Bhopal,
the city of lakes, is a fascinating amalgam of scenic beauty, old historic city and modern
urban planning. It is situated on the 11th century city, Bhojapal, founded by Raja Bhoja
but the present city was established by an Afghan soldier, Dost Mohammed(1707-1740). His progeny
ruled Bhopal until 1947 when the state finally joined the Indian Union.Old Bhopal still bears the
aristocratic imprint of its former rulers. Four generations of powerful enlightened Begums who ruled
Bhopal from 1819 to 1926.
Now, the city is the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh. A bustling city where you can enjoy the charm of a small town and the hustle and bustle of a big city.
In the early hours of Dec. 3, 1984, gas leaked from a tank of methyl isocyanate (MIC) at a plant in Bhopal, owned and operated by Union Carbide India Limited in what was to be one of the worst industrial tragedies ever and has now come to be known as the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Some 16,000 to 30,000 people died and around 500,000 were injured.More than half a million Bhopalis suffered from the affects of the toxic cloud, three in every four inhabitants. The official figure according to Indian Medical Research Council is 521,262 which does NOT include victims who were not permanent residents of Bhopal or those of no fixed abodes or members of nomadic communities or chidren still in their mother's womb. Being the main business centre in central India, Bhopal was home to many imigrants who left their villages in search of a better life.
Today Bhopal has some 150,000 people chronically affected by
the tragedy, which still kills 10-15 patients a month. Because Union Carbide never revealed the exact
composition of the toxic cloud, to this day medical authorities have been unable to come up with an
effective course of treatment.
The funny thing is that the people responsible for this tragedy were never punished... Its been 20 years !
Many of the victims have not received any compensation, and perhaps never will.
Dow Chemicals which now owns Union Carbide has disowned any responsibility. Union Carbide will make us belive - inspite of comprehensive documentary evidence of safety lapses - that the it was all because of 1 disgruntled employee. They do not offer any evidence and never bothered to lodge a case against him.
It is due to the remarkable resilience of Bhopalis that the city has pulled itself together after such a terrible human tragedy.
Bhopal is famous for the warm & smiling people living here. We Bhopalis are notorious for the kind of jokes we play on others. Its said that Agra is Famous for the Taj, Mumbai for the Gateway of India ... but Bhopal is famous for Bhopalis & not for life-less monuments. The sheer playfulness & often wierd sense of humour of Bhopalis comes as a rude shock to the uninitiated.Also, Bhopalis love to talk, and we do talk a LOT.Even if you stop someone to say ask for time, you can be sure that he will not leave you without narrating to you stories about his Mamoo Jaan /Chacha Jaan / Bhai Jaan (Uncles/Brothers) which will defy all rules of science and logic. Despite all this, beware .. a bhopali does not beat around the bush when he wants to tell you exactly what he thinks !!! The typical Bhopali stereotype character Soorma Bhopali played by Jagdeep in the unforgettable Bollywood Classic Movie Sholay faithfully represents the fun loving nature of Bhopalis.
The local Dialect which we call Bhopali is a improvement
of Hindi.Some believe that Hindi must be a dialect of Bhopali, some think Bhopali is a form of singing.
The standard greeting - irrespective of the religious affiliations of the speaker - is Kyon Khan Kay-sey Ho (how are
you ?).The distinguishing feature of the Bhopali's accent is the way we pronounce words like
Kay-say(How),Aye-say(like this), Pay-say(money), and the liberal use of the words
Khan (meaning Chieftain in Arabic) and Mamoooo(uncle) and by starting most of the
sentences with a Ama Khan.We replace the bland .. raha hoon(.. am doing) with more
nicer-to-hear riya hoon.
To be GOOD in Bhopali, you need to start speaking in a tune....
and yes, if you have paan in your, that would be a great help.
Yes, in Bhopal everybody is a chieftain and everybody is (like) your Uncle!!.Apart from talking other passions of Bhopalis include paan ,Shayaris and Qawalis.Just try to find one wall in Bhopal which would not prove the Bhopalis' love of paan. I have been trying in vain to find one rickshaw, mini-bus, truck, gumti (kiosk) which does not sport a sher(Urdu Couplet).The Bhopalis are unique in the sense whereas everybody else would like to stay home when it rains, Bhopalis would rather go picnicking. A friend of mine surprised at this reaction to rain suggested that we are a cross of frogs and peacocks, we just run out of our dwellings-like frogs- and dance-like peacocks.Maybe he is right. But with the dams and other picnic spots, well no one can think of staying home anyway.If you this this was strange enough, read on ...Bhopalis have this strange fondness for numbers, in a world where mathematics is every little child's nightmare. There are places which have names like Ek(one) number, Do(two) number, teen(three) number .... and as if that was not enough, there are places with names like Sava Chey( Six and a quarter),Sadey Cheh(Six and a half), Poune Saath(Six and 3 quarters). A important hospital in the city is known as the Barah So Pachas(1250). Then there are places called Chohattar(74) Bungalows, Gyara Sou(1100) Quarters etc.
Bhopal is the home town of the ex President of India, Shri. Shankar Dayal Sharma, the great hockey player Aslam Sher Khan, Bashir Badr -one of the greatest Shayars of our time and many others.Other celebrities who are associated with this city include Javed Akhtar,Kaifi Aazmi etc. Talking about hockey, in the pre-independence era, Bhopal was known as the Cradle of Indian Hockey, with a good representation of Bhopalis in the Indian Hockey team.Talking about the great persons born in Bhopal... did i mention myself ???
There are a number of very wonderful places in and around Bhopal which all those who visit MP must see.Some of the important landmarks in Bhopal are
Also close to Bhopal are Islamnagar (11km) has synthesis of Hindu and Islamic decorative art developed by Afghan ruler Dost Mohammed Khan. Sanchi (46 km )- a masterpiece of Buddhist art, the Buddhist Stup there was built by one of the greatest Indian Emperors Ashok, the Great. Bhimbetka - an archaeological treasure, where you can see some of the earliest cave paintings by the prehistoric man to be found in India and Bhojpur (28 km) from Bhopal is famous for its Shiv temple and has the biggest Shiv Ling in the world.
But belive me, if you really want to "enjoy" Bhopal, you must take a ride in our local roller-coaster the mini-buses and yes, try to sit as close as possible to the driver and the conductor so that you can enjoy the colorful language they speak.And if you are too scared to do that, just go and spend your time at a gumti.
I am a native of Kerala, and I was born & brought up in Bhopal, I did my entire schooling in Bhopal, at HEMA school ( KG to Class III ) & Jawaharlal Nehru Higher Secondary School (Class IV upwards).As a matter of fact I also did my degree in this very city. And though I have been out of Bhopal for past 3 years, well as they say, once a Bhopali always a Bhopali ....I have been more of a globe-trotter.. but belive me, I have NEVER seem any city whose citizens could match Bhopalis !!
Comprehensive site about the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
Union Carbide's version of Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
MP Tourism Dev Corporation page on Bhopal
A rare stamp issued by the erstwhile Nawab of Bhopal
Triangular Stamps of the erstwhile Bhopal State
