Just a few kilometres off Tumakuru district, a stretch of kaccha road leads to a Gollarahatti (settlement of the Kadu Golla community) in Mallenahalli, a non-descript hamlet with mostly families who live in huts, a government school, and an anganawadi.
In a room of a particular home that can hold just about five-six people sitting close together is Vasantha, 23, clad in a faded red jacket with the hood over her head. She sits on a plastic mat, her eyes barely making eye contact with anyone. She does not speak much. Understandably so, because in the course of just over a month, she has lost two children.
This was the woman who had lost her baby allegedly due to an age-old practice among the Kadu Gollas, an OBC community in Category 1 (most backward). The traditional practice dictates that a newborn baby and the mother should stay in a makeshift tent-like structure (called gudlu) for a period of four to eight weeks, as the postpartum period is considered impure (sutaka).
