Coronavirus is beyond grasp of these residents

While some believe it’s a skin disease, others call it a female ghost

Residents of a hamlet demonstrating how to wash hands as part of measures to contain COVID-19, near Bangarupalem in Chittoor district.

Even as the COVID-19 scare grips the entire world, the virus is beyond grasp of the residents of about a dozen hamlets at the forested areas and hillocks in Bangarupalem mandal bordering the forests of Tamil Nadu.

Though the COVID-19 concern has been largely felt all over Chittoor district for a month, this deadly virus started jolting the people of these remote hamlets only with the Janata Curfew on March 22, immediately followed by 21-day lockdown. The lockdown did not make much difference in their lifestyle. They only found missing of even the bare transportation facilities to reach the Chittoor-Bengaluru NH.

A dozen hamlets, including Bandladoddi, Kolavaru, Vepanapalle, Pulimadugu, Veluthuru Chenu, Jayanti and Palar, are virtually cut off from the NH. As the elderly find it almost impossible to understand what COVID -19 is, the youngsters, mostly illiterate and migrant workers, largely think that it’s a skin disease like leprosy that could finally lead to a morbid end. The prime source of their livelihood is working in fields crisscrossing the inter-State borders. Their biggest relief is to watch a movie once in a while.

The sudden lockdown continues to confuse the people of these villages. The perplexing doubts in their minds are: What’s the connection between this “skin decease” and stoppage of share-autos and motorbikes from entering the NH? Why should we shut up ourselves in houses, that too day and night? In a gap of one week, some families at Srinivasa Puram and Palar hamlets heard about death among their relatives’ families in TN.

Weird practices

The elderly give a new entity to the virus. For them it could be a female evil spirit, attacking them in sleep and entering the houses from holes in rooftops, or while moving alone (ironically to discourage the social distancing norm). Many women have already started weird practices like throwing cut lemon pieces smeared with kumkum on four directions of their dwelling, followed by placing neem leaves on thresholds.

Rajamma (72) of Bandladoddi hamlet said the virus was nothing but a female spirit from a foreign country (China), in search of the robust unmarried young men of villages. “If we don’t listen to her, she will attack us with deadly fevers and cough. No need of 21-day treatment, but we can deal the spirit with just three days with power-packed lemon pieces,” she said.

Anjamma (70) of Vepanapalle hamlet to some extent comes closer to truth. “The Aada dheyyam (female ghost) is afraid of soap. We heard that it will enter our body through hands like electric shock. If we apply soap to hands, it will enter through eyes and nostrils. That’s why we have to cover our faces,” she said.

In spite of this, the Rural Organisation for Poverty Eradication Services (ROPES) in association with Chennai-based Children Believe had finished a three-day long awareness campaign in 150 habitations of about 40 panchayats in Bangarupalem mandal, with prime focus on these forested villages. Campaign programme officer P. Sree Latha said:

“We tried our best to educate them about the coronavirus. Besides distributing soap boxes and masks to the households, we have also demonstrated the things such as washing hands, social distancing and staying indoors.”