Cows sometimes wander in to graze in Union Carbide - an abandoned American factory in Bhopal, India. More often than not, these cows end up dead, choking on the same poison that suffocated 10,000 people on December 2nd, 1984. Born in Bhopal, I took my first breath in this very air, and yet, the first time I encountered the words Bhopal Gas Tragedy was sitting in a social studies class 8,000 miles away in Memphis, TN.
Bhopali-American Apoorva Dixit was born on soil scarred by methyl isocyanate—a poison that killed 10,000 people in 1984 in India. And yet, the first time she encountered the words Bhopal Gas Tragedy was sitting in a social studies class 8,000 miles away in Memphis, TN. Motivated to understand why, she returned to Bhopal as a Fulbright scholar and Anthropology major from Dartmouth. She lived with her grandfather—a retired judge—and conducted over 80 interviews and 9 months of participant observation with gas survivors to understand what it means to survive a disaster and what lessons Bhopal has to teach us today. Now, she is pursuing a law degree at Duke in honor of her grandfather and fellow Bhopalis, and she, along with her co-creator Molly Mulroy, are working on a podcast on this topic called They Knew Which Way to Run (www.theyknewwhichwaytorun.com). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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