Amid this chaos, however, [Sarangi], a born optimist, also noticed "lots of individuals and social and religious organisations, all trying to help". Now 55, Sarangi grew up in a Brahmin family in Jharkhand state and was completing a PhD in metallurgy and working as a community activist in a rural area some 150km south of [Bhopal] at when the news prompted him to head for the town. "Initially I thought I'd be there a week," he grins. A quarter of a century on, he's still there.