Day 15 of the hunger strike - June 24, 2008

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

When your body starts producing ketones (and it will after 15 days without food), a peculiar smell gets emitted in your breath, very much like over-ripe pears. If it wasn’t for the pollution in Delhi, in particular in Central Delhi where we are lodged on a busy roadway, our dharna sthal would be reeking of it. Ketoacidosis, the condition caused by an excess of ketone bodies, is a real danger for Sanjay and Rachna, and hovering around the corner for the rest.

This is heart-wrenching to report, and I cannot imagine how scary it is to endure. I don’t need to say that we need to mount the pressure even higher, ratchet up the phone calls, whatever it takes – surgically implant a heart into the maddeningly silent Prime Minister. Saving Bhopal, indeed the world, from corporate greed and government corruption is a heavy burden, and our friends are slowly fading under the weight of it. Please double, triple the effort you are making in support – the government is making encouraging noises, but we need the pressure to be critically painful at this point.

Each day I have been reading about the hunger strike in Delhi.

The International Campaign For Justice in Bhopal has also planned a “Global Hunger Fast for Bhopal” on Saturday, June 28. Please join if you can, and try to register your protest on the site linked above.

If you want the Indian government to demand greater accountability from international corporations and, in addition, treat its own citizens democratically, send a free fax to the Prime Minister.