Back to 'Her' Story

Four and a half years ago, I visited a government hospital in Udaipur, Rajasthan. I was there in search of a maternity ward, which I found in the midst of a vast hall of beds and patients. My close friend Kalpana and her baby were resting on a hospital bed in a small two patient room. In the adjacent bed was an Adivasi woman, recognizable by the clothing and jewelry she adorned. (The term ‘Adivasi’ refers to an indigenous person originating from India, categorized by the Indian government as sub-caste or most commonly referred to as belonging to the ‘backwards’ class). As the doctor on duty made his rounds, he walked into our small room where both women were recovering from C-section surgeries. With embellished regard, the doctor greeted Kalpana, who is a local chartered accountant belonging to a privileged family. The doctor assured Kalpana that she would soon be sent to a private cabin. I wasn’t prepared for what I would see next as never before had I witnessed such a blatant contrast in social behavior towards lower caste and upper caste. The doctor walked towards the Adivasi woman lying on her side with her face buried in the hospital bed. In a swift and aggressive motion, the doctor threw up her lengha (a long skirt worn from the mid drift to the ankles) to examine the woman’s catheter. She shuddered as her bare legs and dignity were exposed. The doctor asked a few questions but without waiting for a response scribbled down a prescription and threw the note at the woman. The Adivasi woman was helplessly alone, so I hurried over to drape the lengha back over her naked body while Kalpana’s mother picked up the prescription to fill it. As I recoiled from witnessing such horrid humanity, a nurse appeared. She placed a baby outfit on my friend’s bed and mimicking the doctor, threw the second outfit onto the bed of the Adivasi woman, who was now clearly distressed. In the midst of what we were seeing, I realized that I had not seen the Adivasi woman’s baby. As I looked closer, I saw protected beneath her mother’s chest a beautiful baby girl, shielded from a world plagued with disparities, injustice and cruelty.