“Me… I am like this only… the battle still on in my own mind… I stand in one corner… waiting for justice — a helping hand, perhaps.” These lines, written in Marathi, is a cry from the heart of 34-year-old Lalit Deshmukh, who lives with schizophrenia and has been encouraged to use poetry as a form of therapy.
A year ago, Deshmukh’s collection of 34 poems was published by Parivartan Trust, which was founded by anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar who was killed in 2013 and is now being run by his son Dr Hamid Dabholkar.
Today, the Trust has given Deshmukh a new responsibility, along with three others battling the same severe mental disorder: running its newly set up Kimaya Cafe in the heart of Pune.
Formally launched on Tuesday, this small cafe near the Pune Municipal Corporation building, with the wall leading to it plastered with motifs of helping hands, serves packaged snacks, water bottles, and tea and coffee. Also on the menu: infuse a sense of self-confidence among persons with schizophrenia and help them deal with day-to-day jobs and manage an enterprise.
“We wanted to ensure that the project is a sustainable one that can help them run the show,” Hamid Dabholkar, a well-known mental health professional, told The Indian Express.
The backbone of the cafe is the Kiran support group under the Trust, which for the past six years have enabled more than 200 persons with mental illness to find jobs at bakeries and shopping malls. “But we felt a need to further boost the recovery of these patients by helping them support an independent venture,” said Hamid.
It’s a no-profit no-loss initiative built with help from CSR funds, mainly from Pune-headquartered Bajaj Auto, says Reshma Kachare, coordinator of the Trust. “The main aim is to bring them back into the mainstream. This is why we had a formal launch ahead of World Schizophrenia Day (May 24),” she said.
“We do not describe them as Manorugna (mentally ill) but as Manas Mitra (friends of the mind),” said Brahmanath Neelkanth, a support officer who helps identify employment opportunities for those under the Trust’s umbrella.
Kimaya, in Marathi, means miraculous or magical. And at the cafe, Kachare points to the poet Deshmukh, who “has come a long way” since he dropped out of school as a “troubled” 13-year-old boy. “His mother had a less severe form of schizophrenia and so his family could immediately start treatment. But it took a long time for him to stop the voices inside his head. Medication can treat the symptoms but what is needed is a platform that can encourage social interaction and bring them back into the mainstream,” Kachare said.
Deshmukh started participating in activities of a daycare centre run by the Trust, with his father, a retired bank manager, accompanying him to the bus stand every day and waiting for his return. “Now I take the bus on my own to the cafe. I even go to shops to purchase material required at the cafe,” said Deshmukh as he proudly signed his collection of poems “Majhiya Mana” (My Mind) and placed it on the counter to be sold for Rs 50.
His colleague Nilesh Panse says he learned to face labels early in life. “I was referred to as the boy who was angry all the time,” said Panse with a wry smile before getting up from his stool to attend to a customer.
Panse’s father Shrikant, who is an active member of the support group, says his son had to quit jobs at IT firms every two years due to lack of adherence to medication. “When the symptoms got worse, the Trust played a huge role in giving parents like me deeper insight into the illness and how to learn to live with this condition. Going to work has given Nilesh a routine that has helped him focus better,” said Shrikant.
For 41-year-old Shilpa Dhamande, a divorcee living with schizophrenia, it was not easy moving from Nagpur to Pune. But with her brother’s family standing strong, she has found a new life and routine: Step out at 7 am, take the No.110 bus to the cafe — and turn on the gas stove for the first cup of morning tea at Kimaya Cafe.
Hamid Dabholkar, meanwhile, prefers not to talk about his own story of loss and recovery.
His father was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants in Pune on August 20, 2013. Following a CBI investigation, charges were framed in September 2021 against five accused including an ENT surgeon and a Mumbai-based lawyer. All these accused, according to the CBI, are allegedly linked to the radical outfit Sanatan Sanstha. The case is currently being heard by a special court in Pune.
