The midwife
Janaki was a young widow. She lost her husband at an early age. She had a son and she belonged to barber community.In olden days the barber community people were acted as the village doctors. They were specialist in pulsation and they had given ayurvedic treatment to the village people. Ayurveda was the traditional Hindu system of medicine. Just like the ancestors ,Janaki worked as a midwife of the village. She lived in a small hut in Semponvari village.The village was twenty miles away from the sea. Janaki was not only a midwife but also a dried fish seller. She went to the Devur market and bought dried fish and sold in the village. She earned a little amount of money which was not enough for her livelihood. The village had four notable families and they were Kandiyar,Sitthaimoorar,koilpatthar and Valivalathar families. Those families dominated the political and social scenarios of the small village . There were heavy competitions among the families in local panchayat elections and temple functions. Janaki was asked to do work for the families frequently. Most of the times she had faced difficulties to work for the families. Anyhow she managed everything and earned a good name among the families. The village panchayat president was elected from the Kandiyar family. The president's wife was pregnant. The president asked Janaki to look after his wife. Janaki came to his house in the morning and went back to her hut in the evening daily. She tested the president's wife and gave ayurvedic medicines. She collected the herbs from the lake bank and made herbal medicines. Janaki had seen more than hundred deliveries. Because of her service, the village pregnant women were saved and they had given birth the new babies safely .Devur Shandy took place in Sunday in every week .It was ten miles away from Janaki 's village.She went to the Shandy usually by foot only. She bought milk shark stingray, anchovy and mackerel dried fish from the market. Milk shark dried fish was given the pregnant women mostly . Janaki advised the pregnant women to eat more milk shark dried fish which increased mother's milk .For stomach pain she advised the village women to use more stingray dried fish in lunch as dried fish spicy gravy with rice. Sometimes,she cooked the gravy in their houses and ate with them in a banana leaf. Janaki witnessed so many incidents of the village. The family members played the fun kabadi at night. The riders used the family members song instead of kabadi for riding as Ramudu,Damma,Nattchu,Kittu,Ammalu ,Kamalam,Sundarambal......Sundrambal.The opposite riders used the song for riding as Meesai,Muzhi,Attukkutti,Verammal,Kosalam , Lakshmi..... Lakshmi.The other families watched and enjoyed the fun kabadi songs. One day a grandson of Sitthaimoorar family was affected by twisted intestine. Janaki was an expert in clearing the twisted intestine problem. The treatment was called Kudal thattuthal.The maid servant of Sitthaimoorar's house visited the Kandiyar house and called Janaki for giving treatment. Though Janaki had more works in Kandiyar house she went to Sitthaimoorar's house and had given treatment for their grandson .The grand son became normal after an hour and the whole family thanked her. And they gave one marakkal paddy for her treatment. After the treatment was over Janaki returned to the Kandiyar house immediately.Janaki loved the president's wife very much. Janaki made her son Ganesan as the village barber. In those days the barbers usually went to the people's houses and did their profession. In the same way Ganesan moved to the people's houses and did his work.He was paid every harvest in a jute bag of paddy. Janaki and Ganesan went to the kalam with jute bag for collecting paddy. Most of the times they returned to their hut after the sun set. Sometimes they struggled to bring the heavy jute bag of paddy to their hut. Anyway they lived in poverty .Most of the village youths were very much afraid about Ganesan's hair cutting style.The youths didn't like his old type of hair cutting .Ganesan's knife and scissor were not so sharp as blade.His kit was very old also.Ganesan not only a barber but also worked as a servant during the funerals. He got meagre amount for the religious functions of the villagers. During the Deepavali festival Janaki and Ganesan received saree and dhoti from the villagers. They also got a mud pot full of paddy, jaggery and a piece of sugarcane during the Pongal, the festival of harvest too. The villagers treated them very kindly. During the winter season, the village was affected by cholera,a bacterial disease. Most of the villagers died by the disease.Janaki visited most of the houses in the village and had given ayurvedic treatment for the men women and children without taking rest. By the result Janaki was also affected by the dangerous disease. She was in bed for a week and at last she died in an early morning .Her incomparable service came to an end.
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