“When I was young, I would run around and play with my sister in a small area outside my house. I was a happy kid. Although I was about 4-years-old, those memories are still vivid in my mind. A year later, my body was affected with fluorosis, because of the contagious water that we have access to in Nalgonda district. My life changed and I have never seen good days. My world is now just clouded with misery. Usually, when people are affected by this disease, they are tied to the walls or beds but my parents didn’t let me go through that trauma. My parents took care of me – did everything from feeding me to helping me bathe, but soon my mother too was diagnosed with severe health issues. She is so weak now that she can hardly move. It’s been 35 years of struggle – we lost my sister too to fluorosis. It’s just my father, mother and myself. My dad is also old and recently diagnosed with fluorosis but he has the responsibility of taking care of us.

It feels terrible that I’m unable to do anything for my parents who are ageing every day. My mother was denied a pension and we still don’t know the reason. My family is just one, but there are thousands of others who are suffering because of fluorosis. A lot of them have died due to this issue. The soil of Nalgonda has high levels of fluorine. We’ve travelled to Delhi, Hyderabad and so many other cities, met a lot of influential people asking for help. But what else can we do? We can only fight till we’re given basic needs and our right to clean water and home! This fight for justice won’t end till we get what we need, no matter how far that takes us.”

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