Durga Puja is the biggest festival for a Bengali Hindu. Come the day of dashami, a Bengali waves goodbye to the mother goddess with a heavy heart and waits eagerly all through the year for the return of these four days of festivities. He cleans up his house; plans his leave from office work days ahead; finishes up a long list of shopping for himself and his loved ones; catches up with friends, family and relatives and goes pandal hopping all through the night and last, but not the least goes on a gastronomic adventure trip with sweets forming an integral part of diet plans which has been put off the track again this year because of Durga Puja. A Bengali doesn't exist without misti.
While vacationing across the beautiful Andaman Islands, Piku had one wish that was still unfulfilled. Meat!
Yes, Piku was a meet lover. He loved his chicken for his breakfast, lunch as well as dinner. He could very well have a chicken leg as a snack in the evening.
When at Med School they had a guy from the Andaman Islands. One day as the talk turned to eating meat he was asked what were the different kinds of meat that he had taken. The air was ripe with BHAGAR controversy. Everywhere people were discussing about meat; what poor quality meat unsuspecting Kolkatana had been served all this while and they had relished and digested. Some were even of the opinion that BHAGAR meat helped to strengthen their immunity power and digestive system. It was an indirect indicator of the good health of a Bong's guts. If he could digest BHAGAR, he could practically digest anything.
Other more concerned citizens had new found interest in vegetarianism. Many of them felt veganism to be the way of life. Some had started bringing green leafy veggies for lunch - a small step towards good health, they would explain. Some people had even started shunning chicken shops completely, as if the live birds smelled of stale meat.
Back in the Med School, especially during the duty hours in the evening time when pang of hunger struck, nobody much bothered that what went down as long as it tasted good and made them feel heavy.
On one such occasion just after the evening rounds where over, the young doctors we are munching on chicken lollipops frisked in from nearby eatery. As the meat pieces on the lollipop made their way into the stomach, needless to say the topic deviated towards BHAGAR. What could have been laced with the chicken meat that they were eating - cow, dog, pig, cat…
Talking about different animals soon turned the topic towards animal meat that they had tasted so far. A guy said he had eaten beef when another admitted to enjoying pork in park Street. Someone had tasted snake meat in village. Amid such talk the guy from Andaman surprised everyone with crocodile! He had eaten crocodile meat and it tasted real good as per our statement. To the utter disbelief of everyone he described how a crocodile was caught, killed and its meat cooked and enjoyed.
This time during the vacation at Andaman Piku remembered the crocodile meat. Many of the beaches and the Islands where infested with the dangerous creatures. The warning signs on the beaches made Piku wonder if meat was available for him to taste - a culinary memory for him to take back home.
They had been to Neil Island and Piku had an awesome time. After returning from Neil, as they landed ashore on Port Blair, Piku asked the driver who had come to receive them at the port and drop them to their hotel if crocodile meat was available anywhere in Port Blair and if the meat was good to eat.
‘Yes indeed, the meat tastes very good. In fact it is much better than chicken’, said the driver. ‘However you will not be able to find crocodile meat here in Port Blair sir’, he said. On inquiring about availability of the meat he informed that crocodile meat was available at ‘little Andaman’. For that they needed to travel for around 8 hours on a ferry from Port Blair to Little Andaman.
Piku was not very fond of the limitless sea. It frightened him. He had always enjoyed the safety of the sea-shore while enjoying the waves splashing over it. The very idea of Blue water everywhere for 8 hours straight, was uncomfortable to Piku.
To do hell with the wretched organism! He was not going to risk eight hours on the dangerous sea water just to eat some man eating creature called to crocodile. Let people savour whatever they wanted to. Crocodile meat was not going down his belly.
Back in the City…
His cousin had just called. She was on the verge of a mental breakdown. She was happy. She was scared. She was sad. She did not know what she was.
Only thing she knew was ‘two lines’ on the prega news strip. She was pregnant! She had repeated the test and everytime it gave 2 lines indicating a positive result. She called her cousin to confirm if what she understood was actually what she understood.
‘Congrats Behna, Jiju did it! You are pregnant’, Piku said on the other end of the line. ‘But I am not mentally prepared the Dada’, she cried.
She was looking forward to her upcoming trip to Kolkata. She had taken a month long leave from her Mumbai office and would be down to the city for the Durga Puja celebration. Meanwhile as Piku's Facebook wall started filling up with the pictures from his Andaman trip, she also started planning to go on a week-long tour to the islands with her family.
Aunty seldom had a scope of going out and travelling. Her brother was still in college and uncle being an introvert guy would spend most of his time reading the newspaper or going out on long walks. And amid everything, after the household chores were done, aunty would be left to herself. She looked forward to her daughter.
Over the years her little naughty darling daughter had grown up into an understanding friend with whom she would share almost everything. She was looking forward to the upcoming Andaman trip as well.
But the two lines on prega news confused everyone. Aunty saw the dream of her walking along the coastline on Neil Island vanish into thin air. The pictures of Piku had come perfect.
And now this pregnancy! Couldn't her daughter be a little bit more cautious? Was this the right time? Was she even prepared for it?
If only their daughter had attempted pregnancy after another year, their son would have finished college and aunty could have been in Mumbai taking care of her darling child at the time of confinement. And amid everything she saw the dream of her much awaited Andaman trip vanish.
She felt the pang of anger towards her daughter. But then she was again happy for the new member. It was a mixture of strange emotions. Her little child would now be bringing into the world, another little child.
‘the child that took away her Andaman trip’, and she named the little one, ‘little Andaman’...
‘Andaman’ seems to be a boyish name’, Piku had observed munching on her famed Jhal Muri mixture. ‘what if its a girl?’, asked Piku.
‘Doesn't matter’, said aunty, ‘it will still be my little Andaman’...
The afternoon of 24th August 2016. An otherwise uneventful Wednesday afternoon for Mr Bose. With nothing to do at hand he decided on having an afternoon siesta. He was soon snoring away into a peaceful sleep after a lunch composed of the routine Bengali maach bhaat. Kamal had cooked ‘parshe macher jhol’ along with 'Cholar dal’.
Although Mr Bose was never a fan of Pershe mach but being the worshipper of his wife, as usual he gulped down an entire fish as per instruction of his loving wife. After lunch he went into the room where his father-in-law once slept, turned on the AC and went off to sleep.
It was decided by Mrs Bose that her husband had been going through a tough time after her recent diagnosis of being a diabetic thus, resulting in her mood fluctuations as she was unable to eat a lot of things that she loved. She had to say no to her daily dose of roshogolla, plate full of rice, spice rich mutton, chicken rolls in the evening, just name of few.
Her inability to achieve satiety owing to all the restrictions set by her doctor led her to misbehave every now and then with her husband over whom she had absolute control. He was a devoted husband and she was a loving wife. She realised, he needed to have some rest from all the bickerings she had been throwing at him ever since she had been diagnosed to be diabetic.
So today he was supposed to have an afternoon nap after lunch. For the past 7 days she had been keeping him awake and and on his toes to do whatever errand came to her mind. The tasks ranged from filling the empty water bottles on table, to giving her a head massage, to staying awake with her because she was unable to sleep out of hunger because she had skipped that tasteless diabetic meal especially prepared by Kamal for her.
Needless to mention here that Mr Bose had also started taking a diabetic diet. He felt that having a diabetic diet would do good to his health and keep company for his wife.
Today morning as a blood test came within the permissible limits set by her physician, she treated herself with dose of rosogolla that had been drained off its syrup. As she gulped down the rosogolla, her husband handed over the medicines.
She looked at him and felt pity for the ageing handsome hunk cowed down by her immense love into a docile domesticated husband. His greying hair looked more grey and the baldness of his head look more bald. He must get some rest today, she immediately decided.
The satisfaction from rosogolla was going to be a strong sedative for her afternoon nap as well. If left on his own Mr Boss would turn on the TV and keep watching news till dinner time and as usual she took matters in her hand and ordered him to go to the other room and take a nap. Mr Bose followed her command like an obedient school boy.
It must be around 4 p.m. in the afternoon when Mrs Bose woke up. It was her usual tea time. She made two cups of Darjeeling tea and called Mr Bose. Soon they were sitting at the dining table sipping the afternoon tea while, the TV was turn on and played some local news on a regional TV channel.
Mrs boss suddenly felt the table move. She had cervical spondylosis and often suffered attacks of vertigo. The vertigo would soon be followed by nausea and sometimes vomiting. She was in no mood to destroy the beautiful afternoon. She decided on a preventive measure and immediately ordered Mr Bose to get her tablet vertin.
The physician had advised this tablet to her mother during their last visit when she complained of occasional dizziness and vertigo. Mrs Boss had a quick acting mind. She immediately ordered her husband to open the case of medicines that belonged to her mother. It was placed on the table where they were having tea. Soon the case was opened and she had a tablet of vertin in her hand which immediately gulped down.
Mr Bose watched her and said, ‘you see I am also having vertigo’. ‘then you take one too’, she handed over another tablet of vertin to Mr bose which he obediently gulped down.
Mr Boss had just swallowed the tablet when his attention was broken by ulu from a flat in the adjacent tower. A woman in another flat has started blowing the conch shell. It was at this point he realised that it was actually an earthquake that had shook the house and his wife thought it was an attack of vertigo.
When I started blogging, I used to post regularly. But like a lot of things, this early enthusiasm faded over time and now I seldom make an effort to write up something.
However, in this WhatsApp generation where a lot of information is disbursed via messages of various chats and groups, I one message caught my attention.
I usually don't read long messages posted on the groups. I'd simply scroll pass them and over time, forget everything about what was written. But this message did manage to catch my attention and as I read through the lines, I felt myself traveling back in time along park Street and such other happening places of Kolkata in the days gone by. I'm not sure how much of what was written there is true but the content was a good and interesting read.
Here goes the message:
"MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT IN CALCUTTA, IN THE DAYS GONE BY !!
(Written by an ole' timer and a lover of Calcutta and shared on WhatsApp)...
My best memories of Christmas and New Year are in Calcutta as a teenager. I have spent winters in London, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris. Even LA. But nothing quite compares to the Calcutta I knew. Park Street was like fairyland, brilliantly decked up days ahead of the festivities. Singers and musicians came from all over to perform there but the best among them were the local Anglo Indians who outclassed everyone.
There was Pam Crain who sang like a dream, with Louis Banks and his boys in Blue Fox. Usha Uthup jived away at Trinca’s in a South Indian sari. Hers was a voice you could never forget. A Shillong band often backed her up. There was busty Delilah at Moulin Rouge, a blonde who lost her way and arrived in Park Street from heavens knows where. She wasn’t exactly the best singer there but she did some amazing gigs which everyone loved, for all the wrong reasons. For me at 16, she was Christmas.
There was Brenda Lilley at Blue Fox who later married tennis star Jaideep Mukherjee. Her sister Fay sang at Mags in fabulous Queens Mansion, an entire building lost by its owner, an Armenian called JC Galstaun in a horse racing debt in this season of carols and mistletoes. Galstaun was a great gambler and bought several buildings in Calcutta, including Queens Mansion, with his winnings at the races. Losing his prized possession however broke his heart. Yet, like a true gambler, he walked out the next morning, handing over the building to its new owners. His autobiography was dedicated to the very book makers who had taken all his money.
Also, the story goes, a famous playboy prince from the Land of the Dragon up in the Himalayan mountains, left Humayun Court on Lindsay Street, barely a ten minute walk from Park Street, at the crack of dawn on New Year’s day, having lost throughout the night at the roulette table, playing against some of the worthies of the time. The stakes were high and by the time the game was over, the young prince had lost everything he had on his person. So he quietly got up and walked out, leaving behind the keys to his Austin Sherline on the table. He rode home to Tivoli Court in a baby taxi, which his staff paid off on arrival.
The others at his table were Angelo Firpo, the Italian owner of Firpo’s the legendary restaurant on Chowringhee, Pat Williamson, Boris, the Russian impresario who later settled in Kathmandu and opened a restaurant called Boris’ and boasted he could offer you a tiger for breakfast, Eddie Cracknel the jockey and Daddy Mazda, owner of Golden Slippers, Calcutta’s most celebrated nightclub of the time, bang opposite Nizam’s, back of Hogg Market. Many were the lurid tales that went around about what happened at Golden Slippers but what made the club famous was the list of defaulters prominently displayed on a wall near the gate, featuring some of the city’s best known names. There was also the 300 Club on Theatre Road and the Bengal Club where a croupier with a cockney accent would regale members with tales of nightclubs in London’s West End. Many gambled with cowries. The Maharajas of Cooch Bihar, Jaipur, Burdwan, Nazarganj were regulars. So were royalty from Nepal and Bhutan.
At the heart of all this festivity was music, the bands and the crooners. They were the life of every party, every celebration. They made everything happen. Without them, Calcutta would not have been Calcutta. But years went by, Governments changed, politics redefined our life and culture. Suddenly new taxes were imposed on live entertainment. These taxes were so punishing that within a very short time, all the restaurants stopped playing live music. The crooners left Calcutta. Bands disbanded. Musicians picked up other jobs. The music slowly died.
Yesterday morning I had to go to Nagerbazar for some work. It was usual
for me to stand on the Dumdum road waiting for an auto to pass by and wave a
hand to a vehicle with an empty seat. But yesterday proved futile to all my
waiting. I stood there for 30 minutes and not one auto went with a single seat
left for me to hop on. So, finally I decided to board on a bus to my destination.
I usually avoid the public buses given a choice that I have an auto to ride –
at least I can sit in it and reach my destination much faster than standing on
an already overfilled bus with the conductor try to push in more and more
commuters as the thing slowly slogged on to the road with the driver paying
least heed to the angry shouts and occasional slangs coming from angry
commuters on board. And the experience gets even worse in summer season with
the hot and humid climate that we have here in Kolkata in those months. All those
warm and moist bodies rubbing again each other; at times the nauseating smell
of sweaty body odor emanating from a fellow passenger against which you are so
firmly pressed on the bus that sometimes it feels as if there is a serious
possibility of asphyxiating yourself to doom and then the point at which you
have to take out you purse to pay for the ticket and the bus taking a turn – I have
many times marveled at the ease with which many Kolkatans ply over the heart of
the city every day over the years.
As for me, I feel a sense of impending doom, rather claustrophobia when
inside such a space cramped vehicle. However, yesterday was a cool December
morning and my rush with no available auto to ride on finally made me wave to
the next bus that was coming my way from the Dum Dum metro station and I got
on. As usual, there was no seat but the space immediately behind the driver’s
seat was vacant and I went there and stood holding onto a vertical pole in the
middle just behind the driver for a support and balance.
As the bus moved stopping at every two to three minutes with commuters entering
at every halt and some people getting down, thus resulting in the bus getting
more and more filled over time, what finally caught my attention were the two
young kids in school uniform who got up from Motijheel. They were accompanied
with their mothers jostling through the crowd with school bags on their backs
and hand holding the tender aged kids. Once into the bus, on the side reserved
for women, one of them got up and made seat for both the kids while their
mothers held on to the hanging handles with the school bags on their back. Rather
big bags for kids of this age, I thought. As I looked at the kids, amid the
entire crowd, they were lost in their own world, each one telling something to
the other and once in a while parting their eye lids in wonder while at other
times catching a cute little smile at maybe an innocent joke let out by the
other.
Went to attend the funeral ceremony and ritual of a near one. He had a long and fulfilling time on earth although, towards the end old age and ill health took a toll on his life and I was rather happy to bid farewell to him for his final journey as I felt his body could not bear his soul any longer and that it was too worn out for the purpose and also, the soul needed to move on towards its onward journey…. Now it was time to say good bye and go…
My junior PGT and a fellow blogger, Dr. Neha Sharma posted her 1sr blog post on blogger about her experience in Kolkata... A refreshing post which can be read on http://docneha1006.blogspot.ca/
Here is what she has to say about her new place and the people around: "Unlike as the title might indicate on first look it has nothing to do with the first month of pregnancy's experience. I start my blog as my first month ends in a new city where I arrived almost as surprisingly as a meteor falls from sky. Its an entirely different story how i ended in Kolkata for the next leg of my education when i had prepared myself for Mumbai, but won't delve into the boring details...but now i am in the land of Didi and henceforth my impressions. Once the announcement was made suggestions started pouring in that it is a dirty city, too much crowd etc. On the contrary i would say a city where tea is still served in earthen 'kulhad' can't be called dirty, it tastes heavenly...and tell me which metro city is not crowded?! So that apart Kolkata is a city which took me back in time, the Colonial times of our history books just morph into real life architecture still undisturbed and carried as a baton of legacy . The pace of people is slow but traffic is recklessly fast and i enjoyed my first tram ride, again an old legacy here. First week and i get reminded by good Samaritans that the staple is fish and me being a vegetarian food will be a problem and true i still find the smell bit nauseating..though I will reassure there's a lot for people like me. If you have an annoying sweet tooth like me this city is heaven with all the rasogullas dripping syrup and melt in mouth irresistible taste, nothing like the poor mimics found elsewhere in the country.I still need to figure out what's the deal with too much potato usage in all food types...nevertheless still discovering local cuisine. Everybody is inclined to converse in Bangla, nothing to do with any regionalism, in fact non bengali residing for long time prefer it too...so i am taking my first small steps with the much acclaimed sweet language. It is a city of warm and welcoming people and i already don't feel much of that' far away from home' feeling. So many things still to be discovered, a learning period to complete and markets to explore i think fate took an interesting twist when i decided to come here. There might be some downsides too like a tropical weather, too humid at times even oppressive. Overall i am enjoying myself and recommend that visit this place at least once to be reminded of everything that is as traditional as our culture and as modern as the west mingling subtly as one city swarming with humanity....".
He was forced to leave his family and home in Uttar Pradesh for a living. He could not bear the separation and gradually became a person with learning disabilities. Somehow, he reached the city and by a stroke of luck and unconditional support from a poor couple, he finally won over the trauma and went back to his family after seven years.
Vinod Sahni, a youth from a remote village in eastern UP, left his native place and family to work in a weaving mill in Ludhiana. Though he was reluctant to leave his root, his wife insisted on his going. Being a village youth, Vinod could not adapt to city life or bear the detachment from his village. He left Ludhiana after a few days without informing anybody after which he remained untraced. For his family, he was dead. But finally, Vinod got back to his family and his parents embraced him with tears swelling in their eyes.
All these were possible because of a group of people who, despite living on pavements, extended support to the unknown vagabond and helped him get back to normal life.
“Around three years back, we suddenly spotted the youth staying on the pavement close to our tea stall. He was not in sound health. He would often soil the pavement and others who stayed there were annoyed with him and tried to drive him out,” said Lalti Devi, a middle-aged tea stall owner.
It was Banani Nath, a social worker attached with Iswar Sankalpa — an NGO that works with people with special needs, who first spotted the youth.
“Initially, he refused to cooperate. He communicated with me for the first time after more than six months,”said Banani.
After a medical checkup, Lalti and her husband Kumar took responsibility of the youth.
“The couple used to feed him and would mix medicines with the food initially,” said Sarbani Das Roy, secretary of the organization.
It took nearly a year to bring about some normalcy in the youth.
Next, he was taken to a centre near Hastings where he underwent different therapies. All this while, Vinod got a new identity — Chuni— to the Singh couple and members of Iswar Sankalpa.
“Chuni responded well to treatment and, for the last one year, he started doing odd jobs like cleaning cars,” said Banani.
But, he used to stay at the same spot on the pavement near the crossing of CIT Road and Suresh Sarkar Road at night.
“He kept some money with me. He wanted to start a business,” said Lalti, who took care of an unknown youth for months.
Some weeks ago, he slowly managed to recount his past, his village and address. With the help of Hasting police station, his family was informed.
On Monday, Lalti and Kumar handed over Vinod — Chuni to them — to his family members.
With tears in their eyes, they assured Chuni that they would definitely visit his village home.
Recently scrolling through my youtube videos I stumbled upon a clip that I had filmed last year during a visit to my long time friend, Dr. Sayak Sovan Dutta’s house in Hari Navi. It was evening time and there were bats coming out from their daylong slumber out for the night!
But then , it is a matter of thought that such sights are becoming rare with the passage of time as observed by Sayak, ‘’As a child ,I would see many such bats flying out during the evening time but now-a-days their numbers have decreased a lot’’.
Bats are classified in the mammalian order.
After rodents, bats are the most diverse and abundant order amongst mammals, with > 2000 different species described.
The wing development is the unique characteristic shared by all bats, giving them the power of true flight and also distinguishing them from all other mammalian orders. The wing consists of two layers of very elastic skin stretched between the finger-bones (phalanges) with little or no interconnecting tissue. This membrane usually extends down to the ankle (carpal) joint of the hind leg and in most bats also encloses the tail to form an elastic pouch of skin, known as the inter femoral membrane or uropatagium.
At least 73 species of bats have been described from the Indo-Pak region.
Bats can be divided in two main groups (sub-orders):
1.the fruit bats or flying foxes known as Megachiroptera.
2.the insect-eating or smaller bats known as Microchiroptera.
In India seven species occur, from the relatively small Short-nosed Fruit Bat or Cynopterus Sphinx, which is quite a pest of fruit gardens around Mumbai, to the large Flying Fox, Pteropus giganteus.
Another species named Pteropus has been recorded from Assam and the Andaman Islands, while there are two species of intermediate-sized fruit bats belonging to the genus Rousettus which roost in comparatively dark caves or similar man-made excavations such as cliff temples or deep open wells.
Two other little-known fruit bats just come into the area from northeastern Assam, the Dawn Sal (Eonycteria spelaea), specialized to feed upon pollen and nectar, and Blanford's Fruit Bat or (Sphaerias blan- ford), is unique among fruit bats because it has no tail and only has a vestigial inter femoral membrane.
A burgeoning human population, loss of natural habitat, poaching, hunting etc are all responsible for the decreasing numbers of these creatures . India is one of the most populous countries in the world and it was inevitable that man come into conflict with other animals for resources. A number of species are rated as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable as per the 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals, internationally recognised as the list that categorises the status of globally threatened animal species.
It is high time now to take some action regarding the decreasing number of these and such many other creatures which have been a part of the bio-diversity of India.
Watching TV, Catching up with Friends and Community members, Occasional trips Homeland(Bihar) mostly to attend social functions like marriage ceremony etc.
Social Problems
Any unemployed member in the family?
No
Addiction?
SAYAN Singh (HOF) occasionally takes Smoke less tobacco (Khaini)
Any mother who is unmarried, divorced, or abandoned by husband’s family?
No
Any handicapped or chronically ill family member?
No
Any children above 5 years of age not going to school?
No
Is the mother working anywhere?
No, she is a Housewife
Child labour (any child less than 14 years working)?
No
Monthly expenditure of the family
Food
6,592/-
Fuel
405/- (gas cylinder)
Clothing
200/-
Education
700/- (tuition for children)
Electricity
400/-
Housing
60/- (rent)
Social functions
300/-
Health and Illness
500/-
Travel/Transport
1,000/-
Recreation
58/-(cable TV)
Any other expenditure
Mobile bill
300/-
Soap/Detergent/Shampoo
300/-
Total
10,815/-
Monthly income of the family
(detailed)
SAYAN Singh
·5,000/-
Rakesh Singh
·6,880/-
From Agriculture by Biplab Singh:
·2,000/-
Total monthly income of the family
13,880
Per capita monthly income
2,313
Balance income over expenditure
3,065/-(deposited in SBI account as savings)
Socio-economic status based on Kuppuswamy’s modified socio-economic status scale
Criteria
Features
Score
Education
Middle-school
3
Occupation
Semi-skilled
3
Family income per month
13,880/-
10
Total score
16
Socio-economic status
Upper middle(II)
Health facility
Where do you usually go to take treatment?
·Private sector hospital (CMRI)
·Govt. facilities are also used occasionally
Why Govt. facilities are not used routinely?
·Problem matching their free time with the availability of consultant(specialist) doctor
·Govt. sector hospitals are more time consuming
Schedule for assessment of environmental condition: housing, water supply, disposal of refuse and excreta
Housing:
Site
By lane off the main road
House Type
Mixed
Number of Living Rooms
2 (1st living room inside and 2nd room created by walling and roofing the Veranda into a Kitchen cum Living room)
Total area of the living rooms (Floor Space)
151 sq feet
Per Capita Floor space
25.16 sq feet
Comment on Overcrowding
Present
Cross Ventilation
1st room –absent
2nd room-present
Lighting
Inadequate natural light
Kitchen
In the Veranda room
Smoke Nuisance
absent
Kitchen Garden
absent
Drainage System Around the house
no open drains, Underground system drains the water into a local canal
Drainage
Of Household water
Underground system drains the water into a local canal
Breeding place for mosquitoes
Present near municipality water supply taps
Fly Nuisance
present
WATER SUPPLY
Source of Water
Drinking purpose
Kolkata Municipal Corporation Water Supply from Public Taps
Cooking purpose
Washing/Bathing purpose
Distance of Drinking water source
5 meters
Duration of Water Supply
Intermittent
Morning
7 AM to 9:30 AM
Evening
4 PM to 7 PM
Adequacy of Water Supply
adequate
Collection & Storage of water
Water is collected by buckets and stored in drums and buckets which are kept properly covered.
Treatment of Drinking Water
Boiled water is given to the children
Excreta disposal
Latrine
situated about 20 meters away from the house
Where do family members including children go to defecate
Sanitary latrine
Refuse disposal
Disposal of refuse
Collected from each house by Hand cart and transported to KMC trucks
Disposal of kitchen waste
Waste water and sullage drains into underground sewerage system through opening in the kitchen.
Solid waste transported by hand cart as mentioned above.
Assessment of knowledge, practice and utilization of health services
Knowledge regarding
Causation
Modes of prevention
Care seeking behavior
ARI
Exposure to cold
Mustard oil massage before bath
Visit doctor
Diarrhea
Eating with dirty hands & drinking unclean water
Hand-wash before eating & drinking boiled water
Give ORS at home, if no response then visit doctor
Malaria
Mosquito bite
Using mosquito repellant in the evening and sleeping in mosquito-net at night
Visit doctor
Tuberculosis
Spreads through cough of TB patient
Avoid TB patient & keep him in separate room
Visit doctor
HIV/STI
Not known
Not known
Visit doctor
Serial number of wife in the family
1
Age at marriage(years)
16
Age at first pregnancy(years)
21
Total number of live births
2
Total number of abortions/still births
1 (3 years back)
(spontaneous abortion)
Total number of current living children:
girl
1
boy
1
Interval between last two deliveries
2yr,1m,3weeks
Birth spacing/ limiting methods
(if currently used, specify )
·Condom
·Coitus Interruptus(currently practiced)
Utilization of the following services during last pregnancy :
·Ante-natal check-up
·Tetanus toxoid
·Iron and folic acid tablets consumed
·Diet
·Place of delivery
·Delivery conducted by
Yes
1 (booster)
Yes( 5 months before delivery and 2 months after delivery)
Increased
Chittaranjan Seva Sadan Hospital, Kolkata
Health Personal
Knowledge and practice
Topic
Knowledge
Practice
Infant feeding practice
·Colostrum
Should be given to the baby
Both the children received colostrum
·Exclusive breast feeding
Should be done for 1st 6 months and nothing else should be given without asking the doctor
Both the children received EBF for 1st 6 months of life
·Complementary feeding
Should be started after 6 months along with breast feeding
Started with mashed rice and vegetables from 6 months onwards along with breast milk.
·Feeding during illness
Should be done
Gives breast milk during illness.
Antenatal/Natal/Postnatal care
·Regular checkup
Should be done both during and after childbirth
Visited her doctor as advised
·Delivery practices
Delivery should be done in hospital
Both her children were delivered at Chittaranjan Seva Sadan Hospital, Kolkata
·Iron and folic acid prophylaxis
Should be taken if advised by doctor
Took IFA tables(full course not done because she had constipation and a bad taste in mouth)
·Tetanus toxoid
Should be taken
Received 2 injections during her 1st pregnancy and 1 injection each during the subsequent episodes.
·Diet
More food should be taken because it will make baby healthy
Used to eat more quantity of food during each of her meals
·Rest
Needs rest because mother becomes tired easily
Would lie down and watch TV or sleep for sometimes during the afternoon when the household work was done.
Utilization and practice of preventive reproductive health services
A)Knowledge of family planning
Desirable age of marriage
20 years for both male and female
Have you heard about Family Planning
Yes
Which methods do u know?
Condom / Coitus Interruptus
What is the source of your knowledge?
Husband/Neighbors’ wife
Do you know where MTP serves are available?
Yes , in big hospitals like Chittaranjan Seva Sadan Hospital and Nursing homes
B)Attitude towards family planning
1)Number of children the family desires
Husband
Wife
2
2
2)Suitable spacing between children
3-4 years
3)From where are the contraceptives procured?
Nearby Pharmacy shops
4)Do you have any plans for permanent methods?
No
5)If needed will you avail MTP services?
Yes
6)Are you practicing any family planning method?
Yes (condom followed by Coitus Interruptus)
Regularity of use
After delivery for 1st 4-5 months Condom was used, later they practiced Coitus Interruptus
Since when
Exact date Not recalled
Any method used previously and discontinued
Condom (husband doesn’t like using it)
Any H/O induced abortion?
No(she has a history of spontaneous abortion)
Name of the child
Sweety Singh
Birth history
Date of birth
24/09/06
Sex
Female
Birth weight
3.2kg
Full term/ Pre-term
Full-term
Place of delivery
Chittaranjan Seva Sadan Hospital, Kolkata
Birth attendant
Present
Type of delivery
Normal Vaginal delivery with episiotomy
Any congenital malformations
No
feeding
Type of food 1st offered
Colostrum
Was colostrum given to the baby
Yes
When was breastfeeding started after delivery
2hrs
Breastfeeding continued exclusively for
6months
Breastfeeding discontinued from
1and⅟2 years of age because she could eat hear meals properly.
Semisolid/solid food supplementation started from
6months
What type of food was given to the child during weaning
Kheer/Khichdi/Milk & biscuit
Child feeding pattern during episodes of diarrhea/ other illness
Khichdi with Mashed vegetables are offered to the child.
Health checkup of under 5 children:
Immunization status of the child: Sweety Singh (24/09/06)
vaccine
Age at vaccination
From where obtained
remarks
BCG
Hep-B
2nd day of life,(25/09/06)
2nd day of life,(25/09/06)
UHC, Chetla
DPT-1
DPT-2,Hep-B
DPT-3,Hep-B
BPT-B, Vit-A(2)
Vit-A(3)
Vit-A(4)
Vit-A(5)
6weeks,(8/11/06)
11weeks,(13/12/06)
15weeks,(17/01/07)
13/02/08
09/11/09
30/06/10
27/01/11
UHC, Chetla
OPV-1
OPV-2
OPV-3
OPV-B
6weeks, (08/11/06)
11weeks,(13/12/06)
15weeks,(17/01/07)
13/02/08
UHC, Chetla
Measles ,
Vit-A(1)
9month2weeks(4/07/07)
UHC, Chetla
Findings on history and clinical examination including anthropometry and nutritional assessment (Sweta Singh)
Present illness ,if any
(chief complaints)
No
History of significant past illness
Absent
Anthropometry
Weight
20kg
Height
108cm
Mid-arm circumference
13.7cm
Clinical
General appearance
Normal
Hair
NAD
Face
NAD
Eyes
NAD
Lips
NAD
Tongue
NAD
Teeth
NAD
Gums
NAD
Glands/Thyroid
NAD
Skin
NAD
Nails
NAD
Edema
Absent
Rachitic change
Absent
Hepatomegaly
Absent
Calf tenderness
Absent
Ankle and Knee jerks
Normal
Psychological changes
Normal
Name of the child
Abhinabh Singh
Birth history
Date of birth
07/06/10
Sex
Male
Birth weight
3.1kg
Full term/ Pre-term
Full-term
Place of delivery
Chittaranjan Seva Sadan Hospital, Kolkata
Birth attendant
Present
Type of delivery
Normal Vaginal
Any congenital malformations
No
feeding
Type of food 1st offered
Colostrum
Was colostrum given to the baby
Yes
When was breastfeeding started after delivery
4hrs
Breastfeeding continued exclusively for
6months
Breastfeeding discontinued from
Continuing till date
Semisolid/solid food supplementation started from
6months
What type of food was given to the child during weaning
Kheer/Khichdi/Milk & biscuit
Child feeding pattern during episodes of diarrhea/ other illness
Breast milk given, Khichdi with Mashed vegetables also offered to the child.
Immunization status of child (Abhinabh Singh, DOB-07/06/10)
vaccine
Age at vaccination
From where obtained
Remarks
BCG
Hep-B
2nd day of life(08/06/10)
2nd day of life(08/06/10)
UHC, Chetla
DPT-1
DPT-2
DPT-3
8weeks4days(11/08/10)
13weeks(15/09/10)
23weeks(01/12/10)
UHC, Chetla
OPV-0
OPV-1
OPV-2
OPV-3
2nd day of life(08/06/10)
8weeks4days(11/08/10)
13weeks(15/09/10)
23weeks(01/12/10)
UHC, Chetla
Measles , Vit A
9 months 9 days
(16/06/10)
UHC, Chetla
Findings on clinical examination including anthropometry and nutritional assessment (Abhinabh Singh)
