She’s a 25-year-old assistant commissioning editor with a publishing house in Delhi, but on weekends, Namarita Kathait gathers together anyone who wants to, and needs to talk, and all those willing to listen.
She calls this The Listening Circle. Started in March 2018, the idea is to have a community-driven approach to making sure nobody feels left-out or un-understood. The initiative is supported by Bhor Foundation, a non-profit that Namarita runs with her friend Jhilmil Breckenridge, a poet and mental health activist based in the UK.
Earlier this year, in their effort to feed into the support-system for those dealing with mental-health conditions and their caregivers, and to provide accessible literature about it, the two brought out a book, called Side Effects of Living: An Anthology of Voices on Mental Health, published jointly by Speaking Tiger and Women Unlimited.
In the meantime, Namarita’s Listening Circle is growing. It is now more than 20 sessions old, with four chapters in Delhi — East, West, North, and South — running simultaneously also in various other cities in the country, almost twice every month. “In the sessions, we do a lot of activity to stimulate the environment and make it lighter,” she says, adding that poetry and art are a big part of the circles.
Namarita recognises writing, in whatever form or genre, as important for catharsis. This, especially given that when she was five years old, Namarita’s mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia, unwittingly making the child herself a ‘caregiver’. “I also had to take responsibility of things that traditionally a mother would — like with my siblings,” she says. “But I was still confused about what was going on, even when I was 14 or 15.”
Things would change though, when one day, lounging at her grandmother’s house, Namarita would come across a PSBT documentary, called A Drop of Sunshine by Aparna Sanyal. The National Award-winning film details the story of Reshma Valliappan and her journey with schizophrenia. Also known as Val Resh, the protagonist of the documentary is now an artist-activist for mental health and sexuality, even authoring a book called Fallen Standing: My Life as a Schizophrenist.
“I thought of how much easier our lives could be if we had more awareness. I don’t think I realised what my mother actually goes through as a person, till we spoke to her doctors. Later, every time she screamed at us, it all made sense to me,” Namarita says, adding that “just awareness, and letting the steam out, gave me empathy and a sense of purpose.”
The Listening Circle in May 2019: South Delhi, 25 May At Khoj Studios, Khirki Extension; West Delhi, 25 May at Grind House Cafe, Rajouri Garden Extension; in Bengaluru, 26 May at Cubbon Park