THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: We at Express met this no-nonsense looking bearded man at Kanakakkunnu Palace, where the observance of the Mental Health Day, a programme jointly organised by the Kerala State Mental Health Authority and the Mentally and Neurologically Ailing Persons’ Self-Help Association (MANASA), was on. A mental patient himself for many decades, K Rajendran Nair now is an active member of MANASA helping symptom-free patients with rehabilitation, finding jobs for them and so on. He even conducts classes both at the Mental Hospital and the Medical College for the relatives and bystanders of patients on what to expect at the hospital, the routine of a Mental Hospital and even how to give drugs to patients. ‘’There are several patients who con us into believing that they had taken the medicine. But the minute we move from there, they would spit it out,’’ says Rajendran. But he swears that it is not experience talking. ‘’I have always trusted my doctor. And even if I don’t take food, I would always take my medicine right on time,’’ he says. A native of Venjaramood, Rajendran had a tough time when he was first admitted to the hospital. His wife and only daughter left him while he was getting treated at the hospital and all he had for a family, and still has, is an elder brother. ‘’I know how a patient feels, having gone through it myself. I try my best to be useful for them,’’ he says. Even after his treatment was complete, Rajendran could not go back home, for, the three-room house that he had just managed to put up had no toilet, well or water supply. ‘’I am a weaver by profession, but I could not meet even my basic needs with the meagre amount I made by weaving,’’ he recalls. But Rajendran did start a weaving unit at the ‘pakalveedu’ adjacent to the Mental Hospital, where they initially started to weave what he calls ‘aashupathri pacha’. They then moved on to checked bedsheets, which they sell outside the hospital. Rajendran not only weaves, but even teaches other patients the art. ‘’On nine days a month, I move to the bread-making unit. But even when I work there in the mornings, I come back to the ‘pakalveedu’ at night,’’ says Rajendran. He says it is very difficult to rehabilitate symptom-free patients as no one is willing to employ them. ‘’Some are too weak to do any work. Some people come around asking for work,’’ he says. Rajendran tries to get them the jobs of bystanders of patients who are picked up from streets or of those patients who have no one at home to be there at the hospital. But what does he want to do ultimately, we ask. ‘’Live at my own place, sheltered from the rain and the sun,’’ he says with a big hopeful smile.
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