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KOTA: Concrete buckled and the school roof crashed. Piplodi village froze as seven children died, and with it the futures of two women who had closed the door on childbirth – until grief forced it back open.The July 25 collapse of the govt upper primary school in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar district claimed the son and daughter of 32-year-old Binti Bai and the only son of 36-year-old Rajubai Lodha. The two young mothers – already sterilised – spiralled into devastation no counselling textbook fully captures. Doctors treating the two women said their PTSD grew from a single tormenting despair: no chance of conceiving again. Both women had undergone tubal ligation years earlier, choices made when their families felt complete.Binti Bai, wife of daily-wage labourer Chotulal, had opted for ligation in 2020, two years after the birth of her son Kanha. The collapse killed Kanha, 7, and her daughter Meena, 10. She withdrew into silence, refused food, and stopped sleeping.For families, loss not only emotional but existential Rajubai, wife of farmer Harakchand Lodha, had undergone family planning six years earlier. Their 10-year-old son, Kartik died in the collapse, leaving her terrified the family lineage would end. She had three daughters – the youngest, Aarti, survived with a crushed leg and remains under treatment.”After Kartik’s death, my wife couldn’t sleep or eat,” said Harakchand. “Her condition deteriorated, haunted by her inability to conceive again and no boy to carry the bloodline. Now she’s regaining health. Her smile is back – instilled with hope. We’re praying for a son.”The belief that only sons can carry a family’s lineage remains deeply embedded. Daughters are cherished but often seen as leaving the household after marriage, while sons are viewed as heirs who uphold rituals and family names. This patriarchal calculus shapes reproductive decisions – and intensifies grief when a son dies. For both families in Piplodi, the loss was not only emotional but existential, tied to fears of a lineage abruptly ending.Backed by the district administration and the psychiatry team, Rajubai underwent fallopian-tube recanalisation in late Sept at Heera Bai Kanwar women’s hospital in Jhalawar. Binti Bai followed on Oct 29. Her husband Chotulal said: “Kanha’s loss is irreparable. But the operation has given fresh hope.”Jhalawar chief medical health officer Dr Sajid Khan said the sterilisation reversal procedure is undertaken only in the “rarest of rare” cases. “We did it to instil hope for life in two families. Both were devastated, in deep shock and depression. Our psychologists convinced them they could regain motherhood.”District collector Ajay Singh Rathore has assured IVF access in Kota or Jaipur if needed and ordered a medical board to evaluate further treatment pathways.Hope is the only tool for revival, according psychiatrist Dr Rashid Gauri, who led counselling. “The absence of hope for a child after tubal ligation was the core of their shattered mental status. Three months of sessions prepared them mentally and physically for the surgery.”INDIA
