Doctor couple Smita and Ravindra Kolhe, who have transformed the lives of Bairagarh’s villagers, will be honoured with the Pulotsav Krutadnyata Samman on November 10. Dr Smita tells us more
From music to law to medicine, Dr Smita Kolhe’s educational background is as varied as her work in Bairagarh, a remote village in Amravati district of Maharashtra. From medical facilities to agricultural innovations, basic infrastructure, women’s issues and malnutrition — she, along with her husband Dr Ravindra Kolhe, have transformed the lives of the villagers in the last two decades. The couple will be honoured with the Pulotsav Krutadnyata Samman in Pune on November 10 in appreciation of their work.
What began as Dr Ravindra’s solo journey, soon became a mission after the couple got married. “I had my own hospital in Nagpur, and it was doing well by god’s grace. I was a successful doctor and leading a pretty luxurious life. Very soon though the excitement of a rich life faded and I wanted to do something for society. The ideals of serving the nation were imbibed in us early on in life,” says she.
Just around that time, Dr Smita read about Dr Ravindra’s conditions for marrying a girl. She should be able to manage with Rs 400 a month, walk 40 km, agree to a Rs 5 court marriage and beg for others. “He would charge the adivasis Re 1 as his fees and was ready to beg for their requirements and well-being. He thus wanted a life partner who was on the same page with him. Initially, I was skeptical. Here I was wearing a Rs 400 saree, and managing an entire household with that amount seemed impossible. But I decided to go for it,” she explains.
Building the foundation
The journey together began in 1988, “right from constructing a makeshift house of bamboo sticks, and setting the chulha to levelling the backyard with cowdung”. The idea was not to lecture the villagers, but lead by example. “We began using new techniques in farming, worked as farm labourers ourselves, did a milk supply business, and sold vegetables too,” Dr Smita informs.
A lot of changes soon began to take place in the region. From mobile hospitals to ASHA workers (accredited social work activists), roads and farming experiments, quite a lot was changing, some of it enabled through Supreme Court orders.
The Melghat region had a high incidence of malnutrition. “Through proper guidance and mentoring, the figures have now improved. The government also granted us a ration shop on trial basis, as part of which we realised that lifting heavy bags of grains was becoming a pain for the labourers. Thus began the campaign for limiting the weight of these bags to 50 kg and Supreme Court soon passed an order on this,” Dr Smita elaborates.
Overcoming challenges
In a journey that was fraught with challenges, Dr Smita found love, life and happiness. Ask her what were the biggest challenges and her answer is, “What is a challenge when you love what you do. My journey so far has been nothing short of beautiful.”
Prod her a little, and she reluctantly states lack of roads, connectivity, and the extreme weather as a few challenges she had to fight hard alone. “Doctor (she refers to Dr Ravindra) used to go to faraway villages for treating patients, and all this on foot since there was no transport from Bairagarh. That’s when he would not return home for weeks and I would deal with everything alone, along with our young kids — Rohit and Ram. The rains here are extreme, and the patients I treated had all sorts of issues. A man mauled by a tiger was one such case I handled by weaving 400 stitches in his body,” she recalls.
These difficulties only made Dr Smita stronger, she says, narrating another incident that has stayed with her. “I was running a high fever when I received news of a pregnant lady unable to deliver. Her child’s hand had come out, but the entire body wouldn’t. Both the mother and child were stuck in a difficult situation. I travelled 40 km in a bullock cart and delivered the baby by using every possible medical skill that I had learnt. The smell of life and the spark in that infant’s eyes is something I can neither describe nor forget,” the soft-spoken lady tells us.
The journey continues
Their elder son, Rohit, decided to pursue farming as a full-time profession and the younger one is studying medicine in a government medical college. “We never advised them about what to do. They chose their paths. Rohit didn’t believe in the education system, and used all his talent in making farming sustainable and profitable. He now earns as much as a corporate employee. Ram wants to better the medical facilities here, and hence decided on becoming a surgeon,” she happily says.