Counting heads here is quite a headwork

HUBLI: When Saraswati M Savanur started the census work on Diwate Oni in the city on Wednesday, she thought she would be able to finish at least one side of the lane, which roughly has about 25 houses, before going to school in the afternoon.
However, not only did her plans go awry, but also the census work turned out to be a tedious job for her. She could complete not more than half a dozen houses before she wound up for the day.
This is because Diwate Oni, which falls in the old part of the city has more number of large families when compared to other parts of the city. In Diwate Oni alone, there are at least 15 houses which have about 12-15 members living under the same roof and at least half a dozen houses of them have more than 20 members.
Members of such large families whom she met had no proper details about the other members in their family. Saraswati said it took not less than 90 minutes for her to take details of the Irkals family, which consists of 22 members. Only the women of the family were present at home when the enumerator visited and they were not in the know of some of the details pertaining to education and date of birth of their husbands and children. Hence the womenfolk had to call their husbands over phone to get the details. Corporator D K Chavan's family, which has 21 members, took more than 40 minutes.
Apart from this factor, what prolonged the census work and turned out tedious for some enumerators is that members of some conservative families were reluctant to give details in the absence of their menfolk.
In old Hubli, dominated by economically poorer sections, it was a difficult task for the enumerators as the respondents were more keen to know whether all these details would benefit them in any way. Some even banged the door on the faces of enumerators.
But some like Madhurkar, whose joint family has 54 members, was well prepared for the census, which made enumerators' work easier.