Birth Agni
This Podcast explores how indigenously Birth has always unfolded, among women - our tribe, where children could see how breastfeeding was done and how birth happened. This an attempt to fetch the stories of the past as well as bring out the new India’s Birth culture to expose the defining features in both. This shall join the dots to where the increasing problems of postpartum anxiety, rising rate of surgical births and poor breastfeeding outcomes are coming from.
Birth Agni - Agni meaning Fire, the Fire that brings us alive, transforms us and has the ability to burn. Birth is designed to affect a woman’s integrity. It is the fire of awakening that makes her life experience wholesome. Deep down her body knows what Birth is supposed to feel - a euphoria of bringing a new life on Earth. The cocktail of hormones are designed to give her a high.
However, birth today has quickly swayed away from a phase of joy to the one marked by Fear, the constant questioning of a woman’s capacity to Birth naturally and the ugly calculation of the odds of a healthy baby at the expense of the mother’s health. We forget that their health is interlinked and flourish as a dyad. In India, the urban rate of Cesarean Sections on an average until 2020 is a whopping 40% which is concerning.
Birth is linked to Patriarchy, Healthcare Politics and Women’s Rights. Respect in Birth is long due to women and it affects the core of who they are.
Join me Divya Kapoor, a Certified Birth and Lactation Counselor and aspiring Traditional Birth Attendant in the quest to shine light on what we can do as parents and a community to change the narrative.
Birth Agni
#139 - Birth then and Now - 40 years of difference in the Indian Maternity Care with seasoned Birth Educator, author and former journalist Nutan Lakhanpal Pandit
Nutan L Pandit has been teaching birth preparation since 1978.
Back then, the Indian birth scene was very different. Nutan aunty gave birth using breathwork taught by a foreigner — so calmly, in fact, that the nurses were shocked she was already pushing while chatting! This was in Mumbai, with no ultrasounds, and one baby in face presentation. Her doctor, Dr. Jay Dhurandar, was part of a system that wasn’t yet afraid of birth the way it often is today.
This episode dives into the massive changes Nutan ji has seen over 40+ years of her work.
We talk about:
- Birth: then vs. now
- Overinformation — helpful or harmful?
- The real fear behind childbirth
- Do babies feel trauma during birth?
- How birth shapes a baby’s early experience
- What can truly improve birth for women?
About the Guest
Nutan L Pandit is the author of 4 books (one translated into 2 languages). Everything she teaches stems from her own joyful experience of birthing and breastfeeding her two children.
She’s a founding member of Birthing The New Humanity (BTNH) and has spoken at Fortis La Femme, FOGSI, Fernandez Hospital, and more — including appearances on Doordarshan, NDTV, and international conferences like the Asia Pacific Midwifery Conference and State University of New York Conference.
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