Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - June 2009 - Index

bus ticket costs Rs 4 (10 cents)
a day. Someone will actually iron
shirts for you for Rs 3 each!”
Srivatsa lives across the river
from Ward 15 and has a room
in a small property that Calcutta
Kids owns.
“It’s a nice place, a little bit
nicer than my place at the
Annex in Toronto! Okay, not! I
love the Annex, but my place
here really is nice.”
He cooks for himself.
“Usually lots of salads, raita,
rice, dals and sabji. In the
developing world, you can do
things you can’t in the developed
world. Any day that I don’t feel
up to cooking, I can call for
home delivery! Rs 40 ($1) for a
huge, hot meal! If I’m craving a
pizza, I call Domino’s! And if I
have a homesick moment, I can
go to a Barista for a café latte!
“That’s the beauty of India.
It’s a cool place to live with a
long, long history.”
The slightly built Jayshree
is a much-respected figure
in the slum.
“Main lagti 16 ki hoon par hoon
28 ki! (I may look 16 but I am
12 Desi News June 2009
• LEFT: Jayshree
Hela, in blue: “People
respect the work I
do here.”
A dog’s life?
“Aslum Dog (Slumdog Millionaire)
mein real fact dikhaya hai. Didi,
India aisa hi hai (The real India is
much like it is depicted in the
movie),” says Jayshree Hela. “The
blind, apahij (maimed) children they
show, that is just how it is.”
Since she began working in the
slum, more than 100 children have
been abducted, she says. A few kids
escape and return to the slums, but
in spite of reports to the police,
nothing much changes. Catching
the slum lords is difficult, she says. “Just recently, a woman’s
five-year-old was abducted. I have three daughters and I am so
scared. No one who has not experienced this can fully understand.
In every big city in India you see kids or women with
little babies in their arms, crowding cars, begging. Who has the
time to stop and ask a child, ‘Kidhar se ho, beta (where are you
from, child?)’ or wonder whose baby it is in the woman’s arms?
“Jo darshaya gaya hai Aslum Dog mein, aisa hi hota hai.”
“I have no problem with Slumdog having exposed this side
of India – we all know the side exists,” says Srivatsa Marthi.
“In fact, I actually thought it didn’t show enough. It showed a
few isolated incidents, the communal riots, the blinding of
children to turn them into beggars...not the day-to-day struggles.
The day-to-day existence here all comes down to the economics
of living. The struggle to pay for food, to keep a roof over
your family’s heads...In the movie, they made it seem like it was
easy to pick up some money, made it seem almost fun.
“But then, I guess that’s as much as a movie can do – it can
only cover so much. It wasn’t a documentary, after all!”
28),” she says with mock toughness.
As the community health
worker, she follows up on how
patients at health camps –
particularly pregnant women
and children – are doing.
“They may have come in for a
cough or cold, or for a skin
infection, etc. After 72 hours, I
visit them to monitor if they are
feeling any better, if they are
taking their medication properly.”
Jayshree is a mother of three.
Priyanka, 8; Ritika, 5; and Radhika,
3.
She was helped by Calcutta
Kids when Radhika needed treatment
after falling from her cot.
“She was badly hurt and
when she began vomiting, I was
so scared,” recalls Jayshree. “She
was just six months old. But
Calcutta Kids helped with the CT
scan, blood tests, treatment,
medicines...everything.”
Jayshree also talks to people
about taking preventive steps
such as boiling drinking water,
washing hands before eating and
washing clothes of patients in
water disinfected with Dettol.
Sometimes, she says, simple re-
medies such as a
paste of honey and
basil can soothe
sore throats.
These are
time-tested measures
the people
in Fakir Bagan
know and trust.
“Bilkul! (absolutely).
I follow
the same steps at
home. I believe
that if I tell them
what to do without
practising the
same at home, it’s bekar (useless).”
Jayshree also believes her
actions have long-term benefits.
Not only will her kids stay
healthy, but if they learn simple
good habits such as washing
their hands before eating, they
will, in turn, pass them on to
their kids.
“Saaf-safai se bahut difference
hota hai – beemari aadha kar deta
hai (hygiene cuts disease in half).”
She recounts with a trace of
pride how she recently ‘treated’
Radhika’s nascent cough with
boiled water-and-salt gargles
and chest rubs with Vicks Vaporub.
“She was fine in a few days
and did not need any medicine.”
Jayshree’s husband, however,
was skeptical of her work at first.
“He used to say, ‘Yeh sab kar
ke kya milta hai? Koi pitai karega
(what do you get from doing all
this? One day, you are going to
get beaten up for interfering)’
because I go into homes and tell
people how to maintain hygiene.
But slowly, he’s also come to
respect my work.”
Specially since she gave him
an injection, she says with barely
concealed glee.
Jayshree earns Rs 1750
($43.75) a month. Women who
work as house-help in several
homes each day probably make
more than her, but she’s not in
it for the money.
“When the clinics are closed,
people come to me with their
prescriptions. They describe their
problem, show me their prescriptions.
I feel good I can help.
“Garv mehsoos hota hai (I feel
a sense of pride),” she says.