Life begins at 40. But for men in village Pabla of Orissa (India), life ends before 40.
Pabla is in "Dhenkanal" district of Orissa. In this village no man crossed 40 since last 50 years. But more interesting is that only men and not women die before 40 with an unknown disease with more or less similar symptoms.
The villagers believe that this happens because of fury of goddess. To please the goddess many hens and goats were killed.
To know the reason, we have to study history of Pabla.
Before 1957, land of the village was quite fertile and the farming was their main source of income. There was a dam near Pabla and they used the water for the crops. They used to take crops for 3 times a year. In monsoon of 1958, the dam got broken and is not repaired till today (2008). Pabla is situated at top of a hill and now water can not be stored and flows away.
The "Kondha" (caste) are strong drunkards. And more they do not have work. There are lot of trees of date palm. They are fond of palm wine. Whenever they feel hungry they drink palm wine. Due to poverty, they do not have nutritious food with the wine. Even a child of 10-12 years may drink 5-7 glasses of wine everyday.
If this is true, then why women of the village do not die in early age ?
In "Kondha" caste, women are responsible to earn for the family. They go out of village and work hard to earn and do not get time or opportunity to drink the wine.
The solution to this problem is to give work for the men and make them work. The dam should be built again. Many times, they complained, but the Government didn't respond. The government may not be interested as the population of the village is very less (not enough to make a strong vote bank).
What you think, please post a comment.
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Pabla is in "Dhenkanal" district of Orissa. In this village no man crossed 40 since last 50 years. But more interesting is that only men and not women die before 40 with an unknown disease with more or less similar symptoms.
The villagers believe that this happens because of fury of goddess. To please the goddess many hens and goats were killed.
To know the reason, we have to study history of Pabla.
Before 1957, land of the village was quite fertile and the farming was their main source of income. There was a dam near Pabla and they used the water for the crops. They used to take crops for 3 times a year. In monsoon of 1958, the dam got broken and is not repaired till today (2008). Pabla is situated at top of a hill and now water can not be stored and flows away.
The "Kondha" (caste) are strong drunkards. And more they do not have work. There are lot of trees of date palm. They are fond of palm wine. Whenever they feel hungry they drink palm wine. Due to poverty, they do not have nutritious food with the wine. Even a child of 10-12 years may drink 5-7 glasses of wine everyday.
If this is true, then why women of the village do not die in early age ?
In "Kondha" caste, women are responsible to earn for the family. They go out of village and work hard to earn and do not get time or opportunity to drink the wine.
The solution to this problem is to give work for the men and make them work. The dam should be built again. Many times, they complained, but the Government didn't respond. The government may not be interested as the population of the village is very less (not enough to make a strong vote bank).
What you think, please post a comment.
Read Other Articles :
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