India, Feb. 21 -- "...Neither a fleeting joy, nor an unbidden laughter remains. In a moment, OIL took it all, stripping me of everything."

This stanza is from a poem written by Papul Gogoi, a resident of Baghjan, Assam, from the point of view of a (fictional) woman who lost everything in the Baghjan blowout, a 2020 industrial disaster that had widespread impacts on people and the environment. The poem, expressing grief and despair about the blowout, is part of a book Our Burden of Grief published in October 2025.

On May 27, 2020, there was a leak in Oil India Limited's (OIL) Well No. 5 in Baghjan Oil Field, Tinsukia, Assam, resulting in the uncontrollable flow of the natural gas (methane gas), crude oil and condensate droplets. People l...