Bhola's wife is much better now. But seems to feel nauseous at times. That, I'm sure, is because of the medicines she's taking. I asked Bhola why he did not recommend "Juri Taap", the ayurvedic medicine which is cheap and very, very effective and he said that his in-laws would accuse him of being a miser! They'd feel that he did not wish to spend money on his wife's treatment and hence was recommending cheap medicines.
Yes, it's true. That's how people in the villages think even today. In fact, Bhola's wife was not all that seriously ill that she needed to be rushed to the hospital in Dumka. But Bhola says that if he had got her treated locally, then "it would look bad". His in-laws would accuse him of "not caring for his wife"!
Anyway, now that he has already taken her to the doctors in Dumka and spent a lot of money buying medicines for her, he did recommend the use of "Juri Taap" to his mother-in-law. Now whether they use it or not is up to them. The sad news, however, is that this medicine is no longer easily available. Some stockists are saying that the company has stopped manufacturing it because of low sales. Sad, isn't it? That the very people (in the villages) who can't afford expensive medicines are the one's who reject cheaper alternatives!
Attendance is dropping steadily. From 100 children at the start of the year, we are now averaging 85 children in Roldih. Some children have dropped out. Some others have moved away. But there are still others who are simply not attending school as regularly as they should. Bhola does something that I never did -- at the end of the month he tells the children how many days they have been absent from school and asks them for an explaination. But even this is not helping. Maybe what we should do is call for the parents if the monthly attendance drops below 95%?
Yesterday it rained a lot in the project area. According to Bhola the trees are looking happy and the farmers too are looking happy because they feel there's now some hope of growing something after this rain. Meanwhile, Godda district has already been declared drought affected. This means a lot of money will pour in for the drought stricken farmers. Some of it may reach them. The rest will, of course, find its way into a few pockets. Everyone loves a drought.
It rained in Kolkata too! Mitali said it rained so hard that she and her son had to cancel going out for some work. She promised that Bolpur would be getting some rain too! And yes, I was looking forward to some rain because I thought since it's raining in Roldih and Kolkata, it makes logical sense that it should rain in between too! Unfortunately, the weather gods don't believe in logic and that's apparent from the fact that it rained in Ladakh and Rajasthan and caused floods and didn't rain where it should! Well, Bolpur certainly has been left out of the loop. There were floods in North Bengal and heavy rains in South Bengal and but no rains where I live! Can you blame me for feeling victimized?
I'm waiting for the weather to improve so that I could go out and explore this area. But it's so hot and humid these days that even if I go on a 5 minute bike ride to the market, I need to come back and change my clothes and have a shower. Honest! I'm really not exaggerating.
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