That was Franklin Roosevelt in his first inaugural speech in 1933, when Great Depression was at its height.
Bhavna Bhatt, a 48-year old housewife, was living with her husband and two kids in Amreli, a bustling administrative district in Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Everything was going like a fairytale, until last month, when tragedy struck and she lost her husband Bharat Bhatt to corona. A simple-minded woman, Bhavna was completely shattered by this loss. All of a sudden, she realised that life was not a bed of roses. The question hangs over: what to do now? Not that she was in poor financial condition, but she didn’t know how to overcome this emotional setback.
Like millions of households in India, Bhavna’s was a patriarchal family, where husbands are incharge. All the crucial decisions in family were taken by Bharat. And Bhavna was just left with petty household chores like cooking meals and keeping the house neat and clean. Occasionally, she would help Bharat in his grocery shop. As happens in most middle-class families, Bhavna happily accepted this position of second lead in the family. But her destiny has new challenges thrust on her and she was not at all prepared for this.
Bhavna realised that she was up to an entirely new world, which was beyond her understanding. How will I deal with my kids? What about their education, career, and marriage? Will I become a good mother? And most importantly, how to manage finances? She didn’t find answers to these questions. Within a month or so, she was firm in her belief that she wouldn’t be able to handle these things.
She was overwhelmed by depression. Although Ankit, her elder son, is a software engineer at a renowned IT firm in Gandhinagar, Bhavna found herself helpless in the absence of her husband. Grief-stricken, her suicidal tendency was rising in the last fortnight. And the day before yesterday, she was convinced that her existence in this world was purposeless; at 8 in the morning, she consumed 20 grams of rat poison. Doctors struggled to save her for 16 hours, but efforts went in vain. Bright colour of Bhavna’s body faded away, and she died in hospital.
Covid-19 pandemic has affected us at multiple levels. Our physical and mental health is damaged; our financial life is disturbed; our social life is badly hit. But there is an insidious problem we must not ignore: the virus has left us worried about our future. It is this fear that prompts many weak-hearted people like Bhavna to commit suicide.
As long as our life sails smoothly, we tend to think that our future is secure and the current order of our life is permanent. We believe that we are immune to our future as well. However, pandemics of this scale prove us wrong, and this feeling of being wrong breaks us from inside. At this time, we need somebody to talk with. We need to release our lumps fixed in our throat. Our bottled-up emotions wreak havoc; when we fail to manage those feelings, the world around us seems to be collapsing.
This is the time we need help from psychiatrists and psychologists. Things we cannot share with our friends, family members, and relatives, can be discussed with doctors. Bhavna’s story is a classic example of uncommunicative approach in life. She remained tightlipped when there was a need to speak up about her mental trauma.
But do we have enough infrastructure to treat mental problems? Aroon Purie, editor-in-chief, India Today, mentioned in the editorial that, unfortunately, “India has only two psychiatrists and one psychologist per 400,000 people, whereas the global median is at least nine mental health workers per 100,000 people”. Making things worse is allocation of a meagre amount of Rs 40 crores to mental health from the total health budget of Rs 2.23 lakh crores in 2021-22 union budget.
Emotional trauma is the biggest peril we are facing today. If not tackled properly, we will have to pay heavy premium in near future. Think about it. Have friends, talk to them, spend time with your family and relatives. Do exercise regularly, eat healthy and have fun. Live your life day by day. If Bhavna could do this, she would have led a happy life with her kids and others in her family.
