Contributed by: Br. Raghunath Boradkar
Shrimati Shakuntala Fadnis is a writer. Her husband Shri S,D,Fadnis
[popularly known as shi.da. ] is a well known cartoonist. His caption-less
cartoons transcend the barriers of region and language.
Here she recalls an
experience and calls it ‘EKDAM ABODH
‘ or Absolutely Unknowable.
It was the last week of November 1984. We were in Bhopal. We were organizing our exhibition of
cartoons ‘Laughing Gallery’ in Madhyapradesh and the cities selected were
Indore Bhopal Gwalior and Ujjain. We booked a hall in Indore
and then went to Bhopal.
In Bhopal we couldn’t get the hall that was promised as the management
had some unforeseen problems. So we started looking for another hall. But in
spite of all our efforts we couldn’t get a hall to our liking. Our needs and their expectations didn’t
match. We tried our best but without any result. We were ready to pay more but
that too didn’t help. We had total disappointment in store for us.
It was 29th November, my father’s memorial day. On 28th
night I went to bed remembering him. Early morning on 29th I had a
dream in which I saw my father, smiling and his right hand raised as if to
bless and that was all. I got up feeling that the dream was a foretelling dream
and that our efforts will bear fruit to day and it did so happen. After all my
father was a great appreciator of his son in law’s work and he had blessed so
everything was to be OK.
There was a famous and a beautiful hall
in Bhopal and
that was available to us. The president was ready to relax and overlook certain
rules and give it to us. He needed a formal permission from the trustees and
the hall would be ours. The only problem was that the trustees were out of town
and were to be back in three or four days.
He assured us and told us not to worry and asked us to come after four
days..
We were to go to Gwalior from Bhopal.
We had already booked a hall there and we had just to see it and pay the money.
There was no problem in coming back to Bhopal
after four days. Everything was really fine.
But then
something unexpected happened and I was confronted with a different problem.
Shi. Da. suddenly changed his mind and said ‘No. No exhibition here and No
coming back to Bhopal.’
I tried to explain but he was insistent.
It was now my turn to be surprised. I asked’ What happened? Why are you
so insistent on not coming back to Bhopal?’
He had no satisfactory answer and said’ I just don’t feel like.’ I tried to
convince him in many ways, told him about the hall and how we frantically tried
to get it and asked him ‘Why are you so adamant now on not having an exhibition
here in Bhopal when we have got it?’ But he didn’t budge. And so we left Bhopal for Gwalior.
Reaching Gwalior the first thing
we did was booking a hall for the exhibition. We were staying with our
relatives. We enjoyed their hospitality. We
went round Gwalior Time just flew
and the day foe our return journey to Pune arrived..
We went to
the station and learnt that the train was late. We had to wait. We had to wait so long that the waiting
appeared to be endless. Ultimately the much awaited train came and we were on
our way back to Pune. We were bored and tired as we had waited on the platform
for a very long time so we boarded the train occupied our berths had some light supper and retired for the night.
I had no
idea what time it was when I woke up. But I was feeling very uneasy then. Then
I started getting a headache. I thought
I would faint.Later I developed nausea and started vomiting.. I had a very
light supper and it was homemade ,so there could’nt have been anything wrong
with the food. As I was wondering as to
what must have happened, I started feeling chilly . I put on two sweaters and
wrapped myself in a woolen shawl. Later I drank a large cup of hot tea and felt
a little better afterwards. In the meanwhile shi.da. started feeling uneasy and
complained of headache. He also felt a little feverish. We could’nt sleep and
there was nothing that we could do but wait and watch.
It was late morning when we reached Bhusaval, We got a newspaper and the front page news
shocked us. The news of explosion in the
Union Carbide factory and the resulting Gas tragedy which later on came to be known as Bhopal Gas Tragedy was
on the front page of all newspapers. It was something terrible.
What’s peculiar is that the date of
the explosion and the date when we were expected to return to Bhopal for booking the hall were same.3rd
December 1984.
The hotel where we had stayed and where we were to stay on
returning to Bhopal was in the affected area. But why did shi.da. suddenly decided to
cancel the Bhopal Exhibition?
What sort of power motivated him to alter his decision? Was
it a meaningful coincidence or just a coincidence? It still is a mystery to us.
Shi Da himself has no explanation for the
Mysterious coincidence.
Somehow I feel
that my father had blessed me in the dream not for getting the hall , but for saving us from the
tragedy that was to occur. We had known that there had been an explosion in
Union Carbide factory but had no idea about it’s intensity.
There were no mobiles then. It took time for the news to spread .The train had halted
at Bhopal
station for a few minutes and that too 20 hours after the explosion. Even then
we went on suffering for about a year. Unexplained fevers Rashes ,cough. and boils. Things we had not
suffered from before. Everything had started after that brief halt of the train
in Bhopal
We were lucky
that we were saved. But what about those whose lives were shattered or those
who just died? We still feel very sorry for them.
Why did shi.
da. Felt like canceling the Bhopal
exhibition? Still a mystery. EKDAM ABODH.
OR UTTERLY UNKNOWABLE .
Happy to have been
saved.
Shakuntala Fadnis
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