Impact of Superstition

A baby gets a minor cut within a few days of being born. Her grandmother applies cow dung paste on the wound, saying that will make it heal faster. The baby dies of tetanus.

A middle-aged woman has been getting severe headache since three months. Her relatives advise her to go to the local baba, who chants several mantras and promises that she will be healed. The woman dies of a brain tumor.

A boy in his teens begins to get epileptic fits all of a sudden, and without warning. The elders at his home say it is because he has been cursed by a tantrik, as a result of which a spirit has possessed his body. They suggest him to go to the local village exorcist in order to get “purified” again. The boy has no option to go there, and in the meantime, his condition deteriorates rapidly. Six months later, devoid of any medication whatsoever, he gets a badly-timed seizure while driving his motorcycle, meets with an accident and is dead on the spot.

This, my friends, is the state of this country. A nation that claims to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but where a sizeable fraction of its population still clings on to age-old deeply rooted beliefs and superstitions that have no basis in science.

As we visit the hospital every day, we are brought in contact with several cases who had initially sought relief with a local baba or healer and had come to seek medical treatment only at the final stages, where all hope has already been lost. Western medicine is harmful and it damages the body, they say. They say doctors are basically thieves who steal money from the poor and use it to enjoy luxuries in their own lives. Some of them are more moderate, though. They simply lament that they did not have access to any form of medical help in their village – the nearest clinic was 35 km away and the local primary health centre had been lying defunct for a long time. It had run only for about four months following the elections and the formation of the newly elected government, and in all probability the local politician would not bother about it until five years later.

Superstition and corruption are two of the biggest problems that have a big impact on this country. Deeply entrenched beliefs propagated by quacks coupled with the apathy of our leaders are largely responsible for holding us backward. It is imperative that we get rid of them completely once and for all; otherwise we may never become the world superpower that we aspire to be. A lot of progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go in order to diminish their impact.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.