It was around 5 in the evening. I had been on a visit to Jajpur, this village was Badasuara. I entered a fenced garden. On my right, I could see a few cows and rest of the area contained cakes made of cow dung. These cakes are used as fuel in villages.There was a newly constructed cemented house, which was partially broken. An old lady sat on the portico with her evening tea.
A young woman welcomed me to come inside. Her name was Binapani Sahoo.We started a conversation with her family.She said “My husband runs a fodder shop. He teaches students of classes 8,9 and 10 in the evening and half of the nights he spends in the hospitals. ” It sounded pretty weird to me when she said about the hospitals. Soon we were talking about other things, a man interrupted our conversation. He was Bidyadhar Sahoo, her husband.
He spoke to me regarding his business. How he managed to grow his business taking loans. He also spoke of his SHG (Self Help Group). The SHG he has formed is registered with Government of Odisha.All the members of the SHG are women. Around 8 out of 10 members of his group are economically backward. According to him every member of this SHG deposits a certain sum of money in the bank. Later, one of the members gets the total money and utilizes it to expand her business. The member then returns the money monthly to the SHG with one percent interest. This one percent is divided equally among all the members. If the SHG functions properly, they also receive certain grants from the government. The SHG he has helped form, members are taking care of the food preparation at Anganbadi school (Pre-school where food is free). The members are appointed as cooks. This way they earn a living.He feels that life is when you can be helpful to others.
I noticed after a long time that his left hand was shorter than his right hand. I asked him all of a sudden about his hand. He said “When I was 7 years old, I suffered from a skin allergy. During that period, the doctors used to inject penicillin in case of skin allergy. The penicillin needs to be injected in a small amount on the hand. If the hand of the patient swells, it means the patient is allergic to penicillin and the patient is not injected with it. I went to the hospital to get the injection. I was the last patient; the doctor was in a hurry so he injected penicillin into my body without testing. I was allergic to penicillin. This is the reaction of penicillin. I lost my arms, my abdomen, chest, and legs were operated because of that. It took me two years to recover. I could have died. After that, I learned more and more about medicines. I started contacting good doctors. I would suggest people who needed medical help to good doctors. Half of my nights are spent in hospitals helping people who need medical treatment. Because I know what happens because of a simple ignorance.I can't imagine how he would have felt like knowing that he could no longer use his hands, not because of his mistake but because of a doctor’s ignorance.
I was overwhelmed by his words.Moreover, the way he worked day and night not only for his family but for other families too, compelled me to write about him.He taught me how help need not always be monetary. I realized that we should sometimes come out of our own little world and lend out a helping hand to someone needy. One small help could change lives in ways we cannot imagine.
