Ouseph Palliparambil was brought from Thuravoor by my
great grandfather to carry on the business of
extracting coconut oil. An oil-presser was used to extract coconut oil
from copra. His son, Kurien, took over the business. Jacob and I used to visit the oil-presser
occasionally.
All on a sudden Kurien’s son, Anthappan, became
insane. The family kept it a secret. When he started to become violent Kurien nd
his wife Annamma approached ‘Appachan’, my
father, to seek his advice on what is
to be done. I vividly recall their arrival; his hair tousled, shirt open; he
was sore and had not slept a wink. My eyes took in Kurian then darted to his wife, Annamma,
who was fragile and haggard with longing for her son. She was biting the edge
of her towel loosely thrown over her body to keep herself from bursting into
tears. She wanted to say some thing but her words choked as if a lump in her
throat.
After
a flurry of consultations with his doctor, ‘Appachan’ arranged to send their
son to a Psychiatrist at Ernakulum. Since there was no progress in his mental
state, his parents took him to the Ayurvedic Physician in Kumbalam for
consultation. In spite of having the medicines prescribed by him there was no
encouraging result seen.
One morning
when Jacob and I went to Kurien’s house, we noticed Anthappan lying in the
courtyard. We spotted a coconut trunk buried in the soil next to him. One of
his legs was put into a hole made out in the trunk and the hole sealed by
hammering a wedge. By doing so he could not remove his leg on his own thereby
making him immobile. This was done to curb his violent nature triggered
occasionally by his insanity. On seeing us he called out to us in a mournful
voice, “‘Mone’, dear son, please
remove the wedge so that I could be free.” Then he started crying for a minute.
Suddenly a ghostly smile creased on his face. Next moment, a pall of gloom
surfaced on his face. We felt very sorry for him. We were so helpless. He could
not eat or drink or even attend to his morning chores comfortably. We reported
the matter immediately to ‘Ammachi’. ‘Appachan’ sent word for Kurien who came,
remained silent. ‘Appachan’ reached out and
touched Kutien lightly on his shoulder. Kurien tried to justify
his action. He riveted his eyes on the ceiling and his lips were quivering. He
said that he did not want to dump the responsibility of looking after his son
on government hospitals or other mental asylum.
He found no other way of keeping him in restraint so he had to resort to
this crude form. He wanted to look after Anthappan himself. I
noticed tears swelling in Kurien’s eyes. Finally he agreed to bind him to a
long iron chain so that he gets a little more freedom. Anthappan was totally
frustrated and sought our help to free him again. It was neither fair nor
proper to restrain his freedom of movement but everybody was helpless in the
matter. Before long, God Almighty helped him escape the bondages of life
through his premature death.
I had occasion to see
other insane people, I have seen epileptic eruptions too. I saw an epileptic
patient, who shrieked and fell down on his face; and frothing at the mouth.
I realized that people preferred to hide insanity and
epileptic disorders from public notice. They were apprehensive about the after
effects of it being made public mainly in connection with the future of the
other children in the family. There was an element of fear and anxiety of not
obtaining a suitable marriage alliance for their children especially in the
case of their girl children. They were worried and frightened that they would
be ostracized from the society. It is the duty of the society and the
government to make people aware that these illnesses are curable, if checked
out at the right time. These patients are to be advised to get proper medical
care and attention, when they show the primary symptoms of the illness.
Nowadays, medical expenses are very prohibitive.
Therefore, it is the duty of the government to provide free medical care and
attention to such patients.
Excerpts from
NEED OF THE HOUR
by
Joseph J. Thayamkeril
Lawyer, Kochi, Kerala, India.
josephjthayamkeril.blogspot.com
josephjthayamkeril@google.com
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