Mr. Lapierre, what prompted you to recount the Bhopal tragedy? It seems like you waited 17 years to write a book on the tragedy - did you wish to distance yourself enough from the incident so you could have a clearer perspective?

There's an interesting incident behind my first becoming interested in the Bhopal story. I was on one of my 'City of Joy' dispensary boats working in the Sunderbans when I met Satinath Sarangi, a social worker from Bhopal. Prior to meeting him, I had never even been to Bhopal and I had vague recollections of the tragedy. Satinath approached me to ask me to finance a gynaecological clinic for underprivileged women who, even sixteen years after the tragedy, did not have recourse to proper treatment. That was how I first became involved with the people of Bhopal. 

The 'Dominique Lapierre - City of Joy Sambhavna Gynaecoloical Clinic' was inaugurated on January 27, 2001. How has it been doing? Has it alleviated the plight of the women of Bhopal affected by the 1984 tragedy?

There were over 150,000 underprivileged women suffering in Bhopal - they were giving birth to children born with congenital defects, a result of the mother being severely affected by the toxic leak. The clinic was a godsend for them, and we have been treating 150 to 200 women daily since January. I managed to buy some highly sophisticated gynaecological equipment in Japan, only to realise the doctors in India did not know how to use them! 

So, what happened then?

Thankfully, I was approached by a French organisation, 'Gynaecologists Without Frontiers', who volunteered to train the Indian gynaecologists to use the sophisticated equipment. I'm thankful to them for collaborating on our project. 

What was the experience of living in Bhopal for researching the book like?

It was wonderful. Bhopal is one of the most culturally rich cities in India … perhaps the only one to boast a 'Lazy Poets' Club', of which I am, incidentally, a member! The people are warm and it was heartbreaking to see how this dream of a city had been turned into a disaster through a single incident. What impressed me about the people of Bhopal were their extraordinary resilience and their capacity to beat adversity. 

Is that why you have dealt with specific characters in the book, concentrating on the human angle of the tragedy, rather than the merely factual aspects of it as earlier writers have done?

Absolutely! When I was writing the book, I wanted to give a voice and a face to the suffering people of Bhopal. I want the book to be marketed so well that the world will never forget the heartbreaking plight of the people of Bhopal. These people are a living testimony of … I quote Tagore - 'Adversity is big, but man is bigger than adversity.' 

Did you receive any help from Union Carbide (now a part of Dow Chemicals) while you were researching the book?

No, we tried several times to get in touch with them but all telephone calls and faxes to their Connecticut office were ignored. The people of Bhopal merely want an apology to the innocent martyrs from the company. In this connection, I must mention that I received a lot of help from one of the Union Carbide engineers who now lives in Maharashtra. He made available to Javier and me all his archives. 

What has the response to It Was Five Past Midnight in Bhopal been like?

When the book was released in Bhopal, it was a treat to see the people of the Oriya bustee rejoicing because someone had finally told the world their horrific story. Hundreds of people kept throwing flower petals at Javier and me. It was a sad irony when someone mentioned that it had taken a firangi to come and help them! In the West, the response to the book has been good. French corporations have bought hundreds of copies of the book. 

The fact that French corporations bought the book - do you think that indicates an awareness among them to clean up their act? Do you think this book would help warn similar corporations to sit up and realise how dangerous a single incident like the Bhopal gas leak could be? 

I certainly hope so and that was one of the main reasons why I wrote the book. I wanted to teach a lesson to megalomaniac engineers who design factories like that. 

So, does the book have a universal message?

Of course, what happened in Bhopal in 1984 can happen to anyone anywhere. 

One question seems inevitable today in view of the recent US terrorist attacks. The plot of The Fifth Horseman is eerily close to the terrorist attacks - what did you feel when you saw the devastation? Did you and Larry Collins envision this ever happening?

I'm devastated and I'm still in shock. When Larry and I wrote that book, we never could imagine something like this would really happen. It's shocking, just shocking! It's a warning to the rest of the world that no one is safe from terrorism.

Finally, your impressions about Calcutta and the Oxford Bookstore-Gallery

Calcutta doesn't seem to have changed - there's the same pollution, the roads haven't improved either. But Oxford Bookstore is where I still find spiritual food in this beautiful city, right from that time in 1983, when I bought half a dozen pens and notebooks here to start writing City of Joy. I admire the people of Calcutta's capacity to share.