Today we had meeting of subgroup of the cooperative and I got to know that meeting cannot be organized because Grandson of one member of the cooperative is seriously ill since last 3 days. We went to her home and saw the the kid. This kid is less than one year old and was looking pale. We inquired and got to know that they had taken the kid to nearby community health center (CHC) but there was no improvement in the health and therefore they decided to use their traditional/spiritual method for treatment.We somehow convinced them to again consult the doctor and took the kid along with her grand mother. Upon reaching the CHC, we showed the kid to the doctor on duty, he said this child is seriously malnourished and immediately needs to be referred to Cuttack Hospital. He asked for earlier prescription and then we got to know that 3 days back when they had shown the kid to the doctor he had also advised same thing but they had not adhered to it. Nevertheless the doctor instructed us to get saline to be put before ambulance was arranged.
Till now everything for me was normal, but perhaps God wanted me to witness something which I'll never forget.
After getting saline, when nurse was about to put in the injection, she saw marks of burning on the kid's hand and then saw it on legs and neck too. The community here doesn't believe in modern medicine, quite possible that only out of someone;s force that they had visited doctor earlier but then as they didn't believe in it they didnt follow the instructions of the doctor and the kid;s condition further deteriorated. Like most of you who are reading this post, I was unaware of how traumatic this traditional treatment is. Now what the traditional treatment is, they believe that people become ill only when some evil soul enters the body and for removing this evil soul we need to torture the body and so they burn the body with hot iron and this less than one year kid had those marks!!!
I am not going to blame NIA or CBI for this. Perhaps even FBI or Interpol also cannot detect the terror which that kid and many alike him go through (let them be spared for mumbai attacks). But yes I am certainly going to ask questions to the learned , to the doctors, to the engineers and and to my other 'relatively' well off friends can we give sometime and try to remove out this 'terror'. It need not be in Orissa, could be any where. Ofcourse Dr. Manmohan singh and his brigade or for that matter anyone else in his position can be put to blame for the 'terror' which I shared but still somewhere we all 'common people' owe a responsibility.
Will we actually 'owe' it ?
So what do you suggest a non community person can do in this matter?? Education and generation change are the only two factors that can bring an end to such traditions. The concept is just like ragging that we faced during our years in college. W e believed that hitting is unreasonable and protested against it and let our batchmates sensible to this tradition so this can be eventually phased out.
ReplyDeleteBan on traditions and superstitions cannot be and SHOULD not be enforced from outside. Any sort of arm twisting in such cases leads to Extremism and violent protests. As has happened in case of Burqa ban in many countries. At the most people can do is sensitize the current generation against their foolish ideas and hope that the next generation does not follow those ideals.
Haan huzur..cannot agree any more.
ReplyDeletetaking cue from ur last sentence " At the most people can do is sensitize the current generation against their foolish ideas and hope that the next generation does not follow those ideals."
Where the one's who will actually owe it ?
until they were not discovered by civilization (?) , i assume for thousands of years , these people lived ( or survived) happily ( or unhappily ) but without our judgment . With all the miseries and destitution , with their superstition (from our lance, includes me as well ) they lived a life that is rich of human experiences , true happiness and true sorrow , true bonds. they lived poor and white but they lived un-seduced by ambition and success or vanity of power. i dont know corruption ( terror :P) in belief is more evil or a meaningless corrupt life ( in my personal view , human prison) . i dont know if i owe or how much :(
ReplyDeleteThats another perspective el inconformista/piyush :)
ReplyDeleteI also cannot say whether what we think as correct is actually correct. However a common man's heart definitely wept deeply when he saw those burn marks on the kid's hand/legs and neck as well. I couldn;t imagine the trauma that kid must have gone through and many more like him go. Irrespective of what one's belief systems were in past, perhaps all civilizations/individuals must keep a vigil on the 'moments of truth'. And as u say..these truths are different for everyone and even vary for same person across different time dimensions.For me the moment of truth establishes faith on modern medical science (atleast for well proven curable ailments like dysentery and malnourishment) and therefore this common man;s mind and heart is not ready to accept the status quo on the name of "past was virtuous and happy" and therefore I seek help from others who can bring this 'gradual' change in belief systems atleast for common curable diseases. Hope I could answer succinctly so that we may continue to agree on our disagreement !!