In addition to alternative therapies, the clinic practices an alternative form of organization. Instead of a traditional staff hierarchy, the clinic functions on a collective-management model. Each of the 25 staff members has equal input regarding decisions and equal responsibility for implementing them. The ratio of the maximum salary ($185 per month) to the minimum salary ($57) is barely more than three to one. Almost half of the staff are survivors of the accident.

Gary Cohen, co-coordinator of the U.S.-based Health Care Without Harm, a group that works to reform environmental practices in the health care industry, finds inspiration in Sambhavna. Cohen, who has worked with Union Carbide gas leak victims for years, says, "This clinic really represents the triumph of memory over forgetfulness. There's a profound way that both Union Carbide and the Indian government want to erase the memory of Bhopal, because it's an uncomfortable embodiment of the worst abuses of globalization. The clinic is a powerful symbol of people being empowered to defend and heal themselves."

The clinic conducts health surveys and continues to monitor deaths related to the gas exposure. Researchers use a questionnaire to conduct "verbal autopsies," interviewing a family member of the deceased to determine whether he or she died as a result of the Union Carbide leak.

"By all accounts, the poisoned night of December '84 is far from over in Bhopal," Sarangi says. "I am happy that, along with the survivors, we at Sambhavna refuse to go silently into this night. We have lit a lamp and continue to curse the darkness."

Emily Polk is associate editor of Whole Earth magazine. Reprinted from Whole Earth (Spring 2002). Subscriptions: $24/yr. (4 issues) from Box 3000, Denville, NJ 07834. Sambhavna Clinic, 44 Sant Kanwar Ram Nagar, Berasia Road, Bhopal, India 462018; sambavna@sancharnet.in.