Every Thursday and Saturday, Santosh Kulkarni, 61, quietly takes his place near Tilak Road and outside the Gajanan Maharaj temple on Bhagat Singh Road in Dombivli. Locals recognise him. Some offer water. A few stop to listen. Most walk by, unaware that this soft-spoken man in dark glasses is a survivor of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, one of the deadliest industrial disasters in history.

Originally from Pune, Kulkarni was just 20 when he was sent to Bhopal on a short-term electrician’s contract in late November 1984 — only days before disaster struck. “That night took everything. I couldn’t breathe, I was vomiting, my eyes were burning,” he recalled. “Within hours, I lost my sight forever.”