This is a post on its own dedicated to the multimedia project I mentioned in my prior post (See Here) for the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal industrial disaster and the on-going water pollution and health crises in the city.

More images are available here. View the Full Set on my Photoshelter Archive.

Multimedia: 'Open Wounds' by Alex Masi - 2009 - All Rights Reserved

To support the call for justice in Bhopal, visit the Bhopal Medical Appeal’s website.

The children of Bhopal can be helped by donating not just money for their care and the organisation’s long-term action, but by sending all sort of educational material like books, pens, music players, toys and more. Anything you think might help in filling a child’s life with love and fun is welcome.

Chingari Trust
44 Sant Kanwar Ram Nagar
Berasia Road
462018 Madhya Pradesh
India

Telephone: +91 755 274 7500
From inside India: 0755 274 7500

Email: Chingati Trust

Visit their website to find out more:  Chingari Trust

You can contact me if you have any specific question or if you would like to reach a particular family or child.

It has really been a while since my last post I have to admit, being all caught up with my return home after almost a year in Asia, mostly spent in my beloved India. I have promised myself to try and have a more consistent presence on my own blog and I aim at writing at least a couple of entries a week from December onwards.   

As some of you might know, in the past few months I have visited the city of Bhopal, in Madhya Pradesh, central India, three times to document the legacy of the pesticide disaster that happened 25 years ago, when an industrial unit owned by Union Carbide, an American corporation now part of an even bigger one, Dow Chemical, accidentally released numerous tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, exposing more than 500,000 people to MIC and other deadly chemicals.   

Union Carbide - Bhopal Gas Disaster - 03.12.1984

The left-over of the Union Carbide Control Room is photographed in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Women and children are collecting poisonous ground-water in the impoverished Arif Nagar Colony, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, located dangerously near the former Union Carbide industrial complex.

Some 25 years after the gas leak, much of the toxic chemicals abandoned at the Union Carbide plant or buried underground in various spots around the area of the former industrial site continue to pollute the ground-water nearby and to affect the residents of Bhopal who depend on it for their daily needs.    

Many children living around the site are now affected by severe disabilities, poisoned by the very same water they need for survival. As many as 30.000 people are in danger from this contamination or have to rely on expensive alternatives, which are not easily available to everybody. The main problems being either money for the purchase of fresh water or the difficult access to infrequent deliveries by the local government which cannot cope with the needs of every family living in the high-risk areas.  

A young child is crying for attention inside a makeshift home in the impoverished Oriya Basti Colony in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, near the former Union Carbide industrial complex.

Recently, while being interviewed by the BBC, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that the government is providing the affected communities with clean drinking water and that the Union Carbide plant has been made safe. The government is now also planning to turn it into a memorial site to be opened to the public.   

Unfortunately, various reports by the UK-registered Bhopal Medical Appeal (BMA) and the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal indicate that there is evidence of high levels of toxic chemicals in the drinking water supply in 15 communities near the old Union Carbide pesticide plant.   

Sathyu Sarangi, managing trustee of Sambhavna, a clinic sponsored entirely by donations from individuals to maintain its independency, tells a very different story: “Each time it rains, the rain washes those toxins into the ground-water, which many people still draw to drink.”   

A lone girl is refreshing under the late monsoon rain in the impoverished Oriya Basti Colony in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, near the former Union Carbide industrial complex.

Tasleen, 26, the gas-affected mother of Zubin, 3, is trying to soothe her child's suffering by offering love and care while she lies on her lap inside their home in an impoverished area of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan goes on by stating that: ”There is nothing hazardous to human life… people should not be worried. We have secured the site.”  

A boy is jumping over the wall of the former Union Carbide industrial complex. Many of the walls surrounding UC have been covered in graffiti such as this one.

During my visits to the city of Bhopal I was able to witness first-hand the conditions of living in the communities near the former industrial site and yes, some people are being provided water through tanks, while many more families have to rely on the poisonous groundwater due to the inefficiency shown by the government in providing enough water to those in need, poor urban slum dwellers which struggle to make their voices heard. 

An abandoned run-down plastic model of the former Union Carbide industrial complex is photographed in the UC Control Room in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Due to a mix of gas-affected parent and contaminated water poisoning, many families are now witnessing “birth defects, rapidly rising cancer rates, neurological damage, chaotic menstrual cycles and mental illness,” as the BMA report puts it.   

Shazia, 7, is portrayed in the early morning while still in bed with her twin sister, Fozia, and their older brother, in their home inside the impoverished Nawab Colony, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

I have also produced a multimedia piece for this story which is available by clicking on the picture below. (Hosted offsite on Vimeo.com)    

Multimedia: 'Open Wounds' by Alex Masi - 2009 - All Rights Reserved

A disabled child is smiling while entering Chingari Trust in the arms of his mother, in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

To care specifically for the affected children, Chingari Trust was established in Bhopal through the hard work and determination of a small group of women led by Rashida Bee and Champadevi Shukla that found themselves in the forefront of the people’s struggle for justice and a life of dignity since the very beginning in 1984.    

Chingari Trust seeks to provide proper medical care for children in Bhopal who have been born with various physical and psychological disorders, and to provide income-earning opportunities for families that have been impoverished by the disaster and the subsequent contamination.   

A child is taking part to a physiotherapy session at Chingari Trust while his mother is holding his legs to the ground, talking and reassuring her boy, in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

While groups of brave individuals supported by thousand of people worldwide are trying to change the future of Bhopal, lack of political willpower has led to a stalemate over the clean-up of the site and on how to best assist the first and second generation victims of this ongoing tragedy.   

A sticker (Safery is Everybody's Business) is photographed inside the Union Carbide Control in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Women are lining up to be visited at the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

The Bhopal Medical Appeal is now waiting eagerly for the outcome of the last open federal class action litigation, ‘Sahu vs. Union Carbide et al.’, opened in a US court in 1999 and presently pending before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, NY, USA.   

The litigation seeks damages for personal injury, medical monitoring and injunctive relief in the form of cleanup of the drinking water supplies for residential areas near the UC plant.    

To support the call for justice in Bhopal, visit the Bhopal Medical Appeal’s website.    

Zubin, 3, is portrayed in her usual semi-conscious state on the floor of her home in an impoverished area of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, near the former Union Carbide industrial complex.

 
The children of Bhopal can be helped by donating not just money for their care and the organisation’s long-term action, but by sending all sort of educational material like books, pens, music players, toys and more. Anything you think might help in filling a child’s life with love and fun is welcome.    

Chingari Trust
44 Sant Kanwar Ram Nagar
Berasia Road
462018 Madhya Pradesh
India    

Telephone: +91 755 274 7500

Email: Chingati Trust

Visit their website to find out more:  Chingari Trust

Fozia, 7, is smiling in the arms of her father while sitting with her family and twin sister Shazia, (left) in their home inside the impoverished Nawab Colony, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

 
You can also contact me if you have any specific question or if you would like to reach a particular family or child.   

 To see more images from this set you can visit the following link:    

Open Wounds – 03.12.2009 – A chance for justice in Bhopal 25 years after the tragedy (Full Selection HERE

After much of the hype that Slumdog Millionaire generated, and especially considering the media frenzy over the fate of Azhar Ismail and Rubina Ali, the two children living in a Mumbai’s slum and starring as ‘young Salim’ (brother of Jamal) and ‘young Latika’ (friend and later lover of Jamal), I was recently assigned by SZ Magazin, published weekly by the German national paper Süddeutsche Zeitung, to cover a different side of the story, concerning the destiny of another young Indian actor whose temporary rise to fame did not change his life.
.
A slum section is photographed from Bandra (East) train station, Mumbai, India.

A slum section near Bandra (East) train station, Mumbai, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

A slum section is photographed from Bandra (East) train station, Mumbai, India.

Azhar and his family in front of their home. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

The home of Azharuddin Ismail, 10, in a slum near Bandra Station, Mumbai, India.

The home of Azhar in a slum near Bandra Station, Mumbai, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

Azharuddin Ismail, 10, is exercising in the slum where he still lives with his family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India.

Azhar is exercising in the slum where he still lives with his family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

Children are playing inside the slum next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India.

Children are playing inside the slum next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

Rubina Ali, 9, the child actor playing the role of ‘young Latika’, the friend/lover of Jamal, protagonist of Slumdog Millionaire, the famous movie winner of 8 Oscar Academy Awards in December 2008, is looking at the mirror inside her uncle’s house in the slum where she still lives with her family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India.

Rubina Ali is looking at the mirror inside her uncle's house in the slum where she still lives with her family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

Rubina Ali, 9, the child actor playing the role of young Latika, the friend/lover of Jamal, protagonist of Slumdog Millionaire, the famous movie winner of 8 Oscar Academy Awards in December 2008, is smiling while on the streets near her uncle's house in the slum where she still lives with her family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India.

Rubina Ali is smiling while on the streets near her uncle's house in the slum where she still lives with her family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

.

It appears that almost eight months from the Oscars’ big night of Slumdog Millionaire, and after so many promises were made by those in the production circle and the Indian Government, the children might finally move out of the slums of Bandra Station, Mumbai.

Not only, but it seems the children might end up owning two houses each, or even more, as the details of various pledges are becoming more clear. Both the trust that Danny Boyle set up for the children and the Government  have promised new homes for the families, while there are rumors about a third one in the state of Kerala. If that was the case, the children might have really won it big this time. And come on, why not? I think they deserve it.

.

Azhar is laughing with friends in the slum where he still lives with his family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India.

Azhar is laughing with friends in the slum where he still lives with his family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

Azhar is playing with a water pump near a drain in the slum where he still lives with his family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India.

Azhar is playing with a water pump near a drain in the slum where he still lives with his family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

Rubina Ali, 9, is smiling while on the streets near her uncle's house in the slum where she still lives with her family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India.

Rubina Ali is smiling while on the streets near her uncle's house in the slum where she still lives with her family next to the train station of Bandra (East), Mumbai, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

.

The movie in itself, beautiful, but maybe a little too near to be a modern-day fairytale than anything else. There is some agreement over the clear existance of the social problems represented in the movie, but it would need 1 in 100 billion chances for the story plot to actually happen altogether.

But then, what about all the inspiring movies where something is clearly wrong with the odds of chance? They are movies, and that is a good enough reason. However, they should not be confused with real documentaries or journalism, even though a fictional movie might be based on or be inspired by real events, in this movie we are not provided with a clear perspective or in-depth reporting in the lives of street children in India, gangsters or the likes. We are given hints, yes, and we are offered a partial window over those realities in a way that might be similar to real-life experiences, however it should not be considered exhaustive at all.

Nevertheless, I believe this is not what the slumdog guys wanted their movie to be all about.

.

On the other hand, a part of the magazine story was to meet Shafiq Syed, the other famous Indian child actor and main role of the 1988 Cannes Camera D’Or Winner ‘Salaam Bombay’ , directed by Mira Nair. Now a grown-up man of 34, he lost his grip on fame and works as a rickshaw driver in Bangalore, his home city.

.

Shaifq Syed, 34, (left) has been the main character of the Cannes Camera D'Or 1988 winner Salaam Bombay, but after the movie he failed to become a star, fell back into poverty and lived on the streets for years before he became a rickshaw (tuk-tuk) driver in his home city of Bangalore, Karnataka State, India. He still keeps the old poster of the movie and much of the media coverage from his successful times as an actor.

The poster of 1988 movie Salaam Bombay where Shaifq Syed, now 34, is the boy on the left. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

Shaifq Syed, 34, is portrayed inside his home in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Shaifq Syed, 34, is portrayed inside his home in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

Shaifq Syed, 34, is driving his rickshaw from home to the city centre of Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Shaifq Syed, 34, is driving his rickshaw from home to the city centre of Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

Shaifq Syed, 34, is smiling at his daughter, Simran, 7, while playing with his children in their home inside a poor neighbourhood of Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Shaifq Syed, 34, is smiling at his daughter, Simran, 7, while playing with his children in their home inside a poor neighbourhood of Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

.

A happy father-of-three, he lives humbly but with the conscious pride of those people who feel they deserved more from what they have accomplished and failed to somehow obtain it. Let’s not forget that in his early teenage years, Shafiq was already living on the streets in both Bangalore and Mumbai, before being discovered and invited to act in the movie, which some say presents reality more objectively than Slumdog Millionaire.

After the fame (he wasn’t however taken to Cannes for the award ceremony – times were different I guess) Shaifq had to return to the streets for some time and he was not even allowed to live in the ‘home’ of the Salaam Balak Trust, an NGO established by the producers to help street children in India after the movie’s success. The reason being Shafiq was a couple of years older than the rest and would not ‘fit in’. How ironic…

.

Shaifq Syed, 34, is holding her daughter Simran, 7, in front of their home in a poor neighbourhood of Bangalore, Karnataka, India, while his elder son Waseem, 11, is standing by. Shaifq has been the main character of the Cannes’ Camera D’Or 1988 winner Salaam Bombay, but after the movie he failed to become a star, fell back into poverty and lived on the streets for years before he became a rickshaw (tuk-tuk) driver in his home city of Bangalore, Karnataka State, India.

Shaifq Syed, 34, is holding her daughter Simran, 7, in front of their home in a poor neighbourhood of Bangalore, Karnataka, India, while his elder son Waseem, 11, is standing by. Copyright: Alex Masi - All Rights Reserved

.

These days Shaifq has more mundane worries like paying the monthly  installments of his now-owned auto-rickshaw or earning enough money for his children’s education. His bubble has burst a long time ago, but when you hear him recounting his stories and adventures in detail, you cannot but smile, feel proud of the man standing in front of you and yes, also grow a little sad.

For more images from this set, feel free to visit this page.

…or getting very near to it while being around other people is hard in itself in a big city like London or Mumbai, leave alone trying to photograph life in some Indian village where no foreigner have set foot before. Add a particularly crowded environment – Uttar Pradesh holds around 200 million people in an area the size of France – and a big black camera to the melting pot, and you can be sure to receive plenty of attention.

I have been struggling before with the ethical dilemma of balancing between the time spent with the villagers because they are mostly kind, enjoyable and welcoming people, and the ‘need’ to be shooting for my projects to move forward. When the time is ripe to collect images, being surrounded by people who do not ‘belong in the story’ can be unnerving and if managed improperly can affect the reporting altogether.

Apart from the technical and visual sides like composition, lighting, the decisive moment, colour, meaning and more, one has to deal with a critical part of the image: the subject. As a general rule bearing exceptions, it should be portrayed naturally in its environment. Of course there are photographic projects that are based on a totally different perspective and where portraits are arranged, lights are positioned and images shot.

Other portraits are straight-on with subjects looking at the camera and much recent award-winning imagery has been shot this way. However, I generally prefer most of my photographs to portray ‘natural’ subjects or to go as close as possible to it.

It was in the village of Chandenamal, (pop. 1500) in Muzaffarnagar District, more then a year ago, on my first in-depth project in rural India that I faced a serious challenge in shooing the images I needed because the interest in me so many locals showed.

When most children in India would desist in following me for more than a few minutes, here not only they would be there with me for a long time, but they would multiply! People would appear on the rooftops or would peek over the walls, making it really hard to photograph freely even when inside a home, and to avoid ‘unwanted external elements’ affecting the images.

.

The crowd in downtown Chandenamal

Some crowd in downtown Chandenamal.

.

After discussing the issue online with other photojournalist working in similar conditions, I would like to share part of the helpful advice which emerged from the discussion:

1)  Take time. The more you spend within the same community / family, the better access and less attention you will get to photograph meaningful natural moments.

2)  Little gear and bags. Bring only the essential.

3)  Talk to the people around you, shoot, than talk again and so on. It needs to be a flow, and when a window of opportunity for a good shot is there, take it.

4)  You want natural pictures? Be faster than they are.

5)  Not too fast though. Sometimes, incredibly, you go unnoticed and shooting before being in the right position might alert the subject, however moving too near too fast might result in a similar problem.

6)  Use a dummy photographer / translator to distract the spectators away from the subjects.

7)  Taking some snapshots seems a small price to pay for what you are receiving in return — a generous welcome into a community, the time and attention of people who no doubt have better things to do than tend to you. You’ll be fed and given tea, just because this is what Indian custom calls for. The only things you have to reciprocate are your own time and attention — and if you are a photographer, that means taking some snaps. You are getting back far more than you are giving.

8)  Welcome in India!! People are curious and you have to deal with this behaviour.

9)  Try not to be invisible. The best approach to getting inside a situation or a location is to make your presence felt, and to become part of that situation and location in such a way that people start to move on and/or consider you to belong. Be a photographer, be clear about why you are standing there and speak to people, engage them in the act, get them involved, and share. The goal is to produce images that suggest that you were invisible. (if that is the goal) Some places will be harder than others of course, but in the end you will have to accept that the only way to work through such situations is to engage in them, and to leave yourself open and vulnerable to the crowd, to interact with it, and to simply continue to remain alert to the photo possibilities.

10)  Be patient. Look around in all directions. Accept that you might miss some good images to shoot other images which are equally as good or probably even better and more relevant to the story. This can’t be closer to the truth as one of my favourite images from this set on industrial pollution was shot only minutes after the image above, when the Sun was setting, the time was tight, and the ‘bridge at Sunset’ picture opportunity had clearly become unavailable.

.

I experimented with the methods outlined in this discussion from quite some time now and I have realised that something has changed within me after spending more and more time observing, understanding and shooing in India.

The answer, for me, is finding the right mixture of going with the flow, planning and engaging with the people and subjects in every different situation that might be presented to us.

Researching, keeping needs and plans under control is also very important to productivity in-location. In most cases they help in building a stronger and more cost-effective project. Many times they are essential to the end results of the story while problems might also arise due to confusion or inaccuracies.

However, falling under the pressure of gathering material too quickly without allowing oneself to ‘step-in’ the story put you at risk of producing an average story with little chances to be remembered.

Balance, perseverance, and of course up-to-date information and cultural knowledge, are elements that help when working on medium to long-term stories which are likely to leave an impression and document a story in-depth and with intimacy.

I have to say things have improved quite a lot right now, I keep enjoying visiting villages and since a few months I have surely found a better balance with India altogether, and I like it.

Here for more images about pollution and its effects on children in Uttar Pradesh.

At the end of July 2009 I will be at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India.

 I am thrilled by the chance of being there as the Foundry Workshop has been created to provide training, education and networking to emerging photographers and students. Foundry is a grassroots workshop series held in inspiring and photographically challenging global locations. During the workshop some of the greatest photographers and photojournalists out there will be helding classes and helping in the concept and editing of a new project. See the list of Instructors here

The area also is amazing, going very near to the world’s highest mountain range, the Himalayas. Check some more of the images on Manali here.

 

Manali - Copyright Ashwani Kaul - via Flickr

Manali - Copyright Ashwani Kaul - via Flickr

And to put the cherry on top of the cake… I have recently won a scholarship from Redux Pictures to attend the Foundry Workshop free of charge, which is, I have to say, amazing.  Thank you to Eric Beecroft , the organiser and founder of the workshop, to Marcel Saba director of Redux, and to the other members of the jury that made it happen.

My winning series is available here.

An elder villager is attacking Pardip, a 12-year-old boy from Simlana village, (pop.4000) Uttar Pradesh, India, for no apparent reason. Pardip developed a neurological disorder at the age of two due to the long-term effects of consuming contaminated water.

An elder villager is attacking Pardip, a 12-year-old boy from Simlana village, (pop.4000) Uttar Pradesh, India, for no apparent reason. Pardip developed a neurological disorder at the age of two due to the long-term effects of consuming contaminated water.

More from Manali nearer to the beginning of the 7-day-workshop on July the 26th 2009.