Key Points
It was a scorching April afternoon in the middle of another of Indias brutal heat waves, and with no job to go to, the farmworker had already chewed tobacco five times that day..
Even an addicted person avoids doing this in extreme heat because theres a risk of fainting, she says.. Yet Sonavane repeated the familiar ritual: adding the slaked lime to the tobacco leaves, then putting the mixture in her mouth..
Every few months, farmers report losses caused by heat waves or floods, says community health worker Shubhangi Patil, who serves the Kolhapur district where Sonavane lives..
Farm workers are currently finding it difficult to get even eight days of work a month because crop damage is so common, Sonavane says.. With no resources for dealing with the stress of being out of work, Sonavane stumbled across the solution of soothing her anxiety with smokeless tobacco, which costs just 10 rupees ($0.12) a packet..
They desensitize grief, sadness, and negativity for a while, says Kolhapur-based clinical psychologist Shalmali Ranmale Kakade, referring to tobacco and other commonly abused substances, such as alcohol...
