Against All Odds: She lost her brother to alcoholism but rid her village of scourge of hooch

The fort is symbolically apt. The group has fought many battles and is still standing tall. From ridding their village of alcohol by taking on the hooch mafia headlong to now reaching out to villagers with mental health problems, this self-help group is rightfully called a purchundi (pouch), by its founder, 56-year-old Shantabai Varave. For it’s really a purchundi of individual stories of struggle and many battles fought and won.

Varave, who studied only till class 7, is not taller than five feet, wears a traditional nau-wari sari but exudes the confidence and conviction that led her to organise about 150 women of the village in a self-help group.

This self-help group is rightfully called a purchundi (pouch), by its founder, 56-year-old Shantabai Varave. For it’s really a purchundi of individual stories of struggle and many battles fought and won. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre)

“With the support from social organisation Jeevan Sanstha and its founders Jadgish and Girija Godbole, we started coming together. I was separated from my husband and men from the villages were apprehensive that I would have a bad influence on their wives. The first battle is always the toughest and I managed to win that by winning the confidence of both the men and the women,” says Varave.

“A lot of women suffered because of the drinking habits of their husbands and other male family members. We decided to take on the local hooch mafia. We had observed that if police raid one hooch den, the same would come up at a different place. We decided to target their supply chain of raw materials. A low-grade black jaggery and navasagar (ammonium chloride) were used for production,” she adds.

“We went to the local shops who were selling these items. Requesting them did not work, because it was too profitable for them. A bunch of us women charged into these shops, threw out jaggery and navasagar and burnt it down. We did it again and again. We knew we had made enemies. But we had strong backing from Jeevan Sanstha and then senior officers from Pune Rural police. Once and for all we managed to dislodge hooch mafia from our village,” says Varave.

Varave, however, adds that even today, they have to be vigilant that no one starts distilling and selling hooch. “Our battle continues. We have been able to free the village from the clutches of alcoholism and the social and economic evils that come with it,” says Varave.

The group has also been a strong voice for many women from the Maval region and represented them in the protests held in Maharashtra against the Farm Bills brought by the government in 2020. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre)

Part of her fight stemmed from her own personal experience. Her younger brother Bhagwan battled alcoholism for a long time from a very young age. “In spite of all the possible efforts and attempts to help him get treatment, we lost him when he was just 32. That’s when I thought this should not happen to others, at least in my village,” she says.

Today, the group is tackling the issue of mental health. “Mental health issues are mistaken as a problem of cities. We also used to think so erroneously. Today, we make sure we keep our eyes open to see if anyone is in need of any mental health assistance. A woman from our village who is around 40, underwent a major surgery related to her gynaecological problems. A while later, her young son left the house due to some differences. She suffered from severe mental health issues. Our group helped convince her family to seek professional help and helped her get treatment from a psychologist in Pune.”

“It is a self-help group that we have built, fought for and nurtured,” says Bebi Mohol,58, whom Varave calls her number cruncher. Bebi Mohol says that not having attended school does not come in her way of being the ‘accounts head’ of the self-help group.

She is the one who keeps track of each member’s inputs, shares and profits. The group has also been a strong voice for many women from the Maval region and represented them in the protests held in Maharashtra against the Farm Bills brought by the government in 2020.

Another group member, Manisha Mohol, adds, “We are not different from other women. We still do most domestic chores, cooking, cleaning, etc. We go to farms and work with our husbands and family members. The self-help group has given us a position of equality in our households and our villages. And above all, in our own minds, that is what matters, right?”