The silent sufferers

Kanaklata Ghadei, Sasmita Moahaptra, Ribika Pradhan or Manasi Bhuyan and many like them from neighbouring rural pockets of the capital city of Bhubaneswar are some of the women, who have been harrowing experiences post demonitisation. Mostly single earning members of their families, these women have to manage with the paltry money that their small time business fetches them after currency circulation lessened. The village haats these women frequented on some days of the week are now wearing a deserted look with most of the women staying home, selling their produce from the doorsteps of their houses. Even the capital main haat, where these women had bought spaces to sell, have now been sublet to other men. Despite all this, neither have the village market committees helped them nor has anyone from the government visited them to ask about their problems. In fact, in the periphery villages, since the market committees do not count village women as businesswomen, they do not pay any heed to their problems. The women interviewed here strangely belong to places where BJD has its legislators and parliamentarians! And Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has been the first one, to appreciate the step when rural economy with women as strong players, has been crumbling.

Earnings lessened from Rs 1200 to Rs 150 per day

Selling vegetables, dried fish, betel leaf, kirana materials have been their only means of sustenance. Earning between Rs 1000 to Rs 1500 every day, these women burnt their hearths to run their families of average 4 to 5 people. But things changed for them once currency notes started changing circulation. Women from the periphery villages of the city like Madanpur, Sankarsanpur, Dumduma and Antudi  or the little distant Nirakarpur are left with little earning. Their daily average now  varies between Rs 150 and  Rs 300 in contrast to Rs 1000 to Rs 1500 earlier.

 Kanaklata Ghadai, 55 year old vegetable seller from Jajpur

For someone who left her ancestral place in Jajpur district to single handedly run her family in capital city’s Sankareswar village in the city outskirts, Kanaklata is too bitter about the demonitisation impact, which she names as ‘paisa her pher’.  ‘’Nothing is good about this change, it has made life miserable.  Am a widow and run a family of five. I used to sell my produce in nearby Khandagiri weekly haat on Wednesdays and Sundays. Now I have stopped going there. Because people come with Rs 2000 currency notes and I do not have any means to give them change. Even Rs 500 is not in circulation. I have a zero balance account and an ATM card but neither do I know how to operate it nor money in the bank to transact,’’ she says with tears flowing down her eyes. She is now restricted to selling a few vegetables from her doorsteps and settles with whatever the villagers buy from her . ‘’In haats, people came with big denominations and asked for half kilo tomato or a kilo of potato. Now how do I give them change,? ‘’ she questions.

Ribika Pradhan, 35, from Phulbani, works as a maid after demonitisation

The 35-year-old widow came to the city with her husband to help him run his vegetable business but after her husband died, she started getting into his shoes. But in the last two months, she has turned a maid from a small time businesswoman. Reason, she could not sell her wares anymore. Fetching turmeric, tamarind, honey and herbs from her village in Phulbani, she was adding to the family income. Now, even though there are no takers for these forest produce, she has been trying to sell vegetables for the last three years and run her family. But that too has now not giving her enough to sustain. She has been forced to turn a maid at different houses to eke a living. ‘’I earned Rs 1500 every day and my husband did around Rs 2000 but now alone, I manage to sell ony Rs 50 to Rs 100 every day. I was forced to work as a maid and even then my problems have not ended. The house owners too do not have change of Rs 700 to pay me every month. SO they have asked me to wait for three months so that they can pay me Rs 2100 together as they too don’t have lower denomination currency notes. I have an ATM card in SBI, but I don’t dare to withdraw because only Rs 2000 is coming out of it,’’ she says with remorse. She now stays in Saradhapalli slums and barely manages two squaremeals a day.

Sasmita Mohapatra, 30, kirana store and vegetable seller from Chatua village, Khurda district

‘’I never wanted to sell vegetables or run a kirana store from home. My husband failed to get work as an electric contractor and I had to start running a business. I accompanied him to the vegetable weekly market a little away from Khandagiri to sell, but in the last two months the business dipped to an all time low. I don’t understand demonitisation, but something went wrong with currency notes. People came with bigger denominations and my husband had to move from one shop to another to get change. Rs 500 has not come to the marker and no one even offers that to  us. The 500 note would have helped us sail through but we never get one. Giving a change for Rs 500 is easy in comparison to Rs 2000 notes,’’ she explains as per her understanding. Business for her has come down and there is no village committee or market committee to bail them out. ‘’Its all our own business and no one offers to help us though we have committees to look after the welfare of villages,’’ she says wryly.

Women businesswomen from Dhenkanal and Angul districts

These two districts witness the maximum number of women getting into small time business. From selling forest produce to vegetables, these women are regulars at Nuahaat, a few kilometres from Dhenkanal town. They come in hordes and sell their produce in two hours before returning home richer by Rs 1200 to Rs 1500 daily. However, post, demonitisation, hardly do they earn much and they have none to complain other than curse their destiny. ‘’All of a sudden there was no money and we are left in the lurch. We earn much less in comparison to earlier days. These days coming to haat does not evoke much enthusiasm in us as we go back with a paltry sum. These women echo the voices of all others of their ilk in Gondia, Kapilas, Sankarpur, all situated in the periphery of Dhenkanal district.

Bandh proves battleground more than fight for a cause

fidence of sorting things out through discussions.

Bhubaneswar bandh on Wednesday turned the major thoroughfares of the city into a battleground with the Bharatiya Janata Party, that had called the bandh, and the ruling Biju Janata Dal getting into a violent mode. The protest that began from dawn with BJP workers picketing on the junctions not allowing any vehicles to pass by started witnessing maddening scenes with the party workers burning and damaging vehicles besides beating up people who did not pay heed. Shops were left with broken windows and hoardings pulled down.

As if that was not enough the ruling BJD, that has been in the eye of many storms since the past couple of years in the fourth term of Naveen Patnaik as chief minister (health issues, law and order problems), made matters worse by trying to foil BJP’s bandh attempts.  Scores of BJD workers were seen zooming past in two wheelers antagonising the BJP party workers and not allowing them to stop vehicles. Some BJP women workers who were sitting on the roads were hushed away and abused by the rowdy BJD workers who threw all norms to wind, right in front of the police.

This led to scuffles near Utkal University campus and Ram Mandir square with the police, as usual,  remaining a mute spectator till the damage was done. Scores of workers from both parties were injured and rushed to hospital. Police, feigned ignorance about calculating the expected  magnitude of violence.

The bandh, called demanding resignation of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Mayor’s resignation over his alleged link in a murder case and a sex slur associated with the case, was certainly successful as most offices witnessed thin attendance and schools remained empty. The state secretariat was no exception, where even the ministers and secretaries failed to reach on time while many officers were seen entering through back doors.

Violent politics which was the mantra of Congress till now has taken the BJD to a large extent and BJP to a some extent, into its destructive fold.  The recent violence on campuses of the state before and after elections exposed the chinks in the armour of the BJD and today’s incident has once again raised question marks on its insecurity. Not long back, the BJD legislators were also seen involved in violence during black flag and egg hitting protests by the BJP and the Congress.  It has brought to fore the party’s fear about losing to either of the parties in issues affecting the state.

 Its time Naveen Patnaik, known for being strict with his rank and file in case  of  any indiscipline, rose to the occasion to stop his partymen’s behaviour on roads before more damage is done to at least not set any more precedence.  Instead of dodging meeting Opposition members on the floor of the House or secretariat, a man who has romped home victorious over and over again, must have the confidence of sorting things out through discussions.

Power of collective responsibility: its time to own up

It is the alerts about a possible cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal that has calmed the heat prevailing over sum hospital fire tragedy since a week. But the incident will certainly haunt the collective conscience of the state as a grim reminder about the failing health situation in the state, which made the health minister of the state tender his resignation two days back. But the buck does not stop here, for, the tragedy has exposed the can of worms the government department officials had been feeding in for over years, questioning their need in the system.

In the last 16 years of BJD government nothing has changed in the health care system in Odisha. A trip down memory lane pre 2000 era suggests the state had the same set of problems as now and the archives are a testimony to it all. There were less hospitals, doctors, infrastructure, medicines,  medical students and colleges, vaccines etc. And the things that were more were malnutirion cases, deaths due to inability to access doctors and hospitals. Nothing much has changed now. What has changed in the Naveen Patnaik ruled state for three and half terms are a host of health care schemes like the 108/102 ambulance service, Niramaya scheme that provides free medicines, Swasthya Bima Yojana , Mamata Yojana, the Mahaprayan  scheme etc which the CM dedicated to the state at intervals.  The implementation of these schemes have however eluded the majority of population in the state. Because the health departments including the minister and the secretaries responsible for implementing the schemes and monitoring the same through their down-in-line officials have not done their work. Which is why free medicines are not available in the Niramaya stores in government hospitals, ambulance failures have brought out Dana Majhis and failure of Janani  express makes us wake up to cases of pregnant women dying before delivery or on way to the hospital. At present,  the state is grappling with Japanese encephalitis where more than 69 have succumbed in 46 days and in recent past Nagada (Jajpur) malnutrition had taken a toll of 19 children. Schemes and statements remain rhetorics.

Coming to the infrastructure, in early 2000, when the state was looking up in driving the health sector index, private hospitals mushroomed and so did the diagnostic labs. Even some of these hospitals  went on to become medical colleges of repute. A case in point is IMS and SUM hospital (2005-06) which has 650 MBBS seats, 150 PG seats, 1000 nursing seats and as many dental seats in the state besides running a 700-bedded 24-hour hospital. It was during this phase that permissions were granted dime a dozen to all those who wished to have their medical education or treatment institutions. Naturally, the upbeat scenario gave them all clearances by the same government to go ahead and never bothered for 10 years about patients’ safety and security till a tragedy like SUM happened. A hospital that was most frequented by the less privileged ones and offered services of the best medics in the industry free of cost for years, and later on on subsidized prices, Sum suddenly  fell from grace. Besides the government cancelling all its empanelments and schemes applicable there, the Khurda district collector has gone on record to say the hospital did not possess an NoC to run its operations. An addition,  the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) that  perpetually remains in slumber, stated that the hospital was running without an occupancy certificate.

Now, why were there no objections raised to these issues if norms were flouted at all levels in the last 10 years? How could a government allow a hospital to run and treat over 1000 OPD patients every day without an occupancy certificate? Why did the district collector not cancel the licence of the hospital if the registration was not renewed and NOC not received?  And most importantly, how did the hospital get the clearance from MCI if it did not have any of the important documents in place? The case dittoes for all the 1700 private hospitals and nursing homes in the state who have unanimously stated their applications for renewal of registration and fire safety are pending clearance from the government despite reminders. On November 1, these hospitals will cease work in protest.

Last but not the least, the NHRC seeking its report from the state government has stated that only three private hospitals in the state have all the fire safety measures in place. Now if the government was well aware of repercussions and came up with the Fire safety Act years back, the onus of implementation naturally lied with the Fire department. An Act formulated 23 years ago, has no rules been framed till now. But a department that functions under direct supervision of the chief minister Naveen Patnaik remained indolent about monitoring or raiding hospitals to check whether safety measures are in place. Not a surprise then, the lacunae if any, was not found out till the accident happened. Ironically, the fire department has issued an NoC to BDA about SUM’s fitness to operate. Applications, around thousands, pile up in the fire department to get lost.

Let’s accept, the government machinery in the state has turned carcinogenic. Starting from bureaucrats who run the show in Odisha to the departments like fire and BDA, do not bother till disasters strike and then fail to own up their failure. It is not only the health minister who accepted the failure of his department, its time for the bureaucracy to be cleaned of its senility and take responsibility. In a face saving measure, the government officials’ blame game will make more skeletons tumble from the cupboard pointing at their  inefficiency and callousness!
Pic: patch.com

Ecstasy in pain

Does distance mean void
why is it then I search for you

in the unseen, untrodden path
and cry for the virgin touch
that reassures me of completion.

The silence of your unspoken words
and my understanding of the untold
reason out my faith on love
love that shows signs of life
in the barrenness of living.

I feel bound, shackled, strangulated
but my arms open in wide delight
to embrace the faint image of you
that strongly makes me yours
I feel the warm cuddle even in your absence.

Your presence is a phoenix
of my thought process
that connects the dots
let them what they deem fit
I owe you my freedom.

Dec 23, 2014, 8.30 am

Pic courtesy: 123rf.com

Little wonder

The telephonic conversations had lessened, to a great extent. It even doesn’t make her nervous or unnerved anymore. She had to accept what came her way because she was going against the tide, the laid down rules. The change was inflicted not agreed upon. She would still hope against hope and wait for a text or a call which had become a rarity. She couldn’t have lived without him, so she thought but in actuality she had never met him, leave alone living with him. It was love, just love, feeling of absolute liking for someone who existed in flesh and blood for others but for her in the texts and calls.

Puchoo was ingrained, in every thought and every activity. He was her world. She knew the huge age difference between them did not really matter to her. She was elder to him by years. It was not a feeling of desperation to be in love but simple admiration for a soul, so innocent, so pure, so lively. He was a darling,  a sweetheart  with a heart of gold, no not a metal, but in the sense that his heart was bereft of any adulteration, he was loved by his family and friends as much as her. He also was committed to his family and job.

She was madly in love. Love not at first sight. She was friends with him since three four years ago, but something clicked during one of the conversations which became a regular affair over a period of time.  Both nourished and nurtured the relationship that no one else knew.  Two people who had never seen each other physically but the bond was as strong as the umbilical cord.

The initial days were exciting, like she had fallen in love for the first time. From the moment of waking up till late in the evenings, they were in touch with each other. Every little thing in their lives mattered to each other, or so she felt. He would share his college stories and she would listen to it like mad. She would tell him about her friends and he would laugh to glory. She was aware that a day will come when she had realize that a kid, an adorable kid, will grow up to become a man, fend for himself, learn to live and have a family. But as everyone, every human, she distanced herself from thinking about what was in store.  Thinking from the heart not head. She was unable to reign in her feelings. It was love.

Puchoo still exists and she is in touch with him but things have changed between them. Like they say, change is the only constant. She would wait for his texts and calls and if he didn’t, she would console herself, ‘’maybe he is busy’’.  She would talk to herself, ‘’He cannot possibly be dangling in a  relationship that had no future other than a good degree of genuine feelings as two different individuals can have for each other or as two human beings with concern for each other. He was mature enough to understand it but he is not at fault.’’

She badly wanted to stop, stop cribbing. But the relationship she had spun with him needed to be shredded thread by thread. And that needed time, patience and lot of courage. She didn’t have the courage to forget him. Because she fell in love at a mellowed age. She never nagged after a period of time. She had to be left to herself and he to himself. For her, it was a herculean task because for her, he was the epitome of everything good. He was to her a friend at times, a lover at others, an adorable kid some times and a mature handsome man at others, a brother when she was emotionally disturbed and a child when it came to his sweet demands. She felt at ease when the connect between them was in tact, maybe she wanted the relationship to be secure not routine. She did not want to impose anything on him. She wanted a genuine relationship that maybe no one would understand. She never wanted anything from him but a genuinity. Love turning into a burden becomes ugly and she feared that. No she hated that.

She knew the time was ripe to leave it at that. Leave it as beautiful as it was before anything ugly takes shape. She thought she  freed herself from the bonding and him too. He might have been successful but she failed. She still loves him. They are in touch….but something is amiss. She misses him tremendously but keeps it to herself and tries to get engrossed in some work to divert attention. And when things become really difficult for her, she texts him or calls him up. This is the way of the world… love doesn’t come easy and you always don’t get love when you need it most.

Maa for me

Maa, the word brings alive images of that one woman, encompassing love, care, warmth, compassion and protection. The word also comes spontaneously to the mind while remembering any Goddess in Hindu
pantheon, as a remembrance, invocation or as the saviour. No wonder, even the English Collins dictionary describes the word as informal terms like mother. Be it mother, someone like mother, or the Goddess,
Maa is an integral part of the Indian psyche. From the first cries of an infant who utters the word unknowingly to crying in despair due to pain, the utterance of the word Maa comes naturally and spontaneously.
Be it the mother or Goddess, the word is the reason of our existence in this world. We celebrate many festive occasions as a tribute to Maa, the Goddess and the all protecting mother and seek her blessings. On the occasion of Durga Puja, it would be befitting to offer obeisance to Maa, my mother, who I consider at par with Goddess Durga, who bestows her blessings on me in every breath, who stands by me in every odd, guides me, protects me and gives me strength to take the world head on.
It was a few months back, when I saw Maa lying unconsciously on a bed inside the recovery room post a life threatening surgery. She was still, and my heart beat skipped a little. I had to actually get closer to her face to see if her breath was normal or not. Pipes of all types were attached to her body and monitoring systems were sounding their beeps in many variations. It was unnerving, quite a lot, and I tried to utter Maa
many times but failed since I was already crying by then. It was the most terrifying moment of my life. I knew my father was a pillar of strength for me and could never think of being in this world without him but Maa, this was the first time, I realised how strongly I need her to be normal. I had branched out of her, she had infused prana into me and today, her plight made me weaker. I was told she will be fine in a few hours, I hoped so. She is still recovering and everytime I see her, I find her sapped of energy but with the same concern, love and warmth she always exudes. On this Durga Puja, I wish she gives me
the same support she has always given.
I remember, when I was barely 10, I fell down and bruised my legs so much that, out of fear I wanted to keep it away from my mom’s eyes till it healed though my frocks were long enough to hide the wound. It
was when she was in the bathroom, that I could look at the bruises and pour some antiseptic on it. I slept peacefully that night hoping Maa doesn’t know about it. At mid of night when I woke up to some kind of
feeling that someone was putting some ointments on my leg that I realised, it was Maa. She knew I had bruises and didn’t want to show her. She kept pushing gushes of air from her mouth so that the
medicine on the wound doesn’t wake me up. This was Maa. I wish, she keeps besides me whenever I am injured, mentally or physically.
I never felt close to Maa during my college life. There were incidents that scarred me but I knew I could fall back on Maa whenever I want. I did actually when I was in deep trouble. She was silent all through
may be with a feeling that I hid so many things from her, but she, in her silence, let me feel that I am not alone. I wish, she stays with me forever so that I never feel lonely, all my life.
When my daughter was born, Maa let me sleep and kept singing lullaby to my kid all night despite knowing well that she will have to be back in her school in the morning. Maa’s presence made me feel, my daughter
had another Maa at her side to make her sleep and feel comfortable. I remember, how Maa used to guard me from wearing skirts that were a little less than the knee level or necks that were deep enough to attract the wrong attention. I never liked  those things then, but today, my daughter has made me realise, Maa was
right and she can never think wrong about her children.
Not that I exercise the same on my daughter, but the values she ingrained in me have left such an indelible impression on me that I can proudly pass that over to my daughter. I learnt everything from you Maa and I know you are my teacher, mentor, friend and guide. I would wish, as Durga Maa brings along with her happiness and strength all through the year in her myriad forms, Maa holds my hands for all times to come and gives me strength to face the world.

Reconnections & recollections

I got a call from Arundhati after a long time. She sounded happy and wanted to meet me. After her usual questions about how I am and my parents are, she came to the point. ``I want to tell you something, can we meet?'' I knew she would talk about something that she has not been able to share with anyone else. ``Of course we can but it has to be on a lean day for me so that I dont rush back to work,'' I said.

In two days' time, I was already seated in the nearest coffee outlet when I saw Aru, (as I normally address her) getting into the cafe in her usual carefree style of dressing and complementing it with ethnic neckpiece and bangles. ``Hello, how are you?'' she said giving me a hug. Since I was eager had little time, I asked her if she wanted cold coffee or hot and poked her to tell me what she wanted to.

Very straight in her approach, Aru said what I feared always. She was once again in love. This was not the first time that Aru was telling me about a boy or a man, that she has been hooked to. I smiled to ask her back, ``is it something serious?'' ``Yeah, very serious,'' she sighed.

Aru met this guy after an interregnum of 20 years. A teenager in late 90s, she had spent close to four years of friendship with him when he used to frequent their house as the son a family friend. He was studying in the college where, Aru's father was a professor. So his visits were a regular affair and everyone in the house, including her mom, wanted him to be around at least in the evenings to have some home cooked food as he was a hostelite. The visits soon had blossomed into a bond, a bond that cannot be defined or given a name, Aru had told me years back on a casual reference. ``Actually I never knew he was madly in love with me. In my school days, he used to stare at me for hours, spend time only with me for long, gave me flowers, supported me even when I was wrong, consoled me when I cried, tried to teach me maths in which I was poor, but I would never pay any heed to what he taught, he would wake up in the morning and rush into my room to have a look at me.''

I could understand what Aru was trying to tell me. So I asked her, how could she know that he was in love with her.

``With time obviously and his behavioural changes,'' Aru explained. ``Somehow I got an inkling that he wanted me as his life partner, but I was not prepared for committing to a relationship at that stage. I had just completed my Plus Two from school and got admitted into a college. I read some of his love poems, he writes very well, and found that my guess was correct. He was very close to me but I had never thought of him as my life partner, In fact, my parents and his parents also wanted the relationship to grow. But I knew it was too early in life and I was meeting many friends at college who also professed their love for me. Not that I was very beautiful, but there was something in me, which I dont know, attracted many. Who knows, I might choose any of those as a life partner,'' I had thought then.

``So what happened now?'' I asked surprised at why she had raked up a 20-year-old story now. Aru explained, ``We met through Facebook once again and became friends. He has also visited me a few times. Though I have forgotten all about him, he has refreshed my memory. Everything is so well etched in his mind. He is well settled now and still feels his life is incomplete without me.''

``Crazy?? Doesnt he know that you are married and have a child?''

``He knows, but he doesnt want to marry me as well. He also has a family and a child and is doing well in life. All he wants is to revive the same fondness and respect that each one of us had for each other. And not at the cost of our respective families' happiness. He chats with me for hours and speaks to me over phone at times, that is all,'' Aru said wryly.

After Aru had refused to marry him, he was disheartened and lost all hopes in life. He was shattered. Though he continued higher studies in management in the same city, he never returned to Aru because he didnt want to impose anything on Aru or emotionally make her bow to his love. ''I come to know this now, when he explained why he didnt keep in touch after his graduation. He also told his wife before marriage about his love for me and gave her all freedom to say a NO if she didnt want to marry him,'' Aru explained.

``Are you in love with him,'' I asked.

``Am not too sure, its just three four months that we have started talking to each other. But I have no ill feelings towards him, he had never tried to impose himself on me even when I was too young, never came close to me, neither does he want anything from me now. He just wants to be in touch with me for the rest of his life if its ok with me,'' Aru said filled with emotions. I could see that glint of sorrow in her eyes and also felt, she was in love with the guy even though she is not open about it. Maybe in another few months, she might actually profess her love for the person.Aru, as I know her is bad at breaking hearts.

Aru married the person she had loved and both had a happy and content life. As far as I knew both of them her husband was loving and caring, so was her daughter. It was a complete family. Then why is Aru getting into this relationship, I wondered, but never thought she needed advice. She was very decisive and firm in what she decided. Its her life and she knows how to handle, I just hoped she never falls out of her marriage and her family life never gets disturbed.

``So what have you thought,'' I asked. ``Can you continue with two relationships together? Wont it be unfair on your marriage?''

``I have not thought of this as a relationship at this point of time, but yes, I cant say what will happen in some time. I like him a lot, he is too good and I look forward to his calls. It feels good to reconnect with him after such a long time. We have discussed all about the past years and I dont know why, but he has made it clear from day one that he still loves me. He had said that he has never been able to get over me in all these years and he will continue to love me till he dies. And when I told him that I love my husband more than anyone else in this world, he said , ``that is absolutely fine. I dont want anything in return, mine is unconditional love. Just be with me,'' he keeps saying. But one thing am sure, I can be as close to him without the fear of being taken for a ride or exploited. I know, my life is complete with my husband and daughter but some unknown force within me is taking me close to him. The same fondness still exists between us,'' Aru kept on saying and I had to disturb her in between.

``Aru, you are a sensible girl, I know you wouldn't do anything whimsically. I also know you think not from the mind but from the heart. Still, you will never cause damage and pain to anyone. You are balanced enough to know if you can continue with this or put a full stop. Take some time and think,'' I said her.

She took the last sip from the coffee cup and smiled at me. ``I will meet you in some months again and tell you more about my life,'' she said and dropped me at my office without uttering a single word on the way.