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Exploring the lives of the mentally ill in India
 People with mental illnesses are just that -- people, with an illness. They have a medical condition, just like someone with diabetes or cancer. But society views them entirely differently. The mentally ill are approached with trepidation, misunderstood, ridiculed. They are almost never taken seriously and treated with little or no dignity. And worst of all, they are locked up, locked away. In India, an estimated 30 per cent of the population suffers from some form of psychiatric disorder, of which only an estimated 7 per cent have access to professional help. Eighteen per cent of the population suffers from anxiety disorders alone. Twenty million Indian families have at least one member suffering from schizophrenia. More than 12 per cent of Indian children aged 1-16 years suffer from mental disorders and the incidence of mental retardation is also high. The country's ability to treat, care for and rehabilitate the mentally ill leaves much to be desired - the ratio of trained psychiatrists to mentally ill patients is abysmally low at 1: 100,000. In the 37 government-run mental health institutions across the country the cot to patient ratio stands at an average of 1:1.4. Seventy-five per cent of mental patients live in the villages, where often, let alone psychiatric care, even access to basic health-care is difficult. Fifty-three per cent of state-run psychiatric hospitals have no programmes whatasoever for the rehabilitation of their inmates.  'Beyond the Cuckoo's Nest', a travelling photo exhibition, aims to probe the reality of living with mental illness in a developing country like India. Presented by Point of View, Mumbai and Anjali of Kolkata, it is born of the conviction that people with mental illnesses are as entitled to productive and fulfilling lives as 'normal' people. The works of three photographers, Achinto, Anita Khemka and Shumona Goel, make up the exhibition. Achinto has been photographing the mentally-ill for the last 17 years, ever since he worked as a volunteer in Asha Niketan, a community of mentally challenged people. Anita Khemka was inspired to to photograph the mentally ill due to her close ties with her mentally challenged cousin Guddi.  Anjali is an organisation whose mission is to rehabilitate the mentally ill. Its endeavour is the first of its kind in the country. Spearheaded by social activist Ratnabali Ray, the organisation has been relentlessly striving to integrate cured patients with their families. It all began three years ago when Ratnabali discovered that government-run institutions had no rehabilitation programmes for the mentally ill. Last year, Anjali managed to reintegrate more than 20 patients from the Pavlov Mental Hospital in Kolkata with their families. Anjali has helped them to regain the confidence to live as independent, dignified individuals. Each day they visit Anjali, where they engage in various therapeutic and vocational activities like theatre, art, block printing and group counselling. For many of the inmates, this is their only contact with the external, 'normal' world. Rina Shaw came to ANJALI an outreach centre, in April 2000, after spending eight years in the Pavlov Mental Hospital. She first showed signs of schizophrenia when she was about 18. Her family got her married without disclosing her illness, but after she showed symptoms of her illness on her wedding night, she ran back home. Her in-laws had the marriage dissolved immediately. Later, after she seemed to have recovered through outdoor treatment for two years, Rina was married a second time. Within three months , however, her husband discovered her illness and sent her home. It was her brothers who finally admitted her to the Pavlov Mental Hospital. Today Rina is the proud mother of a two-month-old son. And she loves chowmein.  Ajay Chowdhary, diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia, was admitted to the Medinipur Jail as non-criminal lunatic (NCL).
Following a landmark judgement about the human rights of the mentally challeged, all NCLs were shifted from jails to government-run mental hospitals. So Ajay spent the next six years in confinement at the Pavlov Mental Hospital, which is where he joined ANJALI's rehabilitation programme. Ajay now lives in a short-stay home and wants to be a poultry farmer. InfoChange News & Features, December 2002
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