Demure and
calm, Vanthala Latikaben Patel (name changed), sat up in her tiny shanty of a
shop. Some translucent plastic boxes with plain buttered cookies and
crisps stood orderly behind an array of colorful packets of 'paan masala',
'beedi', 'gutka', 'supari' or mouth freshener and old salted chips. Two
young children, one older than the other circled Latikaben, bubbling with joy.
There were three people sitting around in that open leepan[1] shanty. They were two men
wearing discolored turbans and an old lady peculiarly robed in a pink piece of
cloth. This scene caught my eye as I, took my first few steps into and
around a beautiful village called Laxmipuram. For the next few days, I
was going to be in this village situated in Munching Put Mandal, along with 12 of
my classmates as a part of Experiential Learning. Before having second
thoughts, I knew I had found the right person. With a stole wrapped
loosely around my head, I walked silently and sat next to her. Unaware
that we shared the same language, I did my job of observing, smiling and
understanding the activities in the shanty. They conversed with ease in a
tribal dialect of Oriya, smiling and laughing frequently. Both the
children chuckled on seeing me there and I too threw smiles back at them.
After a few minutes of silent observation, the strong stares that hung
over me seemed to weaken and I gathered the courage to say a few words.
In Hindi, knowing that I was about to turn myself into a laughing stock,
I asked the lady whether those children were hers. She gladly replied in
Hindi, saying that they were. I was surprised at the fact that she had a
good grip over Hindi. The fact that she knew Hindi, served as an
incentive for me to flow into a conversation with her. I asked where she
was from. She said she was from Gujarat. This took me by surprise,
completely. What is the probability of finding a Gujarati woman living
with her family in a remote tribal village in Andhra Pradesh, largely isolated
from the outside world? Highly minuscule. The stars connected that
very moment and I knew then, that I had found the right person for my
psychology case study. Vanthala Latikaben Patel was the chosen one.
I felt so lucky for having found a person from my birth state. Over
the next few days of my stay in Laxmipuram, I rejoiced and felt at peace in
Mother Nature's lap. My friendship and rapport with Latikaben too,
blossomed. I would sneak off early in the morning at four with Latikaben
to a serene spring in the village. Walking back with heavy pots bearing
water on our heads, we would talk about each other's lives. While
Latikaben gracefully moved with two heavy loads on top of her head, I would be,
more often than not, struggling to keep the water from spilling and maintain my
balance. It was not easy. After some field work during the day, I
would once again slip off to her home, which was right beside the CCN
(Community Coordination Network) Sahyog's campus. The reason for such enthusiasm was the story
of Latikaben’s life, itself.
Latikaben
is a mother of three and breadwinner of her family. She is married to Karanbhai, who belongs to
Laxmipuram village, Andhra Pradesh. Her
eldest child, Pratiksha, is 10 years old and is studying in grade seven at a
tribal boarding school in Munching Put.
Pratiksha visits home only during winter and summer holidays. The other two children are Yuvraj (7) and
Prem (4). Both of them stay with her, at
home.
Born around
25 years ago in a small village in Ankleshwar, Gujarat, this mother of three,
was the eldest of three siblings. When
she was very young, her mother left her father and married another man. At that time, Latika, who had attended school
only for a day, never saw the gates of her school again. Out of abject poverty, her father requested
her to look after household work and her younger siblings, so that he could go
out and earn for the family. Her younger
brother and sister, Sanjaybhai and Gitaben, both went to school but dropped out
after seventh grade. Sanjaybhai now
works as a driver in Ankleshwar and Gitaben continues to reside in the village
with a family of her own. Latikaben,
with tears in her eyes, said that she regrets not going to school. “I was so interested and excited to go to
school and study. But I never
could. It was not possible, at any cost. Had I gone to school and studied well, I
would still be in Gujarat today, having enough money in my hands.” When Latikaben was around fifteen years old,
she married Karanbhai. Their story is
quite unusual. Karanbhai hailed from a
poverty-stricken family in Malkangiri village, which is situated on the Andhra
Pradesh – Odisha border. After having
studied up to grade three, he dropped out of school so that he could earn wages
and support his family. A firm called
Shilpa Cements recruited him as a laborer and after having worked till his late
teens with them, they shifted their factory to Ankleshwar, Gujarat. Karanbhai too relocated to Ankleshwar to
continue working. As fate had it,
Karanbhai and Latikaben met, fell in love and after having gained her father’s
approval, got married. They set up their
home in Ankleshwar itself and had three young children. Soon after, tragedy struck. Karanbhai met with an industrial accident and
injured his right arm. This blow left
his arm, which was very crucial to his work, disabled. Unable to sustain themselves there, the
family decided to move to Laxmipuram.
This relocation was a big blow to Latikaben and her children. Many a night Latikaben would cry to bed. Her children too would cry often. Latikaben had to deal with two blows
simultaneously. Because her husband
could no longer engage in unskilled labor, it was she who had to earn for her
family. Never before had she worked
outside her home. On top of that, she
was burdened with settling into an unknown place, with new, strange people
(very different from her folks back home), peculiar customs and a drastically
different climate. She had moved from a
warm dry desert like place to a wet, cool, rainy place. This change, she said really shook her and
took a toll on her mentally. She was
often in a state of distress, due to which she lost a lot of weight. While revealing this to me, she showed me her
blouse which appeared as if it were stitched for a heavier person – she had
thinned down greatly. This unusual
trajectory of her life was influenced by some significant events in her
life. As a young child, her mother deserting
her father, shaped her belief about a family.
At that time, she vowed to herself that she would never leave her
children, at any cost. To this day, she
has clung on to that. The second
significant event that she mentioned was when she stopped going to school. Once again, this decision taken by her father
dented her self-confidence. She has
always felt that she has missed out on studying and educating herself. Once again, she took a vow that she will make
sure that her kids never miss out on their schooling. In case of her elder daughter, Pratiksha, she
has kept her word. But it is ironical
that Yuvraj, her younger son, does not go to school regularly. This is not because the family cannot afford
it but it is because Yuvraj is uninterested in studying at school, according to
Latikaben. The births of her children,
too were significant in her life. After
going through a rough ride along the vicissitudes of life, Latikaben feels a
streak of hopelessness. Although
Karanbhai now avails a pension of 1500 rupees a month from Shilpa Cements, a
serious shortage of money has kept her and her family from visiting Gujarat,
for the last few years. Moreover, her
small family in Gujarat has, as she says, disowned her for moving to a remote
tribal village. Due to an acute lack of
facilities such as network coverage, general stores, roads and many more, she
finds it very difficult to be in touch with her sanguinary family. In fact, though she stays in a village where
some families own cows and sell milk, her family relies on milk powder that she
buys from Munching Put. This shocked me
because I have always been under the impression that tribal folk fundamentally
use natural products for day to day activities.
Using milk powder instead of natural milk for preparing their morning
tea opened my eyes to their limitations. Finally, her poor, deteriorating health keeps
her from giving her best. She was
animatedly mentioning about how she got poisoned by a snake which had slid into
her kitchen, just last month. She did
not take any allopathic medicine to treat the bite but instead relied on
traditional tribal medication that certain members of that tribe
administered. She seems alright
now. After having moved to Laxmipuram,
Latikaben feels that she has adjusted well to the customs and traditions of the
tribe. From stringent rules such as
fasting for long hours during the month of ‘Kartik’
and avoiding eating food outside her tribe to wearing a sacred thread around
her arm, she has adapted herself to certain aspects of her environment as a
fish takes to water. Her fluency in
Oriya and Telugu, languages that she never knew before, is impeccable. However, though she has attuned herself to
such rituals, she still holds on to the values she learnt back home. Though members of her husband’s tribe are
voracious eaters of meat, she remains a vegetarian. Although most women and men of that tribe
drink heavily, she stays sober. But at
the same time, members of the tribe are friendly with her and she has a prominent
role to play in celebrating festivals.
In fact, her husband, himself, used to drink heavily until recently. At this point in time, she has no dreams or aspirations
for herself. But she has many dreams for
her family. She dreams that one day, her
entire family including her own children and her siblings from Gujarat would
live under the same roof in harmony. She
strongly aspires for her children to study well, educate themselves and be
financially independent. From all our
conversations and the facts mentioned above, it is evident that Latikaben is
optimistic about her children’s education.
She has a terrific amount of determination and yet is unconditionally
caring and loving towards her little children.
In terms of material resources, neither she nor Karanbhai own farmland. But they are building a house in Laxmipuram, on
a plot beside their current residence.
This case
study has taken shape fundamentally because of Latikaben’s willingness to share
significant aspects of her life with me.
It is hard to find people who are open to sharing details of their lives
with ‘strangers’. I feel honored to have
interviewed Latikaben who did not hold back cherished details of her life which
were essential for this case study.
[1] A
structure made of cattle dung, water and dry straw. Houses are widely made of leepans in rural
India.
