Britto (name changed) sells cardboard files and notebooks for patients at the Institute of Mental Health in Chennai. Till lunch at 1 p.m., he is busy running the store. For Britto, in his 40s, this institute has been home for six years, and his work is therapy.

The institute, started in 1794, has not always been so welcoming to minds that have lost their moorings. It was only in 1922 that its name was changed from Government Lunatic Asylum to Government Mental Hospital. As it marks its 225th anniversary, many of its nearly 900 patients today lead productive lives on the premises. For many of the residents, whose condition allows it, industrial therapy is used as a rehabilitation tool and to give them a choice of livelihood.

The sessions begin after breakfast every day. For example, they grow vegetables organically on the sprawling premises and these find their way to Britto’s shelves. Several residents bake bread on an industrial scale, filling the premises with the sweet smells of baking. Three times a week, they all do yoga together.

When the institute first began, it had 20 patients. N. Subramaniam, the first Resident Medical Officer, wrote in an article in a book, Memoirs of the Fifties, by O. Somasundaram, retired superintendent of the institute, that the East India Company appointed Surgeon Valentine Connolly, secretary to the medical board, in charge of a “house for accommodating persons of unsound mind”. And on January 7, 1867 the government sanctioned an asylum on 66.5 acres of land in Lococks Garden. This new home was launched on May 15, 1871 with 145 patients.

At an industrial therapy centre, women patients make baskets from popsicle sticks, jute bags, soft toys, wire baskets, cellphone pouches, paper packs for medicines, candles, mats and cloth bags. Together, they strive to bring the sunshine into their lives.

(images and text by B. Jothi Ramalingam)