We are taught to
expect the unexpected when on the field. However, little did we expect what befell
us in Araria, Bihar. Since our guide contained sensitive questions and the
respondents were 15-19-year-old girls, we requested privacy to conduct our
focus group discussions in the local primary school. However, the next day when
we returned to the school, we were surrounded by a crowd of agitated villagers
who refused to let us continue for fear that we may kidnap their children.
Eventually, after we managed to calm them
down, we thoroughly explained the purpose of the study to them. However, the
situation had spiraled to such an extent that we had to exit that village and
drop it from our sample. It was only later that we found out that the reason
for such animosity towards outsiders stemmed from an incident that had occurred
a couple of months ago. Apparently, two young girls of the village were taken
to Mumbai on the pretext of getting employment. Instead, their organs were
harvested and they were sent back to the village on a train.
Lesson learned: We should have entered the
village a day prior to our interviews and explained our study to the Pradhan.
This would also have helped us gain the confidence of our respondents.
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