Five Past Midnight in Bhopal (53 page)

12. The creation of several schools and medical (allopathic and homeopathic) in two particularly poverty-stricken slums on
the outskirts of Calcutta.

13. The construction of a “City of Joy” village to house homeless tribal families.

14. The installation of solar-powered water pumps in ten very poor villages in the states of Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan and
Orissa, to enable the inhabitants to grow their crops even in the dry season.

15. The assumption of financial responsibility for a job-training workshop for leprosy sufferers in Orissa.

16. The provision of medicines as well as 70,000 high-protein meals for the children who live at the Udayan Resurrection home.

17. Various undertakings for the underprivileged and leprosy patients in the state of Mysore; abandoned children in Bombay,
in Palsunda, near Bangladesh and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; as well as the occupants of a village in Guinea, Africa, and abandoned
and seriously ill children in a hospital in Lublin, Poland.

18. The creation and financing of a gynecology clinic in Bhopal to treat underprivileged women who are survivors and victims
of the 1984 chemical disaster. The purchase of a colposcope to detect and treat cervical cancers.

19. The dispatching of emergency teams and aid to victims of the terrible floods in Orissa and Bengal; an ongoing program
to house thousands of families who lost everything.

20. Since 1998, the assumption of financial responsibility for part of Pierre Ceyrac’s education program for 25,000 children
in the Madras region.

How You Can Help to Continue the
Work among Some of the World’s Most
Underprivileged Men, Women and Children

Because of lack of resources, the association Action Aid for Lepers’ Children in Calcutta, which I founded in 1982, can no
longer meet all the urgent needs, which the various Indian organizations that we have been supporting for the last twenty
years, have to provide for.

In order to continue financing the homes, schools, clinics and development programs run by the admirable men and women who
have devoted their lives to serving the poorest of the poor, we need to find fresh support.

We have, furthermore, an ongoing serious worry. What would happen if tomorrow we were to have an accident or if illness were
to prevent us from meeting the budgets for the centers that depend on us?

There is only one way to address this danger, and that is to turn our association into a foundation.

The capital from this foundation would have to be able to provide the annual revenue necessary to finance the various humanitarian
projects that we support. To generate the 500,000 dollars needed each year, we would need an initial capital sum of at least
10 million dollars.

How are we to raise that sort of capital if not through the contributions of a multitude of individuals?

Ten million is ten thousand times a thousand dollars. For some people it is relatively easy to give a thousand dollars to
a good cause. Some people could probably give even more.

But for the vast majority of friends who have already spontaneously given us a donation after reading
The City of Joy
,
Beyond Love
or
A Thousand Suns
or after hearing one of my talks and who often faithfully keep up their generous support, it is much too large a sum.

One thousand dollars, however, is also twice five hundred dollars or four times two hundred and fifty, or five times two hundred
dollars, or ten times a hundred dollars, or even a hundred times ten dollars.

Such a sum can be raised from several people at one person’s initiative. By photocopying this message, by spreading the word,
by joining with other family members, friends or colleagues, by setting up a chain of compassion and sharing, anyone can help
to keep this world alive and bring a little justice and love to the poorest of the poor. Alone we can do nothing, but together
all things are possible.

The smallest gifts count for just as much as the largest. Isn’t the ocean made up of drops of water?

A big thank you in advance from the bottom of my heart, for everyone’s support, whatever their means.

P.S. We would like to remind readers that the association Action Aid for the Lepers’ Children in Calcutta has no administration
costs. The totality of the money from the authors’ royalties and of the donations received from readers is sent to the centers
for which it is donated.

Donations to support Dominique Lapierre’s humanitarian

action can be sent to: “
ACTION POUR LES ENFANTS DES LÉPREUX DE CALCUTTA
” (Action Aid for Lepers’ Children of Calcutta) Care of: Dominique & Dominique Lapierre «Les Bignoles», Val de Rian, F-83350
Ramatuelle, France website:
www.cityofjoyaid.org

Banking transfers can be made directly to:

Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP), Agency Paris Kléber 51, Avenue Kléber, F-75116 Paris, France Bank Code: 30004 — Agency Code:
00892 Account Number: 00001393127 — Clé Rib: 21 IBAN: FR76 3000 4008 9200 0013 9312 721

For taxpayers in the USA, tax-deductible contributions can be sent to:

“CITY OF JOY AID, Inc.”

Taxpayer Identification Number: 54-1566941 Care of Marie B. Allizon 7419 Lisle Avenue, Falls Church, VA. 22043, USA Telefax:
+1 (703) 734.69.56

Dominique Lapierre’s organization has NO overhead costs. Each donation received goes entirely to serve a priority action.

Photo credits

All photos are from the authors’ collection except: p. 4–5: coll. Eduardo Muñoz; p. 6 (top): coll. Zahir Ul Islam; p. 6 (bottom)–7:
coll. Niloufar Khan; p. 8 (top): coll. John Luke Couvaras; p. 13–14 (up)–15–16 (top; left bottom): coll. Jamaini.

^*
A lentil purée that is the main source of vegetable protein in India.

^†
Wheat pancakes.

^‡
A small, rudimentary oven.

^*
Literally “four legs,” a bed made out of rope strung across a wooden frame.

^*
A ceremonial offering in front of the altar of a god.

^†
Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated with an explosion of fireworks and firecrackers, is the most joyous festival in
the Hindu calendar. Dassahra, the tenth day of the festival of Durga celebrating the goddess’s victory over the buffalo demon
of ignorance.

^*
A long garment worn by Muslim women, completely concealing the body and face.

^*
Pieces of material draped around the thighs and between the legs.

^*
A bustee is a poor neighborhood of makeshift shacks.

^*
Wheel of destiny.

^*
Small balls of coal and straw used as fuel for cooking food.

^*
A bribe.

^*
Literally “big arms,” ruffians.

^*
This smell of boiled cabbage was to take hold in the magic valley. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed that,
between January 1, 1980, and the end of 1984, at least sixty-one leakages of methyl isocyanate occurred at the Institute factory.
The management of the factory had not brought most of these leaks to the attention of the people living in the valley, on
the grounds that they did not pose a real health threat or exceed the legally accepted standards for toxic emissions in the
atmosphere.

^*
Namaste
or
namaskar
, literally “to prostrate oneself.” A salutation involving pressing the hands together at the level of one’s heart or face.
The degree of respect shown is measured by the height at which the hands, which may be raised as high as the forehead, are
held.

^*
Canonical law.

^*
A wise or learned man.

^*
The elephant-headed god of prosperity.

^*
According to the magazine
India Today
of April 15, 1989, more than three thousand little girls a year are delivered into prostitution on the occasion of the festival
of Makara Sankrauti in the state of Karnataka alone.

^*
When the palace was demolished, the magnificent Venetian crystal chandeliers that illuminated the feasts held by the nawab
were taken down and stored in packing cases. The authors of this book have never been able to recover any trace of them.

^*
Hindu ascetics.

^*
Horse-drawn carts.

^*
Niche indicating the direction of Mecca and, therefore, of prayer.

^*
Poetic couplets.

^*
Muslim law, which obliges women to conceal their faces and bodies from the eyes of men.

^*
Affectionate abbreviation of “sahib.”

^*
Property title deeds.

^*
A term of respect; from “sardar,” or “chief.”

^*
Although originally from the region that was to become Bangladesh, and despite having spent part of his life in the United
States, Europe and the largest cities of India, it was to Bhopal that Ranjit Dutta returned to retire.

^*
A large land owner.

^*
“Long live!” in Hindi and Urdu.

^*
Exactly 521,262 people according to the Indian Medical Research Counsel. This figure does not include victims who were not
permanent residents of Bhopal, all those of “no fixed abode” or members of nomadic communities. Nor does it include those
victims indirectly affected by the tragedy, such as children still in their mothers’ wombs, or those subsequently born to
parents poisoned by the gas.

^*
“Averting a Bhopal Legal Disaster,”
Wall Street Journal
, May 16, 1985.