Ignorance is Bliss

Victor driving off to visit a patient

Victor had a very wry sense of humour, which was more often than not, lost on the simple village folk he dealt with on a daily basis.He would make outrageously droll statements with such a dead pan face, that most times it took a minute to grasp the hilarity of what he was saying. In the years he practised in Saraya he encountered superstition and ignorance of such unbelievable magnitude, that when I once suggested he write a book about his experiences, he said  people would think he was completely daft and his stories absolutely implausible!
One such incident took place on a cold wintry day, when Victor was called out to attend to an ailing old man in a neighbouring village. When he entered the small dank hut, he found the patient lying on a 'charpai', shivering with fever, whilst one of his sons stood by, waving a large bunch of 'neem' leaves to and fro over his father's head. When asked why the young man was doing this, since the weather was icy and the sick old man's teeth were chattering in the freezing temperature, he was solemnly told that evil spirits would be kept from entering the body by the continuous motion of the make shift fan .
 After attending to the afflicted soul, Victor gathered up his bag to leave and noticed all the family members huddling around with concern, eager to know his diagnosis. He told them that the old man would be fine and he would return in a few days to check on his progress. As he passed the young lad, still frantically swishing the branches around, he casually stated that as far as he knew, spirits emerged from under the bed if they were intent on possessing someone, and not from above.
When he went back a couple of days later to see how his patient was doing, he was absolutely astounded to see the invalid's son lying scrunched up under his father's cot, flapping the branch fan as best he could in the very limited space below the low slung 'khatiya'. With a completely straight face Victor remarked that he was now certain no spirit, in any shape or form, would dare trouble the old man.

Another time a patient suffering from bronchial pneumonia came to the hospital to consult Victor, who wrote out a lengthy prescription and told the man to return for a check up after finishing the course of medication. A few days later he was surprised to see the villager stumble back in an even worse condition. When asked if he had been taking all the tablets as instructed, the simpleton answered in the affirmative. He went on to explain in great detail how he was shredding bits of the prescription into hot water and drinking it at regular intervals. He was not convinced when it was explained to him that it was not the paper he had to swallow but the pills - after all 'doctor sahib' had written on the 'parchi' with his own hands and that was a good enough remedy for him.

On another occasion an infant was brought into the hospital with a badly swollen face. On examining the child Victor discovered  a hard substance completely blocking the little one's ear passage. When he asked the apprehensive parents what they had done, they answered that the baby's ear had been oozing pus so they had poured in some cement to stop the flow. The concrete had set into a solid lump and they were relieved  that the trickling muck had stopped, but were baffled as to why the child's face had swollen up. It took all of Victor's skill and  ingenuity to remove the hardened mass from the squalling tot's ear.

Victor was one of those rare doctors who did not believe in over prescribing medication, but the naive village folk were psychologically not satisfied until they were given a shriekingly painful injection or a large bottle of nasty tasting tonic. Victor's assistant Baleshwar had his own recipe,where he would mix together the contents of a variety of bottles to make an unpalatable concoction, which would be distributed free of cost to the weak and malnourished natives.The effectiveness of this elixir was so amazing that they had to give it an official name. It came to be known as the GOK solution - God Only Knows solution.

Birth Control

Victor setting off for work

At the time Victor began his practice in Saraya, the uneducated villagers had no concept of birth control. They believed children were a gift from God and HE would provide. Women would produce eight, ten and in one case sixteen children, making the physical condition of both mother and child extremely pitiable.For a devout Hindu family having a son was imperative, since besides being a source of income later on in  life, it was believed that only a male child could perform the last rites of his parents, granting their souls Moksha, which literally means release for the next cycle of reincarnation.

The local government Block Development Officer was trying to spread awareness about the use of contraceptives and he and Victor would go into the villages to talk with the male population, most of whom had no idea what a condom was. They would gather the men around and give a demonstration by digging an upright stick into the ground and then proceed to unfold the object on to the stick in the proper manner. All this was accompanied by a very detailed explanation, at the end of which Victor was gratified to see that the villagers seemed quite receptive to the idea of using this method of birth control.

Months later, Victor realised to his disappointment, that there was no difference in the pregnancy or birth rate.He spoke to some of the young men who claimed to be doing exactly what he had instructed, but that it was simply not working.He decided it would be a good idea to make another round of the area to find out was was going wrong.

On walking into the hamlet, Victor was confronted with the most amazing sight.Outside most of the huts was an upright stick dug into the ground with a carefully unrolled condom flopping around over the tip! That was what had been demonstrated, and that was what they were faithfully doing while carrying on the business of reproduction in the darkness of their shacks!

On another occasion a young couple arrived at the hospital claiming they had no children and needed help. While examining the pathetically weak and run down woman ,Victor could tell that this was definitely not the case. He demanded an explanation from her and she sorrowfully divulged "Hanji, panch beti hai par beta nahin".Yes I have five daughters but no son.

Victor was furious and immediately summoned the shameless husband into the examining room. Picking up a pair of lethal looking scissors, he threatened to cut off the body parts that had been responsible for this criminal behaviour. The terrified peasant ran screaming from the room with Victor in hot pursuit, brandishing the menacing weapon over his head, yelling in gruesome detail about what he would like to do with aforesaid body part. The panicked man took two rounds of the hospital complex with Victor galloping along behind him, before streaking off into the fields, leaving his dejected wife behind. He returned to fetch her only after making sure that Doctor Sahib had left the premises.

Jesus Christ

Victor and a local snake charmer

About five kilometers from Saraya lies the township of Chauri Chaura. It has the dubious distinction of going down in history as the place where twenty three police men were burned to death by volunteers, participating in Mahatma Gandhi's Non-Cooperation movement in 1922. By the late 1940's Swedish missionaries had opened an orphanage there and were trying to convert the local Hindu populace to Christianity. The missionaries would often drive over to Saraya to consult Victor about a sick child and he in turn would make the occasional trip to Chauri Chaura to ensure all was well at the mission.

One hot summer afternoon Victor was called to the hospital for an emergency case. He found a woman cradling a limp child in her arms. She was incoherent with grief but somehow managed to convey that her son had been bitten by a cobra.

Victor laid the lifeless body on the operating table where he quickly administered a dose of anti-venom. The little boy responded well and soon could utter a few words,  much to the disbelief of his family. They had never seen anyone recover from a cobra bite, and in their ignorance were convinced that Doctor Sahib had performed a miracle and somehow resurrected their son from the dead.

Word of this incident spread like wild fire and Victor found, much to his dismay, that villagers were bringing him dead bodies of children and loved ones, begging him to just put his stethoscope on them and bring them back to life. It took months to convince people that what he had done was not magic or a supernatural act.

The missionaries at Chauri Chaura had also heard rumours of the wondrous miracle and dropped in to tell a story of their own.

They would regularly organise village meetings to educate the locals in the ways of Christianity and the Bible. At one such gathering they were talking about how Jesus Christ would put his hands on sick people and heal them and how he had bought Lazarus back to life. They exhorted the squatting throng to put their trust in the Lord to make their lives better.

While sermonising furiously, they noticed a little old woman in the front row, listening with  rapt attention and a broad smile of understanding on her face. When they asked her if she had grasped what they were trying to say she glared at them in indignation and snapped "Hum Yesu Masi ko jaante hai! Vo Saraya mein rehte hai!" I have met Jesus Christ! He lives in Saraya.

The dumb founded missionaries claimed  it had taken them only a second to realise that to the simple village folk, Victor could definitely be mistaken for Jesus Christ!

The Peepul Tree

Victor flanked by Baleshwar and Mrs James

Victor set up his practice in Saraya and was paid a salary of Rs 180 per month. All employees of the Saraya Sugar Mill and Saraya Distillery, owned by the Majithia family were treated free of cost. Apart from this he built up a sizable private practice and was inundated by patients from the surrounding areas, some from as far away as Mustang in Nepal. He often made house calls to the big "zamindaars" of the locality and it did not take long for him to gain a most impressive reputation.

He employed a compounder, Baleshwar Prasad ,and an Indian Christian nurse, Mrs James (I don't think anyone knew her first name!).  Baleshwar was a pillar of strength at a time when Victor was trying to familiarise himself with an alien country, an unknown language and strange customs, traditions and beliefs. Mrs James was a birdlike woman with the strength of an Amazon. She would work tirelessly by his side for the next forty years, till she collapsed during a particularly complicated delivery case, struck down by a massive cardiac arrest which killed her on the spot.

One of the first things that struck Victor about this rural countryside was the horrifying condition of women, especially when it came to labour and childbirth. Most deliveries were done by the village "dai" and the mortality rate for mother and child was extremely high. Victor decided to build a maternity wing adjacent to the hospital and he and Baleshwar sat down to draw up plans and choose a suitable location. After plenty of deliberation a spot was proposed and agreed to, but when the time for construction came everything ground to a halt since an insurmountable problem had arisen.

A gigantic "peepul" tree would have to be cut down for the work to begin and this was something that could not be done since the "peepul" was held sacred by popular belief.. Victor was disappointed since it would mean building the maternity block a distance away from the main hospital. Baleshwar told Victor not to worry and that he would find a solution.

A couple of days later an old sadhu was found ensconced under the problematic "peepul". As was usual, the villagers would gather around to air their grievances or seek a blessing. The old ascetic had them stupefied because he seemed to know everything :- whose child was ill, who was fighting over a land problem or whose cow was not producing enough milk. He solemnly recommended a "pooja" to rid the village of all ills.

Over the next few days the sadhu was seen lighting smoky fires into which he threw unidentified objects amidst much rolling of eyes and intoning of prayers. He apprised the village elders with a glum face that the tree was inhabited by a malicious "bhoot" who was the cause of all the problems. He claimed to have found a solution and told the gullible folk to gather around the tree the next evening .He instructed them to all carry axes as he would undertake one final "pooja" to rid them of the evil entity.

At the appointed time the terrified villages gathered to witness the final prayers. After the usual chanting and eye rolling, the sadhu let out a dreadful shriek and screamed to the villagers to start cutting down the tree "jaldi jaldi" since the evil spirit had fled to the "peepul" tree in the next village. The simple folk sprang into action, chopping at the gnarled trunk with all their might, until it toppled over with a massive groan,.

The relieved inhabitants showered the holy man with praises and gifts before returning to their huts with much lighter steps. They were free of the dreaded "bhoot" and now all would be well.

After calm had been restored, Victor found Baleshwar and the old sadhu standing expectantly before him. Baleshwar grinned and said he hoped that now the construction of the maternity ward could begin. The villagers had cut down the sacred tree themselves so there would be no objections.

The sadhu, looking like holiness personified, quietly extended his hand for a baksheesh of two rupees which quickly disappeared into a fold of his loin cloth. With a blessing of long life and many children he walked away with quiet dignity.

The maternity ward was ready to receive its first patient six months later.