File Name: 31.

Neelu (b)

Names of the Interviewees: Neelu & Vishnu Dev

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Namaskaar. What is your name?

Interviewee No. 1: My name is Neelu.

How old are you, Neelu?

Neelu: I’m 37 years old.

Who are the members of your family?

Neelu: My husband passed away last year and I have three children and a father-in-law.

How old are your children?

Neelu: They’re aged 10, 8 and 2.5 years old respectively.

Are they all boys?

Neelu: No, the middle one is a girl.

Where do you live?

Neelu: We live in Motihari village, in Bihar.

Where in Motihari?

Neelu: Near to the Chakia Thane.

How did he get to know that you had this condition? When did the trouble commence?

Neelu: I first got to know about the lump in my abdomen. But at the same time, my husband was

also going through a severe health condition. Because of this, I could not make time for medical

attention for myself. I prioritized my husband's medical attention more than my own. But

unfortunately, he passed away. I got myself checked up in Patna and got to know that it is cancer.

Where did you get checked up in Patna?

Neelu: Mahavir Cancer Hospital. They told me about the tumour. When I spoke with some people

they advised me to go to Banaras since the medical facilities are far better than those in Patna.

And at that time, I was lonely. I had no one to accompany me. So I came here after following the

advice of the villagers.

Are you staying in your home currently?

Interviewee no. 2: We've made arrangements for her to stay close by.

How much do you pay for rent?

Neelu: 5,000 for a month.

What kind of arrangements have you made to feed yourself?

Neelu: From outside.

How much do you spend on that?

Neelu: 4,000 per month.

(To the other interviewee) Please tell me your name.

Interviewee no. 2: My name is Vishnu Dev

Vishnu Ji, are you also from Chakia?

Vishnu Dev: Yes, I am.

Are you helping her (Neelu) while living in Benaras?

Vishnu Dev: Yes.

Let’s talk about the sequence of events. First, you got diagnosed with the tumour, and then

your husband fell ill. Am I right?

Neelu: We were getting him treated for two years as he had been ill for 2 years.

How did his illness begin?

Neelu: He had blisters in his mouth, and we sought treatment at our local doctor’s, and we thought

he got better. But the blister reappeared. Then, the tumour started to grow in the cheek. We got to

know it was cancer after the diagosis. We then started to get him treated for cancer.

Where did the treatment happen?

Neelu: ACL hospitals, Faridabad.

Is it a private hospital?

Neelu: Yes, it is. First, they tried chemotherapy. But it worked only temporarily. Then, they tried

surgery, and then chemotherapy again. We got him treated for 2 years, and yet we couldn’t save

him.

Did you frequently travel to Faridabad for these two years for the treatment?

Neelu: No, they let him stay in Faridabad during that time.
Did you travel from Motihari then?

Neelu: We are poor people. If we don’t work, then how will we be able to pay bills?

What did your husband work as?

Neelu: He was a driver for the company Pepper Fry.

Did he continue to work in spite of his illness?

Neelu: Because he had to feed a family he did it as long as he could. After a point he quit his job

and he also wanted to put an end to the treatment process as we could not afford it.

How expensive was the treatment?

Neelu: We have spent 17 to 18 lakh rupees. We sold our property and spent our savings.

Vishnu Dev: They wanted to spend all of their savings on the person who was the main

breadwinner of the family. We borrowed some money from relatives and some neighbours in the

village.

Neelu: We are left with no savings right now.

When did he pass away?

Neelu: 26 July.

Last year?

Neelu: Yes. It hasn't been one year yet since his death.

When did you get to know that you have a tumour?

Neelu: I got to know in April.

During the lockdown?

Neelu: Yes. But by that time, we were out of savings. My husband had an appointment with the

doctor at that time. But we were going through a dilemma whether to go ahead with my husband's

treatment or mine.

When did you bring him back?

Neelu: May. We got the clarity from the doctor that there's no positive outcome of his treatment. So

we gave up and brought him back home.

Didn't you get checked in April or May?

Neelu: We could not.

Did you go to Mahavir in May?

Neelu: In January. After his death, we had no money for me to get checked up anywhere.

Everybody got to know that his situation would not improve when he resorted to taking

homeopathic medicine.

For how long did he take the medicine?

Neelu: 2 to 3 months.

Who suggested homoeopathy to you?

Neelu: Someone from the village. They collected 10000 rupees for us to visit the Mahavir hospital.

Did your husband take treatment at Mahavir?

Neelu: No he did not. We only got him checked.

What was closer to you in distance? Patna? Or this place?

Neelu: It's almost the same. After has death I have to be careful about my own health.

Your file was made on the 2nd of February. Here the procedure begins with a test and then

the treatment.

Neelu: The tests went on for about a month.

At what time did you stand in line to get the token?

Neelu: We would arrive here by 7:00 or 8:00 a.m.

What time would you leave in the evening?

Neelu: 4:00 to 5:00 in the evening.

What has your doctor let you know?

Neelu: The chemo has begun. And he has instructed the team for a surgery tomorrow. Today they

will check me for covid and tomorrow is my surgery. And we are unsure of how to collect money for

surgery.

Have you felt the formalities for additional monetary support?

Vishnu Dev: Yes.

How long will it take for the money to be transferred?

Neelu: Two days.

What you have to know is that if the money doesn't get transferred on time, the hospital

might tell you to pay a part of the bill. Have they given you an estimation?

Neelu: 25000 rupees.

Tomorrow you might have to visit desk number 13 or 14. In the 2 years of your husband's

treatment did the doctor tell the truth about the worsening of his condition?

Neelu: They would not directly tell that his health is improving. Instead once it happened that his

health was okay for about 3 months. And after that and just continued to get worse.

Did you ever know about some good government hospital that you could visit?

Neelu: We did know about some. But we prefer to visit the private hospital for efficient treatment. In

7 months time has now had got shut completely so we wanted to visit a private hospital. But we

believe the private hospital milked the opportunity to squeeze money out of our pockets.

Did you know anything about some of the hospitals that are here?

Neelu: No.

Do you know what this hospital is affiliated to? Do you have an idea if it is government

owned or private (Tata)?

Neelu: All I know is that it is affordable to get treated here.

This is a government owned hospital enhanced treatment costs are low. How long does it

take you to get your work done here? Do you face any obstacles?

Neelu: It takes the entire day from 7 o'clock in the morning till 5 o'clock in the evening.

Does anyone accompany you and fulfilling the hospital formalities?

Neelu: It's him (pointing towards Vishnu Dev)

Vishnu Dev: Neelu and I do it together.

Do you have to take a leave from your employer in order to complete the hospital

formalities? What does Rajkumar do?

Vishnu Dev: Yes I do take a leave from my employer and I do get a pay cut. Rajkumar Is the driver

but he also works as a labourer nearby. All of this helps us monetarily.

Who takes care of your children?

Neelu: My sasur Ji (father-in-law).

But isn't has health not in very good condition?

Neelu: What am I supposed to do? There's no other option.

What about your parents? Siblings? Where do they live?

Neelu: They all have their own homes to look after. I feel like nobody cares when you're in need.

Don't you think they should be more responsible since you have young children to look

after and your husband is no more?

Neelu: Yes.

Vishnu Dev: The village community standing by us.

When did your Jeth (elder brother) die?

Neelu: 2014.

And what about his wife? His family?

Neelu: A boy died at my Jeth's funeral.

How old was the boy?

Neelu: 19.

Was there a flood?

Neelu: Yes.

Vishnu Dev: 9 men got washed away in the flood. Two were saved, while two kids died.

How do you take care of yourself in spite of all the pain?

Neelu: I am unable to sleep well or eat well.

Have the doctor told you what needs to be done next?

Neelu: Not yet. They asked us if we could pay a part of the bill and we said we couldn't so they

now have to clear the bill in its entirety.

Do you know that there's a difference in cancer that your husband went through and what

you're going through?

Neelu: No.

Cancer can be in various parts of the body and not in one place only.

Neelu: No I don't know that.

Don't you think about that after seeing so many patients here?

Neelu: No, I am new to this.

Do you know anyone in your neighbourhood in the village who has had cancer?

Neelu: No.

Never have you heard about cancer before?

Neelu: No. I might have heard about it but I never got to see what it is like. Some survive, while

some don't.

If treatment is given on time, the chances of survival are high.

Neelu: treatment might be timely but monetarily there needs to be adequate support

Don't you think you're getting the support from help services?

Neelu: Yes.

Are you going into that paying the rent and fetching your daily supplies?

Neelu: I get some money from people in the village and that's how I manage.

How much debt did you incur as part of your husband's treatment?

Neelu: We first took a loan for lakhs and then we sold our property.

Did you borrow from people or from a banking institution?

Neelu: From people.

How much land did you sell?

Neelu: 6-7 Kathas.

Do you have any left?

Neelu: 2-4 Kathas.

Do you have any heart feelings about having gone through such hardships?

Neelu: Kind of.

Has anyone from your maternal side of your family suffered from cancer?

Neelu: No. It is really my husband who went through it.

What your husband went through was a different type of cancer. Did you have any toxic

addictions like paan or tobacco?

Neelu: He had no addictions.

Were you aware of the fact that tobacco causes cancer?

Neelu: Kind of.

The kind of cancer that women go through is different. Did your doctor tell you this?

Neelu: No.

Are you worried about collecting money to pay the bill?

Neelu: Yes.

I hope the help service will help you in some way monetarily.

Neelu: Hopefully.

Have you seen other female patients at the OPD?

Neelu: Yes.
Have you not spoken with them?

Neelu: No.

If you notice you will see that a lot of them come on their own without having anyone to

accompany them. Yesterday I saw a woman in her late 20s who had a child aged 3 months

old. The woman was instructed to not feed her baby due to her cancer. She was traveling

alone from Ghazipur. And she has no shelter to rely on except for the other patients. What

I'm trying to say is that a lot of people go through hardships and she was the only one to

look after herself. She couldn't support herself that well monetarily but somehow she is not

giving up on the treatment.

Neelu: Okay.

I'm sorry about what has happened to you and it's very starting to hear about that. But no

matter what you should never lose hope. If you make it live you will be able to support your

children which will be very very amazing. You have a lot of people supporting you here,

Neelu.

Neelu: (Sobs)

Do you want to end the interview here Neelu? Do you have anything else to share? Do you

want to talk about anything that is worrying you right now?

Neelu: No. I'm hoping for the best to happen.

Money is not the issue here you have to be hopeful from within and show inner strength.

Neelu: Yes.

Vishnu Dev: You have to be brave, Neelu.

Neelu: The village community helped me and they have my back.

I will allow you to speak to a lady here who will guide you through the process and give you

some mental support.

Neelu: Thank you.