Mohan Ramamoorthy
 mohan.ramamoorthy@thebanyan.org
As a college student in the late 1970s, I stumbled upon psychology’s big daddy Freud. A city pal misled me saying that lotsa Hyderabad college girls - many of them very pretty - were studying something called BA (Pscyh). That’s it. Given my thirst for knowledge, I had to figure out what it was all about. I did find a book on Frued in the town library and some pages in an encyclopedia. Sadly, in those days I never got an opportunity to show off my superficial knowledge of Freud’s interpretation of dreams, Oedipus complex and what not. But that’s another story.
I moved on but the psychology bug remained dormant somewhere in my psyche. It surfaced in the early Eighties. A rebellious streak in me developed a huge appetite for “revolutionary” ideas. That’s it. I had to know what was revolutionary in the world of psychology/psychiatry. And, I discovered R D Laing and Cooper and the anti-psychiatry movement in a Hyderabad libary. And, radical psychiatry in Delhi. Fancy stuff, indeed. My favourite one-liner was (reportedly from a hollywood movie in which a hard-nosed cop says contemptuously to a psychiatrist): “Doc, I know what you guys do - you make healthy people adjust to a sick world..” (something on those lines…)
Come Nineties, I saw from close quarters the suffering undergone by some near and dear ones due to schizophrenia. There was so much agony, uncertainty, stigma, and of course care-giver’s stress and burden. Around that time, RK, my friend (now ex-colleague) introduced me to The Banyan and I became an occasional visitor. There were a few crisis situations involving the near and dear ones and RK was always there to use his charm and good offices with The Banyan, Dr. Nambi of IMH, and Dr. Anbudurai…
Soon, I began to shed a lot of my past baggage and started looking at the mental health from a practical perspective - grounded in Indian reality. Bits of past knowledge - like rights-based concepts of deinstitutionalization - continue to be quite relevant even now.
Cut to 2007. Once again, RK and I were at the TBC -The Banyan Centre (soon that and other abbreviations were to invade my vocabulary and the in-boxes of my e-mail and cellphone…). The Banyan Academy idea excited me. And, here I am once again trying to figure out some earthy and exciting concepts like alternative therapies, faith-healing, etc. intervention programmes like DMHP, CMHP, VT, OT, DA (more abbrevs there), and new-fangled stuff like social enterprise…
Another new journey begins…
i can so relate to this post.
back in 2004, we were a bunch of “social welfare admin” students from tiss fired by the prospects of some fire brand activism in some unheard of geography, but not quite kicked with the idea of an institutional setting. yet since the study tour called for observing “a healthy mix of developmental approaches”, and our lecturer seemed keen that we take a look at “destitution”, we settled on the banyan.
although we had a brief idea of what the banyan did, we had no idea of the scale or the uncoventional nature of “institutionalization” that the banyan followed. the banyan was refreshing for me then, because they dint talk development jargon, they dint talk rights, and yet they seemed to manage a beautiful balance between doing what one thinks is right for a person and individual freedom. this institution was very low on the radar of “political correctness”, it was simply practical with that tinge of romanticism enough to get anyone excited.
the visit made me rethink many of my strong notions - about medication, “involuntary commitment” and the like. by the time i finished my social work degree, i was quite positively “aimless” in the sense that i dint have any particular plans in terms of a developmental career. predictably, although i went about finding jobs for the junta as a part of the campus placement student body, i dint apply for any.
the banyan then seemed like a perfect place to start experimenting with - i have loved all the random moments of joy and tension in the little over a year that i spent at the banyan. and although i am yet to resolve some the debates around mental health revolving in my head, i have at least seen what is practically “the best possible” at the banyan.