Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)
Kundapur, Mar 8: Till a few decades back, midwives who inherited skills needed to assist in child births from their mothers, were the most sought after persons whenever women underwent labour pain. The midwives then mostly were good, altruist people, who were ready to serve any time of the day and night. They were driven by the belief that they were doing something divine, of helping a living being to set foot on earth. We find numerous such people who got involved with this task with determination and humbleness. One such person, who has served honestly and diligently without craving for recognition happens to be Belli Bai from Yadthady village in the taluk.
The extent of great service rendered by this illustrioucs lady came to light during the Janapada Academy awards function held at Bengaluru on February 22 this year. This 75-year-old woman, who received the award in recognition of her service to society, neither expected nor knew that her service would get this recognition.
The life of Belli Bai itself is like an adventurous journey. She went through the problems of hard life of villages, imbibed the culture of hard work, owned responsibility that was traditionally passed to her, and discharged responsibility towards her joint family. Hers is a family of many people, and her life continues to be a hard grind even now.
Belli Bai, born as the eldest of the daughters among seven children of Subraya Naik and Putti Bai couple, had accompanied her mother and grandmother during the period they attended deliveries, and learnt the nuances from them. Because this was the talent and gift she inherited, it helped her to provide this exalted service to the society, and she always discharged the responsibility bestowed on her with aplomb and utmost care.
Belli Bai never went to school. She married Bachcha Naik and proved to be a good mother to her five sons to whom she provided good education and nurtured them into fine citizens of the country. During her childhood, Belli Bai used to accompany her mother and grandmother during deliveries. She initially was taken aback by the loud wails of ladies during childbirth. However, when she was left with the compulsion of having to attend deliveries independently, she handled the situation efficiently and found happiness in the realization that she could bring a life into this world safely by using her skills, and duly ensuring the safety of the mother.
In course of time, Belli Bai's skills and abilities had earned so much fame and recognition that doctors from far off Barkur and Yadthady used to seek her services to attend to childbirth cases. Belli Bai readily went to assist deliveries immediately after she was called for the same without waiting for anyone or anything, at all times of the day, and attended to all her duties thereof diligently and with great care. During her times, many villages were inaccessible and vehicles were not available. Tens of kilometres of distance had to be covered by walk through forests and lonely areas. She recalls that many a time she travelled by bullock carts to serve pregnant women. She attended to each of the over 500 deliveries she assisted in, without expecting anything in return. Considering the fact that she was frightened at the prospect of having to attend child births when young, Belli Bai is surprised at the fact that she could serve over 500 women during their most trying times.
Not only humans, Belli Bai is an expert at calving of the cattle. She has attended to over 300 complicated calving cases, and even now attends to such cases. Although she is 75 years old now, Belli Bai gets a new-found strengthe when the issue of child birth crops up. She is an expert in treating infant diseases with native medicines. She is a storehouse of information about the medicinal qualities of various herbs and plants. She knows a large number of Kudubi traditional songs sung during marriage by heart. Therefore, there is nothing wrong if she is called a treasurehouse of rich experiences. She can providd details about the way people lived 60 to 70 years back, how were the midwives discharging their responsibilities in the absence of doctors, hospitals, and knowledge about diseases then.
Normally, for each childbirth she attended to, usually Belli Bai received about a kg of rice, and a coconut as honorary gift for her services. But she never demanded anything in return for her services, because she believed that it was the professional ethics one has to follow.
Belli Bai has stopped attending to child birth cases since 2010. Even now, the family of Belli Bai, of which she happens to be the senior-most member, continues to be run on the basis of joint family concept. 21 family members live peacefully and harmoniously at her home.
In recognition of her illustrious services, Karnataka government's department of culture and Janappada Academy presented her with the annual award for 2017. This award also celebrates the services of midwives to the society.
Belli Bai recollects that the times were difficult when she was young, as deliveries almost always took place in houses where conditions were not conducive. The doctors then too sought her help for deliveries, she adds. Her son, Naraimha Naik, says that although his mother is interested in attending to child births, her children have forced her not to go because of age factor since the last some years. He recollects that his mother always served people without keeping an eye on what she got in return. He expressed happiness at the fact that the state government has recognized her services.