| Life begins at 40. But for men in village Pabla of Orissa | | | | they do not have work. There are lot of trees of date |
| (India), life ends before 40. | | | | palm. They are fond of palm wine. Whenever they |
| Pabla is in "Dhenkanal" district of Orissa. In this village | | | | feel hungry they drink palm wine. Due to poverty, they |
| no man crossed 40 since last 50 years. But more | | | | do not have nutritious food with the wine. Even a child |
| interesting is that only men and not women die before | | | | of 10-12 years may drink 5-7 glasses of wine |
| 40 with an unknown disease with more or less similar | | | | everyday. |
| symptoms. | | | | If this is true, then why women of the village do not die |
| The villagers believe that this happens because of fury | | | | in early age ? |
| of goddess. To please the goddess many hens and | | | | In "Kondha" caste, women are responsible to earn for |
| goats were killed. | | | | the family. They go out of village and work hard to |
| To know the reason, we have to study history of | | | | earn and do not get time or opportunity to drink the |
| Pabla. | | | | wine. |
| Before 1957, land of the village was quite fertile and | | | | The solution to this problem is to give work for the |
| the farming was their main source of income. There | | | | men and make them work. The dam should be built |
| was a dam near Pabla and they used the water for | | | | again. Many times, they complained, but the |
| the crops. They used to take crops for 3 times a year. | | | | Government didn't respond. The government may not |
| In monsoon of 1958, the dam got broken and is not | | | | be interested as the population of the village is very |
| repaired till today (2008). Pabla is situated at top of a | | | | less (not enough to make a strong vote bank). |
| hill and now water can not be stored and flows away. | | | | What you think, please post a comment. |
| The "Kondha" (caste) are strong drunkards. And more | | | | To read more articles, visit : our blog. |