Mrinal Pande journeys through these paradoxes of the Indian healthcare system, travelling "around the country for a little over two years, gathering pain". Collecting stories about women’s health, how lives are affected by their environment, the pain of infertility, the fear of unwanted pregnancies, the agony of backroom abortions, on how women perceive sexuality...
Pande’s odyssey traverses territories that remain inaccessible to most: in remote rural regions, urban slums, in the minds of women. Her white discharge, a woman quivers, might make the health worker think she’s unchaste: "News spreads fast in the village and brings disgrace." Another asks for "safai" (abortion) because "my dhani (husband) might well disown this baby. Men are so suspicious if they live away from home." These voices speak of silences, what’s on their minds about their bodies. And Pande does admirably in recording, and making sense of them.
