Mysteries of India

We had an overnight at the coast. It was a long drive to get there, but Asha insisted we stop at the Akulamma Talli temple. She is Ammavaru -- mother to the whole world. Here is a picture of her feet. Asha is Muslim, but she likes all the female goddesses, especially. Indians seems pretty flexible that way. I see her giving money to beggars all the time, especially if they’re women. She also likes Sai Baba (not the current fuzzy headed one, the old skinny bandana’d one) and does this kiss your finger touch it to your forehead thing whenever she sees a picture of him. He’s really popular and there are pictures of him painted on buildings everywhere!

We stayed in Palassa. It’s a bigger city with a train station, major cashew processing industry and lots and lots of mosquitoes (doma). We visited a few coastal villages: Baruva, Sompeta, Baipali and Kunduvanpeta. One issue that keeps coming up is “over-bleeding” (menorrhagia). (Very) informal survey reveals at least 50% incidence and 30% of all women ultimately getting a hysterectomy.

So it goes like this: you get married in your early 20’s, have your two babies, usually within 5 years, then you get your tubal by the time you are in your 30's. By your 40's, you start “overbleeding”. Menopause is around 45 years here. So the doctor might treat you with hormones for a few months, but then they explain that without a hysterectomy, you will develop cancer. Sometimes an endometrial biopsy is done that confirms this. The women are scared, and get the surgery, which they pay for out of pocket. It costs about 10,000 Rs, which puts these women into debt. After the surgery, many women feel chronic "loss of energy", knee pain and back pain too.

What in the world is going on here?! It has been suggested by some that the surgeons deliberately 'overstate the problem' for personal gain. There seem to be a lot of unethical aspects to medical practice here. For instance, whenever a doctor orders a lab test or an x-ray, he gets a cut of the fee! The prices of course are highly inflated because of this. I can't say how shocked I was to hear of this practice. I think it's 10 kinds of illegal in the states.

More Indian mysteries: Why the 6 year old boy who was cinnamon color 1 year ago is now 6 shades darker? What kind of water contamination is going on to cause all the kidney disease concentrated in these coastal villages? What is it about cashew processing that causes asthma? Is there really a 5% incidence of breast cancer in some of these coastal villages, as I’ve been told?

We passed another herd of goats on the road and they’re such a lovely breed (I *really* like goats). I asked Asha “Do people keep goats just for meat, or also for milk?” She said, “No, no. Men and also children. They get it from the forest.”

I guess some Indian mysteries will never be solved….