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