The Agonizing Battle of Puchki Bai

When the wave of desolation and emptiness sweep through one’s life, it makes overcoming distress even more hard-bitten. One such story is of 55-year-old Puchki Bai, residing in the village of Kanakapura, Rajasthan. Being a single lady, she went through the stumbling blocks all alone. Puchki’s obliviousness to health-related issues drowned her in states of dilemma similar to that of many ignorant women in the village. Life knocked sideways when she found stones in her bladder and had to swallow the agony of a barren womb. Despite this painful event, her husband Jodhiji always supported and loved her.
But it looked as if the dust of grief was not willing to settle in the life of Puchki. One day, her husband arrived back home after completing a full day of labour. He asked Puchki to get him a cup of tea. Suddenly, Puchki’s husband succumbed and breathed his last. Due to Puchki’s illiteracy, she couldn’t read the medical reports and was left mystified by her husband’s cause of death.

The intolerable levels of hardships kept on rising for Puchki as the only support left her hand. Besides half a bigha of land, she has no other source of income to subsist herself and Puchki was drowning in financial constraints. After the demise of Jodhiji, her only cherished possession was her small single-roomed house. Her only place of solace was deteriorating faster with time and was in need of immediate refurbishment. In the rainy hours, the roof was oozing down, sousing all her household items and belongings. Puchki was grasping at straws, as the irregular payment of pension couldn’t even subsist her with two-full meals a day.

As the pandemic set its foot into her life, the ruins were magnified. The occasional meetings of her in-laws came to an end and Puchki now had to plough a lonely furrow. The air of despondency lessened a little when Puchki’s brother-in-law entrusted her with some goats to look after. When the goats started to beget offspring, she grew affectionate towards the tender creatures. Puchki spent most of her time playing with them during the lockdown. But difficulties do not vanish if you simply turn blind to their existence. The perils of ignorance and lack of health-related knowledge were now exacerbated as Puchki was completely clueless about the COVID19 disease. She couldn’t make sense of the covid appropriate behaviour and maintain necessary protocols. Despite Puchki’s efforts in keeping her head above the water, her marginality pulls her further down in getting through these precarious times.

When Puchki’s condition was brought under the notice of CASA, we provided her with our packets of care including dry ration and hygiene kits. An amount of Rs.3,000 was made into her bank account that helped in revamping the condition of her house. Thus, CASA helped in mitigating these agonizing impacts abounding in the life of Puchki.

Credits:
Concept and Story: Arushi Narchal
Written by: Shyna Gupta
Images: Arushi Narchal and Sahiba Chawdhary
Edits: Kajol Tanaya Behera