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I used to be an autorickshaw driver and around 12.30a.m on the night of the disaster I was driving through Bharat Talkies going towards home. I suddenly started feeling really hot. At that time I could not see any signs of the gas or the turmoil of afterwards. I got home and went to sleep not thinking anything more. Around 2.30a.m I suddenly awoke to find that my quilt was on the floor despite it being a winters night. Outside there was screaming and shouting of 'bhago, yaha se bhago'. ("Run, run away from here".) There used to be a food inspector who lived opposite our house and I could hear his voice outside. From inside the house I shouted asking him what was going on. He shouted back that gas had leaked from Carbide and that I should not open the door. By this time smoke had started seeping through from under the door. That was when the coughing started. I, my wife and my two sons (aged 4 & 6 at that time) felt as if we were choking. It felt like someone was burning chillies. I got really scared and out of fear I opened the door. Outside everyone was running, screaming, nothing could be seen - the thick fog hung everywhere. It was clear that we were being poisoned - the stench of rotting potatoes was strong. I took my family to the landlords house who stayed one door away. The gas filled their house also. 14 people, my family and my landlord's family then all climbed into my autorickshaw and I started going towards new market. I, by mistake took the wrong road - instead of going towards the cantonement, I headed through Qazi Camp. Everywhere there were people running, vomiting, men and women wearing almost nothing. The cloud still hung thick. Many people tried stopping the auto and begged for space, but what could I do? Driving through Qazi camp I started to feel faint and I thought I would lose consciousness. My landlords wife, Rama Devi kept saying 'himat rakho, is gadi ko bahar nikalna hai'. ("Have courage, we've got to get this vehicle out of here".) Terror had filled me from within. Street lamps looked as if they were dim candles burning. Peoples screams and shouts dulled by the thickness of the gas fog. By the time we made it to Kamla Park it seemed the gas was over. I then took my family to South T.T Nagar where someone known to Rama Devi lived. I then tied a wet muffler over my mouth and went back into the city to find out what had happened. If I had known how poisonous the gas was then I would not have gone. I can not tell you what state people were in. Almost undressed. I saw an old woman at the government offices in a sari blouse and shorts just sitting. Bodies strewed the streets. At around 4a.m a man stopped me and asked me to take him to the station. I told him that all trains had stopped. But he insisted. We got to the station. Five corpses lay on Platform five. The man saw this and ran. All night I roamed in my auto. Picking up as many people as I could, those who fell against my auto and dropped them wherever I could. The roads were full of people. The stampede of the dead and living. Police vans were roaming blaring 'evacuation.' I saw a dead buffalo, twice the usual size. Its tail stuck straight up into the air. At around 6 a.m. I madeit back to my house in Teela Jamalpura. The whole colony was desolate, apart from a few people who had not run. Most of them were vomiting outside their own homes. I opened the door of my house and thick gas started coming out. I left the door open and ran again. I made it back to South T.T Nagar where my family was. By the time I got home my eyes were swollen and were red like tomatoes. By 10.30 that morning I took my wife and children and went back home. I will never forget what I have seen. |