foods chain. So alarming are the levels of these poisonous chemicals in our food crop that consignments are being rejected from Europe and US. How much more ironic can the situation be? A US based company makes products that cannot be used in the US but in India. How long will this miscarriage of justice carry on? How long are we going to let down Zafar’s and Farooq’s? I don’t intend to go further into these questions as they have all been asked so many times before. I am sure they even haunt the heads of these chemical companies. The politicians working in cahoots with the BP’s and DOW’s can only envisage a world with a dark future, in fact with no future. The struggle in different parts of the worlds has been carried on since ages and will continue to be so till we all start walking on four limbs with twisted backs.