Extract from "Kaaryarat"....

Dr. Abhay Bang and his wife Dr. RaNi Bang have been working in and around the villages of Gadchiroli district near Chandrapur, Nagpur for a very long time. I was reading a chapter based on the work of these two in the book "Kaaryarat" written by Dr. Anil Avachat, a famous litterateur. This blog is an extract from the same.

Dr. Abhay and Dr. RaNi have been carrying out research in this part of the world in their research institute SEARCH - Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health. During their research work they came across a couple who was unable to produce a child. The family had belief that the problem was with the lady and not with the man. With this belief, the man used to hit his wife and harass her. These two doctors carried out tests of the couple and found out that the problem was not with the lady but with the man himself. His sperm count was zero! When the reports were produced in front of the couple the lady stood dumfounded. She looked silent for a while, then rushed to her man and said - aata tula maaru kaa ? (shall I hit you know ?). These two doctors were surprised to hear that. After a few months the same lady came to them for checkup. Again they were astonished to find her pregnant. They asked her "how was this possible?”. She replied, "after that incident of getting reports from you, I called up my brothers and said that I need a child by any means. My husband started murmuring, but I asked him to be quiet about this thing otherwise I would disclose his incapability to produce a child by distributing the copies of the report in the entire village." After a few months Abhay and RaNi witnessed a very uncommon scene - the same man was distributing sweets in the village for being gifted with a baby child.

Another disturbing report from their research was that around 42 percent of the girls in the village had premarital affairs. Such was the scene in this small village, what to say about the towns or cities we live in?