Ladybug's field notes

I am new to the field of health. I was so unaware of so many things that last year when I started visiting the health clinics run by Rural Medical Practitioners (RMPs) or quacks in Uttar Pradesh, I was shocked to see them. Since then I have traveled to many government and non-governmental health facilities (not the fancy private ones) and the my shockers are behaving better. However this note is not about how bad the public health facilities are, this is about a pleasant surprise that I encountered during my recent visit to one of the High Priority Districts of Rajasthan. This is about the human spirit that I celebrate whenever I encounter. This is about making the best given all the constraints in the system.  We all know the statistics. Our health sector is suffering from chronic problem around human resource. We dont have enough doctors in the public sector (the lure of private sector is too much), not enough nurses, ANMs (Auxiliary Nursing Matron) and now in Rajasthan the...

I  am often asked in the rural areas of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, "Didi, you are a married woman..why don't you wear a bichhia (toe-ring) in your feet?" As the question generally comes after they figure out that I have a child, I laugh and ask, "Now now! just because I have a child, I don't have to be married too..do I?" Some nervous giggles follow. The women start playing safe now. "What does our brother-in-law do?" ask one of them and then come back to the real question, which is, why don't I wear a "mangalsutra", a "bindi", some "sindoor" or "bicchia". Anything....almost anything will do so far it successfully announces my marital status.  When these conversations take place in the lazy evenings after a hard  day of facilitation, I joke some more but engage in  a long conversation with the women surrounding me. I ask them who or what decides whether they may or may not wear all these things that the...

I looked at Indira with disbelief! I was shocked but she actually managed to take a deep breath, wait for a few seconds to pass and talk in the same calm voice that she had, to begin with. I looked at the men again. I could not believe I was hearing this, “Women? Well! they are good for nothing now-a-days. They are only good at sleeping beneath fans. And what is this excessive laad (love) for one’s own body? They want to bathe with soap every time!” The men were indignant.   This was in Ajmer district of Rajasthan. We were talking to a group of men in the evening near the village temple. Women could not join the meeting. Completely our fault! We organized it at a time when for the womenfolk it was time to cook and feed the whole family. Children were dozing already after a hard day of playing in the mud. The women would also get ready for the work in the fields at night alongside their men or make some extra arrangements of food and tea for workers in the field, which they wo...