Saturday, August 6, 2016

Mr. Harish Khare, Editor in Chief The Tribune Chandigarh writes about Dr. N.N.Wig

Following is an extract from The Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh dated 7th August, 2016




"Sunday Special » Columns The Tribune, Chandigarh

Posted at: Aug 7, 2016, 1:12 AM; last updated: Aug 7, 2016, 1:12 AM (IST)
KAFFEEKLATSCH
Harish Khare

Why can’t I ride a bike to work?...

Harish Khare
...   ...   ...
THANKS to gentle instigation from a colleague, I went to call on Dr NN Wig at Lajpat Rai Bhawan in Chandigarh. I was told that here was a man who was providing the poor a much-needed service — offering counseling to poor psychiatric patients. And he has been at it for three decades, without making any hoo-ha about his work, without seeking any ‘recognition’ from conventional dispensers of ‘honours.’

I found Dr Wig to be extraordinarily humble and unpretentious, exuding an aura of service and nobility. He is a definite anomaly in this age when mercenary calculations have overwhelmed the medical profession. But there is a certain satisfaction, a kind of special kick, in helping the poor and the helpless. Only very few are privileged to experience that kick. 

Once there was a stigma in India about social psychiatry. Those who sought a psychiatrist’s advice were mocked as ‘mad.’ Thanks to the efforts and perseverance of a handful of social psychiatrists like Dr Wig, we have a different perspective. Still, in popular parlance, a ‘shrink’ is deemed to offer services mostly to the upper middle class or the rich. Dr Wig stands apart because he recognises that the poor too have similar problems and they too have a right to a social psychiatrist’s services. And, he offers his free and freely. 

And what was most pleasing for me was to discover that Dr Wig had known a family friend, Professor Morris Carstairs, a distinguished social anthropologist, who had done pioneering research work in the social psychology of witchcraft in India. His book, Death of a Witch: A Village in North India, is a classic. Carstairs was a friend of my mother-in-law and would visit us whenever he came to India. 

And, now in Chandigarh, there is Dr Wig talking about Morris Carstairs. What a pleasant coincidence. Small world, indeed!

And that calls for coffee. Anyone?”

kaffeeklatsch@tribuneindia.com

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