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It was found almost every village had seen a few cancer victims . They said that all of them had a morbid course till death. The cancers they saw were of the cheek, throat, cervix & breast. In one village the state of the lady with incurable cervical cancer was described in detail. For months this lady was kept in supine position .The legs were separated & a large of bundle of linen was kept to absorb the profuse foul smelling secretions & blood. The stench still continues from the room swore another lady from the same village. An early detection by a Pap smear Test & simple operation could have cured her.

Tobacco related ones topped the list of cancers seen in these villages & it had to be so. Nearly 100% of people used tobacco - men smoked, women & men chewed . In one village it was found that children as young as 5 yrs chewed tobacco. On enquiry the mother said that she knew that if she chewed tobacco hunger would go off. The child mostly cries for food , why not try the same trick on the child? It did & today the child is addicted. Ain’t there a better way ?

The agricultural labourers uniformly felt that chewing tobacco made them energetic & kept hunger at bay. This cost them just five rupees! ‘Is it not rational’– they shot back. The other reason for the wide usage of tobacco was that it was easily available. “Let the Govt. make it unavailable, we will stop using it ”-they said in chorus. Shift the blame. This is also an indirect evidence almost all of them are addicts. Five rupees & bonded & forever!!!

The Experience

It was a new & interesting experience in conducting these talks. We would reach these villages around 6– 6.30 pm & stay for about 2 hours. This is the time the labourers return from their work in the fields. The only thought in them was food , sleep and /or TV program. And we were there to talk unpleasant things. Avoid is writing on the wall. First ignore our call, crop up an excuse to the village leader, untie & tie cows ,goat or whatever you can. All this fails - our summons are strong– then a common plot - persuade the man In charge of Water supply to release drinking water when we arrive. Water is more essential ….When we reached later in the night especially in harijan colonies—we have slept off , no nightmares please .So we would beat the drum or simply honk the car to get them out of their houses.

And while water filled , rice cooked, cows mooed, radio crooned, TV beamed, children screamed & grandpa snored, Sethuramans & Dhanalakshmis said what they have to about cancer.

And more importantly Muniamma & Muthuswamy understood, Kunjan & kuppama swore to quit tobacco & Paavayee agreed to teach breast self exam. Vasantham has come.

In the 9 villages with help of 28 classes about 900 people were addressed. This amounts to a mere 15% of population of these villages. The number seems small but the beginning is made .The numbers would soon swell.That is the hope, the hope of life, a life free of cancer.