Threat lurks as prohibition fails to check manja sale

PUNE: The scar on his neck may have faded, but the memory of the

manja

cut that Balkrishna

Barve

suffered on Dec 22, 2015 still haunts him.

Barve (70), a retired bank employee staying at Manikbaug on Sinhagad Road, was riding home on his scooter when a kite thread (manja) entangled around his neck. “Initially, I thought it was some insect so I continued riding. When the pain did not subside, I stopped my scooter and checked again. This is when I realised that there was a string around my neck. When I tried to get rid of it, I sustained several cuts on my thumb,” he said.

Despite the cuts, Barve kept trying to remove the string off his neck. “Suddenly, a pedestrian shouted that my neck was bleeding profusely. He then rushed me to a nearby hospital,” the retired banker said.

“After examining the injuries, the doctor suggested stiches as the wounds were deep. Since I was not carrying enough cash, I requested the doctor to apply bandage to stop the bleeding,” Barve said, adding that after the preliminary treatment, he rushed to his family doctor and received seven stiches on his neck.

It took Barve 7 months to recover from the injuries. “It was only the beginning of the problem. After the stitches, I had to visit the hospital almost every day to get the dressing done. For the next 10 days, I could not take bath due to the bandage. Even daily chores like shaving became a struggle,” he said.