Recently I came across a news about several cases of leprosy in America. Though a tropical disease more prevalent in South Asia, Central and Latin American countries, every year 200 odd cases are reported in USA, 80% of them from the state of Florida. Though completely curable, there is invariably a stigma tied to it as a leper is regarded as an untouchable. That's probably origin of the phrase "being treated leper".
During my childhood I was visiting my ancestral village near Puri during summer vacation. One hot afternoon when the village slept into siesta, my cousin and I stole some cucumbers from the neighborhood yard of a widow, who typical of a resident from the Brahmin dominated "SASAN" villages near Puri was quite vocal at delivering choicest of abuses in her mother tongue. Annoyed at the sight of missing cucumbers she started yelling at top of her voice cursing the cucumber thieves - "MO BADI RU JIE KASI KAKUDI KHAICHI SIE BADI RE JIBA, TAKU KUSTA ROGA HABA", "he who has stolen cucumbers from my yard is destined to die from Cholera, but not before getting infected with leprosy".
I didn't care much about Cholera as it was no longer a scourge since I was already vaccinated at school. The memory of getting the Cholera shot (injection) is unforgettable. By evening I had fever and could barely lift my arm. My grandma gave me "LUNA PODA SEKA" - gently sponging with a pad of heated salt wrapped in a piece of cloth applied to the vicinity of the visible tiny orifice mark left on my arm stuck by the thick needle. The pain subsided after couple of days. A piece of paper called "Inoculation Certificate" was all I got after bearing this agony.
Little I knew that this Certificate will come handy a few months down the road when I was on the road to Puri days before the famous Lord Jagannath RATH YATRA. On the outskirts of the city near Chandanpur, the bus was stopped by a battalion of health officials armed with syringes on hand and eagerly waiting for their targets. It was time to give cholera shots. I proudly brandished my inoculation certificate as they spared me.
Those who didn't have inoculation certificates 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 on their bottom with great force. They grimaced and screamed in pain, limping back to bus in full view of passengers peeping through the window, too stunned to laugh. I was watching the Wild Wild West enacted on the east coast of India.
Though dismissive of the Cholera threat, the old woman's curse forever reminded me of leprosy. I lived in Calcutta during mid 1990s. One day I happened to see a leper near the Howrah Station whose almost entire torso was covered in wound, filled with pus. Flies swarmed around, murmuring and feasting on it. Too scared to stare, soon I turned my head and back to this helpless person. Still engraved in memory, that abominable sight refuses to go away. I feel short of kudos for the likes of Mother Teresa who shelter them and nurse their wound.
Leprosy was very common in India before independence. Mahatma Gandhi and his team once took a PADAYATRA (March on foot) in Odisha. Midway through the journey came across a leper and donated his hand spun KHADADA (crude cotton cloth) to the destitute. No more a scourge, now a days this disease is perfectly curable with rounds of antibiotics treatments.
Childhood memories die hard. Armadillo the scaled, ant eater animal prevalent in southern part of the United States are known to carry leprosy. I see lot of them around here snooping around in my yard, especially during night time. I always make it a point to stay away from them. As I pluck cucumbers from my backyard, somewhere in the back of my mind I am apprehensive that one day the "SASAN" Brahmin widow's curse might come true. She could have already taken rebirth as an Armadillo lurking just around the corner, bidding her time for vengeance.
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