Please Think by Dabholkar Narendra

Author:Dabholkar, Narendra [Dabholkar, Narendra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Context
Published: 2019-05-31T00:00:00+00:00

There are only carrots and no sticks

‘Why do you work so hard? What is the point? The businesses of holy men and quacks are running just as smoothly as before.’

‘They’re not just running smoothly; they’re doing roaring business. They hoodwink people into parting with thousands of rupees. And let’s not even talk about the time and effort that gets wasted because of them.’

‘People are dumb—how do they get fooled by these tricksters?’

‘You run an anti-superstition movement, don’t you? Please come here; it’s urgent. There’s a holy man who has created a ruckus.’

These are just snippets of what we hear in the course of our work. Some people believe the movement is like a fire brigade, ready to douse flames of superstition wherever they arise. Others believe that we are wasting our time and our work has no impact whatsoever.

Almost everyone is angry that quacks and holy frauds loot people in broad daylight. It doesn’t stop at money; sometimes people even lose their lives because of them.

For venomous snakebites or rabid dog bites that require injections, these charlatans prescribe random remedies. Women with mental illnesses are declared to be possessed and tied to ceilings by their hair, made to drink dirty water, or beaten with sticks in order to exorcise them.

There are babas that get rich by specialising in fake medicines to rid people of their glasses, even in big cities like Pune. A mysterious-looking holy man sells a purported medicine for all ills that is actually tiger urine from the zoo. And he plies his trade right next to Mahatma Phule’s house.

A Mr Madhusudhan Patwardhan sells 25-paise agates for 25 each, claiming that they are destiny crystals newly invented by scientists. He sells lakhs of these stones and earns crores.

All sorts of cruel, inhuman practices take place in villages, and during processions and pilgrimages, unchecked. People get fleeced openly.

How far can the movement reach? How much awareness can we spread? Every district has its own flavour of superstition. Sometimes it makes us feel numb, at other times enraged.

Take the Elder Mother myth of Satara, for example. Whenever someone develops a lump or a boil, or even has an infected wound, before anyone thinks of the doctor, the whispers start: we must please the Elder Mother.

Then a huge ceremony is organised. An altar is constructed; there is song and dance, and people are fed. Gifts are given to seven married women. Vermilion and turmeric is poured over the wound or boil. The festivities go on all night and no one gets any sleep. A problem that could be cured by spending 50 ends up costing the family two thousand. And naturally, it does not heal the wound.

More than that, it causes possible serious reasons for the wound or lump to be overlooked. Cancer and diabetes go undetected. People are not stupid, but they are emotional. There is an ascetic who threatens that going to the doctor instead of the Elder Mother means inviting the Mother’s wrath. The patient and her family are scared.

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