Ailing roads causing ailments

The KBK districts of Orissa are the most interior regions of the state. It has very poor communication facilities. Underdeveloped railway connectivity and poor road service mark the sorry state of the districts. The state capital Bhubaneswar is at an enormous distance of 700 hundred Kilometres from the southernmost district head quarter of KBK districts. A single journey over the rough roads to the capital can make any healthy person ill. Recently one of our staff had been to Berhampur on the grounds of Medical treatment. After being cured of his ailments when he returned from Berhampur his health condition once again deteriorated severely because of the awful long journey. As a result, he was made to rush to the hospital again.

Since the month of September 2010 my wife, who is an expectant mother, is in her paternal home because I cannot provide her adequate medical facility at this place. Yesterday I was chitchatting at a local beetle shop. The shopkeeper proudly showed me a photograph, which was published in a daily local paper. The shopkeeper had clicked that photograph that showed an ailing patient being carried by four men on a cot to the near-by hospital. The published photo was loudly proclaiming that: We do not have ambulance; if we have ambulance, we do not have roads; if we have roads, we do not have doctors; we have many ‘Nots’ because we are the Havenots.

The lack of connectivity and good road system has an indirect benefit. It is that once we come to this interior pockets we stay in the place for months together. My colleagues who are working with me in the same college take extra classes on most Sundays because Sundays have no meaning to them. On Sundays, they cannot go to their hometown. The distance and the tiresome journey desist everyone ( my colleagues) to remain in the headquarters. So it becomes more sensible for us to engage ourselves in doing our duty even on Sundays as the most pleasant form of diversion. However, the irony is that in spite of our committed service the Government is never pleased to allow us the KBK allowance. Nevertheless, this allowance is provided to other service holders of the region. In Orissa, the teachers are the most neglected community.

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Hi, I would like to add you as a friend on Rediff MyPage, a great place to keep in touch with friends, post photos and videos. Add me as friend Cheers, Atmaprakash Nayak

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Thinking habit is a powerful tool to unleash the latent potentialities of an individual. Taking a little physical exercise, reading good books, listening to positive thoughts and developing the power of concentration can take an individual to newer heights. Life's possibilities can be explored only by holding the steering wheel of the mind consciously and directing its movement meticulously towards the higher aspects of life. Above all the wise technique of avoiding all lowly and degenerating thoughts from mind enhances the true beauty of life.

digest the discomfort of an emotional hurt with time.

My Mind needed rest because my heart was pained. Many people say mind has nothing to do with heart but when the heart bleeds, the mind also denies to function actively. All liveliness is withdrawn & the individual slips into a state of indiffrence till the pain is absorbed completely. The best method to heal emotional hurts & agonies is to leave everything to the healing touch of time. With the flow of time all mental or emotional wounds heal up. This is the only effective remedy available with men when we think of pains other than physical. Some mental pains get healed up in a little time & some other emotional disturbances take a very long time to get cured. However, the effectiveness of time to cure mental agonies of men is undeniable.

I felt isolated for sometime in Baleswar. I was pained. My mind slowed its activity & started digesting the pain.When I was writing this blogpost I had frozen under a spell of emotional hurt and was standing silently to digest the discomfort of an emotional hurt.

16th November, 2010

16th November, 2010
Hustle and bustle started very early in the morning in my father’s-in-law. Even the night had not enough chance to pass by when all were stirred to activity. I opened my eyes in a half-sleepy state and found the taxi blowing its horn in front of the gate. Soon I realized that I have to move with my wife to the gynecologist for the routine check-up. Without taking a bath I got ready as soon as possible and waited for few minutes till my wife braced her up for the scheduled appointment. She took enough time as usual to undertake the make ups and wrapping up the saree. This time the situation was worse as the bulging abdomen was loudly revolting to disobey the outlines of the saree. The asymmetry took a long time to be resolved. However, by 5.30am we set out for Baleswar. The humpy and bumpy country road shined with unexpected pits and the vehicular motion gave enough jerks to everyone including the unborn. The situation warranted a long discourse of filthy languages for the Political leaders. India is a country which lacks many basic amenities for its people. We don’t have access to drinking water, healthcare, education, electricity and many more. Still we love our country because it is ours.
We reached Sri Ram Hospital. Luckily we were the first customer (patients) of the day. We were instructed by a security man to wait and not to leave the place as our absence will forfeit our serial number. We had not taken our breakfast so this stringent policy to keep the patients binding resulted another one hour delay in getting our dosas, vadas, idillis and sambar.
The doctor came. Had the sonograph of the foetus and uttered the word, “Normal”. I heaved a sigh of relief and counted Rs 6oo/- as the doctor’s fee. The would-be baby had travelled more than 55 kilometers to get sonographed. I mean the struggle for existence started before it lands on earth.
After spending sometime in the market of Baleswar, when we returned we were dog-tired. The pain on the part of a pregnant woman to journey hundreds of Kilometer to get basic medical care rightly explains the prosperity of modern India.