Janu and Sainu Somji Hedo have two children and a parakeet that yells “Mummy-Papa” at regular intervals. The family of five lives in a three-room house in Navjeevan Vasahat, a settlement of former Maoists in Murkhala village, Gadchiroli, which is one of the last Maoist-affected districts in Maharashtra.It is 44°C, and a narrow stretch of kutcha road leads to the house whose whitewash has been fading through the sun and rain since 2019-20, the year the house was built.Janu and Sainu fell in love and married in 2008, as young Maoists. They surrendered in 2015. Both hail from the Bhamragad region in the once-dreaded Dandakaranya forest. They were a part of the company which led some of the most violent attacks on the police in the 2000s.Sainu is among the 50 men who have undergone surgeries for the reversal of vasectomies since 2005 in Gadchiroli. As a part of the Maoist movement, young men have traditionally undergone vasectomies to avoid having families. After they started surrendering, the Maharashtra Police began helping arrange surgeries for them. So far, 13 of these 50 men have become parents.This year, the vasectomy reversal operations were conducted under Project Sanjivani, an umbrella of welfare schemes aimed at the rehabilitation of surrendered Maoists. A camp was held at SEARCH in Gadchiroli to reverse the vasectomies of 14 surrendered Maoists. SEARCH, founded in 1986 by Dr. Abhay and Dr. Rani Bang, is the Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health, which has done pioneering work in rural health care and research.Living a family lifeThe family is unbothered by the heat. A small fan revolves overhead. The couple sits on plastic chairs as their son jumps on the single bed-cum-sofa. They struggle to take away the mobile phone from the 5-year-old’s hands. He settles down to watch reels on social media.It is difficult to imagine that in 2009, they were part of a team that ambushed 16 police personnel in the jungles of Hattigota, an act which had shaken the security establishments then and has gone down in history as one of the worst attacks of the Maoist movement.Janu takes the lead in the conversation. Sainu looks at her every time a question is asked. When he answers, she gently fills in the years, the dates. Both of them currently work in different departments at a factory of Lloyds Metals and Energy Limited. A bus comes every morning to take them to work. The job has been facilitated by the Gadchiroli Police.