My tryst with Inoculation

 In one of his brilliant posts, my Facebook friend Bharat Mishra Sir has nicely elucidated the parallels between the COVID-19 vaccine and the cholera vaccinations given on the outskirts of the temple town of Puri days before the world famous annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra (Car Festival).

His post reminded me of the inoculations I received during my childhood. I have a very faint memory of small pox vaccine which was tattooed on my hand, the scar of which is still visible. But my first vivid memory is getting a shot (called injection in India) of cholera vaccination when I was in primary school. 

As the D-Day arrived I was scared to death. After getting the shot I mistakenly assumed that the ordeal would be over. I was proved wrong. By evening I had fever and could hardly lift my arm. My grandma gave me LUNA PODA SEKA - gently sponged the vicinity of the tiny orifice on my arm stuck by the needle with heated pad of salt wrapped in a piece of cloth. The pain subsided after couple of days. A piece of paper called the Inoculation Certificate is all I got after bearing all the physical and mental agony.

Little I knew that this Certificate will come handy a few months later when I was on a bus to Puri days before the famous RATH YATRA. On the outskirts of the city near Chandanpur, the bus was stopped by a battalion of health officials eagerly waiting with syringe on hand. It was time to give cholera shots. I proudly brandished my inoculation certificate and they spared me.

Those who didn't meekly disembarked and lined up for the shots. A few who tried to flee were immediately chased down by the officials. Some escaped by wading over the paddy fields, melting away behind the coconut groves. Those not so lucky were grabbed by their collars and a DAMPHANA (the Odia term for thick needles used to sew jute sacks) sized needle was stabbed to their bottom with great force. They grimaced and screamed in pain, limping back to bus in full view of passengers peeping through the window. I was watching Wild Wild West enacted on the east coast of India.

Vaccinations virtually wiped out many communicable diseases like small pox and cholera which used to wipe out families in entirety. Half of my father's siblings died early of preventable diseases. My grandfather used to tell scary stories about how life then was a matter of surviving next spring (pox season) or late summer (cholera season).

During the epidemics the entire village use to shut down after dark. As soon as twilight sets in the villagers liberally filled huge earthen pots outside with PITHA (cakes made from rice and grams), PANAA (a sweetened puree made from yogurt and fruits like Banana and Stone Apples or BEL) for the consumption of BADI THAKURANI (the Goddess of Cholera) or Maa SITHALA(The Goddess of Pox). 

Job done, they rushed back home never daring to venture outside till dawn lest they earn the wrath of the Goddesses. Not sure how far the Goddesses were appeased but the stray dogs of the village had a field day. They put on a lot of weight and seemed healthier and happier than their human counterparts.

COVID-19 is bad, but not as bad as cholera or small pox. Vaccinations in spite of side effects, had its effects. It saved lives after generations when Cholera, not condoms controlled population. Hope the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine becomes of a new era, a post Coronavirus age of normalcy.