MAIL BAG
Treating depression
Dr.Vijay Nagaswami’s article (“In the times of Prozac”, July 19) provides valuable information on the factors causing depression and the means to be adopted for combating it. Depression is rightly termed as a “Mood Disorder”. In the complexity of modern life, both family and professional lives are disturbed by stress factors. Listing the symptoms of depression and the means to combat it, such as anti-depressant medication, psychiatric treatment, avoidance of self-medication and adopting a balanced attitude to all life problems, were very helpful.
Dr. S. Janakiraman,
Coimbatore
The article is well-written and is very educative. It is true that thousands of people suffering from depression go untreated for a long time and in some cases during their entire life-time. As a result, many patients attain superlative levels of depression with disastrous consequences. Some even commit suicide. While depression that occurs by way of immediate response to personal tragedies such as loss of close relatives, loss of money in the stock market, loss of property etc which may be of temporary nature and may evaporate by and by, the depression brought about by bad or unhealthy lifestyle may require prolonged treatment by experts. It is suicidal to neglect depression. Every person affected by depression must undertake self-evaluation. The symptoms listed in the article are very useful for such self-evaluation.
Dr. K.K. Ammannaya,
Udupi
Standing tall
Meera Prasad’s interview with Dr. Binayak Sen was very poignant (“Prison was a learning experience”, July 19). He has triumphed even in the face of adversities. It is a testimony to his stoical nature that he still finds it in himself to tell the world about the wretched lives of the inmates in the prison. Somehow it makes our silence seem very loud!
Meenu B.,
Kottayam
After a long international lobbying by intellectuals and diplomats, Dr. Binayak Sen was given reprieve by the Supreme Court which granted him bail. What Dr. Sen experienced in the jail was the ill-treatment of the convicts. This is nothing new. In spite of Dr. Kiran Bedi’s reforms in Tihar Jail, things have not, perhaps, changed elsewhere. We had an article in these columns recently about the plight of under-trials who languish in prisons without any trial for decades on end and proved innocent also after the trial. Dr. Sen was also an under-trial. The Minister of Law should be apprised of all these anomalies for speedy rectification.
K. Nehru Patnaik
Visakhapatnam
What Meera Prasad, unveils in her article is only the tip of the iceberg. A regrettable secrecy envelops the jails in our country. In fact, reported jail atrocities unfold themselves like a gruesome story. One feels that the jail conditions that prevailed during the British regime were better than those that prevail in independent India. Jails provided a favourable ambience to Nehru and Gandhi to shape their strategy to liberate the nation. Perhaps we would not have gained The Glimpses of World History had Nehru been not imprisoned.
N. Sadasivan Pillai
Guntakal
Touching tribute
The article “An epic life” by Harsh Mander (July 19) was indeed a touching tribute to human rights activist Ram Narayan Kumar. The various trials and tribulations that Kumar faced in life for the sake of justice for the deprived was well documented. Though the path chosen by Kumar to achieve his goals may not find approval from all, it is a tribute to his will that he carried on his fight. Be it his fight for the safety of the juveniles in prison or against enforced disappearances in Punjab and Kashmir or for the victims of the Gujarat carnage, what stood out was the indomitable courage and dedication of the man. The country has indeed lost a bulwark against injustice and oppression.
J. Anantha Padmanabhan
Srirangam
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