India Archives - Classic 105

Embu man stopped by government to travel to India for kidney transplant passes on

Posted on June 9, 2019 by Brian Ndung'u

The 25-year old Embu man who was stopped by the government to travel to India for a kidney transplant is dead.

Kenneth Kamau Kinyua succumbed to kidney failure at Nairobi West hospital leaving behind a huge bill of Sh 980,000.

The family of the young man is now calling upon well wishers and the government to assist them in settling the hospital bill so that they can be able to bury the deceased.

Speaking at their home in Kangari village in Runyenjes sub county, the deceased’s parent said they had sold all their properties in trying to save his life. “We cannot be able to raise such amount of money, we sold everything, our house is empty with nothing else to sell,” said David Kinyua, the deceased’s father.

Zipporah Wanja, Kamau’s mother said that they are now living in abject poverty and they cannot be able to raise the pending hospital bill by their own.

She added that the family had attached title deeds and a car log book at different hospitals.

“He has been in and out of different hospitals at different times and were forced to charge our land at some point to secure his release,” she said amid tears.

However, they said their son would have survived if the government had allowed him to travel to India for specialised treatment.

The ministry of health had said such services were available in Kenya and there was no need of Kenneth Kinyua travelling outside the country.

The deceased was an Information Technology student at Mt Kenya University and was diagnosed with stage five kidney failure in the year 2017 and has been surviving on three dialysis sessions every week before his death.

“He underwent three surgeries, I think this led to his kidneys failing,” said John Kandia, his guardian.

Kandia said that upon his death Kamau was dangerously underweight at 30 down from 65 kilograms last year.

The needy, elderly family is now calling upon the government, well wishers and other organisations of good will to come to their help of securing the hospital bill so that they can be able to bury their son.

We are appealing to well wishers, people of good will to support us raise Sh980, 000 for us to be able to bury our son,” said Wanja.

The family noted that Kamau has been suffering from other opportunistic ailments which costed more than Sh35,000 daily treating.

Help can be sent through Pay bill number, 222911, Account number, kamau#.

Approximately 10,000 Kenyans travel abroad every year in search of treatment, according to the ministry of Health.

A 2015 survey by the ministry found that 40 per cent of Kenyans who traveled overseas for treatment had renal (kidney) diseases.

The rest suffered other diseases, which included cancer, spinal disease, tissue disorders and peripheral vascular disorders among others.

The patients said they chose to go abroad because of lack of enough specialists and specialised medical equipment, long waiting periods, especially for cancer treatment and kidney transplants, and the high cost of treatment in Kenya.

-Martin Fundi

Businessman dies after undergoing hair transplant in India

Posted on March 16, 2019March 15, 2019 by Brian Ndung'u

An Indian man has died after reportedly suffering an allergic reaction during a hair transplant.

Shrawan Kumar Choudhary underwent the procedure at a private clinic in Mumbai, according to local reports.

The 43-year-old, who ran a logistics firm, died the day after the 12-hour procedure, The Times of India reports.

Mr Choudhary, who allegedly had not told his family about the procedure, paid 500,000 rupees (£5,400) for the hair transplant.

The doctor who treated him told police he asked for 9,000 grafts in one sitting – three times more than recommended.

It is currently unclear whether Dr Vikas Halwai, the dermatologist who treated Mr Choudhary, agreed to the request.

However, Dr Halwai did admit to police that Mr Choudhary began to develop his complications after 3,700 grafts.

The hair transplant began last Thursday evening, after Mr Choudhary underwent checks. It is thought these were standard safety tests.

By 2.30am on the Friday, he started to suffer from neck pain. Dr Halwai claimed he dished out painkillers and antibiotics.

Mr Choudhary was then whisked away to Global Hospital, Parel, when he began having breathing difficulties.

He died on Saturday at Hiranandani Hospital, after his friend took him there on Friday.

Mr Choudhary’s death has been listed as accidental by the local police force, however a probe has been launched to get to the bottom of it.

‘WHAT IS A HAIR TRANSPLANT AND WHAT ARE THE DANGERS?

A hair transplant is a cosmetic procedure to move hair from an unaffected area to another that is thinning or bald.

The procedure – carried out under local anaesthetic and sedation – are not available on the NHS and can cost between £1,000 and £30,000 privately.

There are two main types of hair transplants, and both transplants usually take a full day.

The procedure involves removing individual grafts of hair one-by-one and then placing them into tiny cuts in the scalp.

One hair clinic in the UK states the maximum daily yield of grafts is up to 3,000.

If a large area is being treated, patients may need to have two or more sessions a few months apart.

It can take up to 18 months for patients to see the full results of the transplant.

The NHS Choices website states the procedure itself is safe – but, like any, carries some small risks.

These include: excessive bleeding, infection or an allergic reaction to the anaesthetic or sedation.

-Dailymail

Pesa Ni Pesa: Woman Arrested After Posing As A Man And Getting Married Twice To Obtain A Dowry

Posted on February 18, 2018February 17, 2018 by Brian Ndung'u

An Indian woman has been arrested after allegedly masquerading as a man to marry two women and obtain a dowry.

Krishna Sen, 26, is believed to have posed as a man since 2014 when she wed her first wife, using Facebook to snare her brides.

They reportedly separated soon after the wedding, then Sen married another woman in April 2017.

Her former in-laws told police that she had been harassing their daughter for a dowry and borrowed more than £9,000 from them to start a business, but didn’t repay it.

Sen reportedly spoke in a deep voice, smoked, drank alcohol and rode a motorcycle with her male friends to maintain the ruse.

Police told the BBC said she had never undressed in front of her two wives or been sexually intimate with them.

But The Times of India report that she confessed to using sex toys to make love to her brides in complete darkness.

Sen, formerly known as Sweety, was arrested on Wednesday in the northern state of Uttarakhand for demanding dowry, which is illegal in India.

Police said that Sen’s deception was uncovered during questioning and she told them she had always wanted to live a ‘man’s life’.

It is not clear whether her parents were aware of what she had been doing.

-Dailymail

Village Elders Order Two Sisters To Be Raped For Their Brother’s Mistake

Posted on August 29, 2015 by Lourraine Chituyi

An un-elected all male village council in India has ordered two sisters to be raped as punishment after their brother ran off with a married woman.

According to Zee Media, the sisters’ brother Ravi fell in love with a girl from the Jat caste, a higher social caste than Ravi and his family, who are Dalit, once known as the ‘untouchables’, who are at the bottom of India’s caste system.

The Jat woman’s family married her off to someone else in February but she later escaped and eloped with Ravi in March.

As punishment, on July 31 a village council decided Ravi’s sisters should be raped to avenge his actions.

The horrific order was revealed by Amnesty International which said the sisters and their family have fled their village in the Baghpat district, just outside of Delhi.

Sumit Kumar, another brother of Meenakshi, told Amnesty that members of the Jat caste were powerful members of the village council, saying: “The Jat decision is final.”

His family fears for their lives if they return. Meenakshi has filed a petition with India’s Supreme Court asking for protection.

Meanwhile her father has also lodged a complaint with two national bodies saying he has been harassed by the family of the Jat woman and by police.

They are also worried about the safety of the Jat woman, who is believed to be pregnant with Ravi’s child.

Amnesty International has launched a petition calling on India’s authorities intervene immediately and protect the two sisters.

5 Bizarre reasons why some Indian men seek divorce

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Michelle Wangari

India still has one of the lowest divorce rates in the world, but marriage breakdowns are becoming more common. Experts say most cases of divorce in India are filed on the grounds of abuse, or what’s legally termed as “cruelty”. But what amounts to abuse has long been open to debate, especially when determining whether psychological trauma has been afflicted on a person during marriage.

Because of its wide legal definition, Indian courts have had to rule on a host of bizarre interpretations of what constitutes non-physical abuse. BBC’s Atish Patel shares a few of the more unlikely examples.

1. My wife parties too much

A Bombay high court overturned a family court ruling from 2011 that granted divorce to a sailor who claimed his wife’s regular partying, among other things, was a form of abuse. The judge ruled that socialising to some extent in the present society is permissible

2. She is a sex machine

A sexless marriage is a common trigger for divorce globally. But last year, a man in Mumbai wanted to divorce his wife because she had too much sex

In his petition, the man described his wife as having an “excessive and insatiable appetite for sex” ever since their marriage in April 2012, according to a report by the Press Trust of India news agency.

3. She wears trousers

In another case, a man sought a divorce from his wife on the grounds of cruelty in part because of her dress sense saying that the wife would wear shirts and trousers to her workplace instead of traditional Indian clothing. A family court passed a divorce order three years ago, but in March last year, the Bombay high court overturned it.

4. Too much acne on her face

In another instance a man filed for divorce complaining that he was traumatised by his wife’s acne problem. The couple that had an arranged marriage divorced later with the court ruling in favour of her husband.

5. ‘Hostile hospitality’

Going back even further, in 1985 the Allahabad high court in an appeal hearing upheld a lower court’s decision that the refusal by his wife to make tea for her husband’s friends had left him humiliated and along with other factors, amounted to mental abuse and acceptable grounds for divorce.

-Cartoons by BBC Hindi’s Kirtish Bhatt

Bizarre Islam religious festival in India

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Lourraine Chituyi

Sufi Muslim holy men have been performing their difficult-to-watch acts of self-torture as part of the Urs Festival in India.

The holy men were photographed pushing spikes into their eyes, cutting their cheeks with knives and even stabbing themselves in the back with skewers.

While these actions were clearly performed for an audience who could be seen gawking and taking pictures, they are based on a religious tradition.

The six-day annual Urs festival sees thousands of followers of Sufi, often called a mystic branch of Islam, come together to mark the death of Moinuddin Chisti, who founded Sufi 800 years ago.

Sufi differs from most branches of Islam becuase its followers devote themselves to this one particular saint.

The holy men, who take part in the 75 miles march to a shire in Bhadiyad during the festival, will also self-flagellate and lead a night-long singing session with other worshippers.

-Metro

Bride marries wedding guest after groom gets an epileptic attack

Posted on February 20, 2015February 20, 2015 by Lourraine Chituyi

A bride decided to change her groom and picked a guest to marry her instead after her husband to be had a seizure before they exchanged vows.

Jugal Kishore, 25, reportedly fell to the ground during the traditional exchange of “varmala” flower garlands in the northern town of Rampur.

His illness was a shock to his wife-to-be, 23-year-old Indira, who was apparently furious that she and her family had not been told of Mr Kishore’s epilepsy.

Instead of calling the wedding off, she quickly chose wedding guest Harpal Singh, her sister’s brother-in-law, to replace him.

Casually dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, he accepted, the Times of India reported.

After the swap, the wedding ceremony continued as planned until Mr Kishore returned from hospital.

Shocked at returning to his own wedding to find his fiancée celebrating her marriage to someone else, he and his relatives reportedly pleaded with Indira to reverse her decision.

When diplomacy failed, the family allegedly resorted to violence and entered into a brawl involving plates and cutlery.

Mr Kishore’s family later filed a complaint at the local police station but withdrew it after older relatives intervened.

An official at the station, told the Times of India two wedding guests were briefly arrested.

Both families have amicably resolved the matter and the complaints have since been withdrawn.

Love Commandos helping Indian couples escape prejudice

Posted on February 8, 2015February 8, 2015 by AFP

Vandna left everything behind when she fled her parents’ home in India to be with the man she loved, giving up family, friends and the studies she hoped would help her become a teacher.

It is only thanks to the Love Commandos, a New Delhi-based organisation that helps desperate couples who have defied their families, that the 22-year-old and her new husband have a roof over their heads.

The organisation is the brainchild of former journalist Sanjoy Sachdev, who launched it in 2010 after coming to the aid of a young man falsely accused of rape by the family of the woman he wanted to marry.

Since then, it has helped thousands of desperate couples in the socially conservative country, giving them sanctuary in safe houses and access to legal advice.

The organisation operates seven apartments in the Indian capital, but can also call on 300 couples to take in lovers fleeing relatives’ wrath for a short period.

“Some stay with us 14 months, others 14 hours,” said Sachdev.

Like many young women in India, Vandna was expected to marry a man chosen by her parents, who were furious when they discovered her relationship with Dilip, whom she married in July.

They first stopped her from going to college, where she was studying business and accountancy, and then hastily arranged a marriage to a male relative.

That was the final straw, and she fled the family home a day before the marriage was due to take place.

“I haven’t called my parents or my friends since I left,” Vandna told AFP, sitting beside her new husband in the modest apartment provided to the couple by the Love Commandos.

“I want to be a teacher and my husband wants to set up his business, but we don’t know when that is possible,” said the young woman, who rarely leaves their apartment.

– ‘Lovers’ rights’ –

India may be modernising rapidly, but Sachdev says that violence against young people who choose their partners against their parents’ wishes is still a big issue.

“Because of caste, religious, economic or social status issues, many times parents still oppose their children’s relationship,” he told AFP.

“A lot of young people try to convince their parents to accept their marriages, but that often ends with girls having their education stopped and being illegally detained. It can even end with honour killings.”

India has for centuries seen killings that target young couples whose families or communities disapprove of their relationships.

The killings are carried out by close relatives or village elders to protect what is seen as the family’s reputation and pride.

That was the fate of 21-year-old Bhawna Yadav, whose parents and uncle are accused of conspiring to kill her and dispose of her body after she married in secret.

Her family had wanted her to marry a man from the Yadav caste to which her husband Abhishek Seth did not belong.

When they learned of the secret marriage, Bhawna’s parents asked Seth to let her go back to the community for a celebration, which he agreed to do on the advice of friends. Shortly afterwards, he received a call from Bhawna’s cousin to say she had been killed and her body burned.

“We had so many plans,” Seth told AFP. “She wanted to go to Goa on holiday and for us to have our arms tattooed with a heart and our initials” — a promise that he has kept despite his wife’s death.

Love Commandos founder Sachdev says horrific incidents like these often go unreported, with even police sometimes happy to turn a blind eye.

He says the authorities need to do better at protecting young couples, and even calls on political parties to come up with an “agenda for the protection of lovers’ rights”.

In the meantime, he says more and more young people are finding the courage to marry for love, defying pressures of family and society and even the threat of violence.

And although the tradition of arranged marriages remains strong in India, experts say things are getting better.

“I think education leads to greater involvement of girls in their marriage arrangement,” sociology professor Sonalde Desai told AFP.

Photo Credits : AFP

Indian brides hire monkeys to keep “gate crashers” away

Posted on February 5, 2015February 5, 2015 by Lourraine Chituyi

Anxious brides wanting the perfect wedding day are leaving nothing to chance in the Indian city of Agra, hiring large monkeys and their handlers to keep pesky smaller ones at bay.

Grey langurs are becoming increasingly common at outdoor weddings to ward off their natural enemy rhesus monkeys which are known to gatecrash and wreak havoc, an official said Tuesday.

“The langur-handlers are much in demand during the winter wedding season,” Ram Avtaar, an official in the city’s municipal corporation, told AFP by phone.

“They usually charge up to 3,000 rupees (Sh. 4,200) if booked in advance but the rates can go up to Rs 10,000 ($160) in case of an emergency when monkeys have already entered a venue.”

Though revered in the majority Hindu nation, monkeys are a major menace in many cities, trashing gardens, office and residential rooftops and even viciously attacking people for food.

indian langur — Image courtesy of Timeslive.co.za

India elects first transgender mayor

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Michelle Wangari

A low-caste transgender in central India has become the country’s first to win civic polls and be declared mayor.Madhu Bai Kinnar won the municipal election in Raigarh in the central state of Chhattisgarh Sunday, beating her rival from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by more than 4,500 votes, according to the state election commission.

Video footage showed the 35-year-old Kinnar draped in a saree, folding her hands and greeting supporters who placed marigold garlands around her neck amid a blaze of camera flashes.

Kinnar, a member of the Dalit caste previously known as “untouchables”, had been earning a living by singing and dancing on trains, the Press Trust of India reported, but she stopped when asked to represent her community.

“People have shown faith in me. I consider this win as love and blessings of people for me. I’ll put in my best efforts to accomplish their dreams,” Kinnar told reporters after winning the election.

Kinnar’s win comes nine months after India’s top court ruled that transgenders be legally recognised as gender-neutral.

Eight Indian women die, dozens critical after mass sterilisation

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Michelle Wangari

Eight women have died in India and dozens more are in hospital, many in a critical condition after a state-run mass sterilisation, a local official said on Tuesday.

Many of the more than 80 women who underwent sterilisation at the free government-run camp in the central state of Chhattisgarh on Saturday fell ill shortly afterwards, the official told AFP.

“Reports of a drop in pulse, vomiting and other ailments started pouring in on Monday from the women who underwent surgery,” said Sonmani Borah, the commissioner for Bilaspur district where the camp was held.

“Since Monday eight women have died and 64 are in various hospitals.” Television footage showed women on stretchers being rushed into hospital with anxious relatives by their side.

Top India politician Jayalalitha jailed for corruption

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Fred Indimuli

One of India’s most colorful and controversial politicians, Jayaram Jayalalitha, has been sentenced to jail for four years on corruption charges in a case that has lasted for 18 years.

The chief minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu was found guilty of amassing wealth of more than $10m (£6.1m) which was unaccounted for.

She has to pay a 1bn rupee ($16m; £10m) fine and resign as chief minister.

A former actress, her life has been marked by a series of high and lows.

The verdict was delivered by a special court in Bangalore amid tight security.

Along with three others, Jayalalitha was sentenced to an immediate jail term, and was due to be sent to Parappana Agrahara prison in Bangalore.

Mozilla launching cheap Firefox OS smartphones in India

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Fred Indimuli

The Intex Technologies Cloud FX is the first handset to go on sale in India to use the Firefox OS operating system.

The Cloud FX will be the first smartphone offered to the country’s consumers to run a cost-effective alternative to Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS operating systems.

In terms of specifications, the handset, built by Intex Technologies specifically for the Indian market, is not going to give the iPhone a run for its money. It has a 3.5-inch screen, a 1 GHz processor and no front-facing camera.

But that’s not the point; the point is the handset’s operating system which is open and created in a language that pretty much all web designers and developers are familiar with — HTML5. It means that potentially anyone with a technological inclination can create an app for it and that that app can be hosted online as part of a website.

The idea is that as well as regional and global app stores, developers can create hyper-local apps for Firefox OS phones.

Shirt Made Of Gold?

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Fred Indimuli

An Indian textile magnate who made a fortune from his clothing empire is making sure the rest of the world knows about his success – by having a shirt made out of pure gold.

Although he left school without any qualifications Pankaj Parakh created a multi-million pound textile business in India.

And now, to celebrate his upcoming 45th birthday on Friday, he has commissioned the solid gold shirt that weighs more than four kilos.

Entire Indian village buried in mudslide

Posted on July 31, 2014July 31, 2014 by Fred Indimuli

Photo courtesy of telegraph.co.uk

An entire village has been buried under a massive mudslide.

Torrential rains in rural western India have triggered the landslide that killed 17 people as it swept away scores of thatched huts and brick houses.

Rescue teams and locals pulled people out of the deep mud 60 km from the city of Pune.

Officials said others may have been trapped under rocks, trees and mud.

Tag: India