Volume 3 Issue 1 January, 2013
It’s important not to stereo type people
I did my under graduation in Madurai Medical College, Madras University, and was a House Surgeon (intern) in the year 1970. In the medicine Unit, where I was posted, we were also asked to look after the ‘Prison Ward’. Not many of my colleagues were keen to attend to these prisoners. My first entry into that ward was obviously with some trepidation. I did not know what to expect because one has a stereotype image of the criminals. In course of time, I gradually got over the anxiety of meeting these people. It gradually dawned on me that they are actually ‘human beings’ to start with and they happen to have committed a heinous crime, at the spur of a moment, under certain grave provocation. That did not mean that they were “bad people”. I saw the human side of these prisoners and this taught me a great deal. I realized how important it is not to stereotype people. I learnt patience, listening and compassion from these men and they began to respect me, which eventually became mutual. This experience taught me a great deal and perhaps this learning from them laid a good foundation for my interest and entry into the realm of the human mind and its many ramifications. Perhaps this sowed the seed of my interest in Psychiatry.
He is the chairperson of Organizing committee of upcoming, Annual National Conference of Indian Psychiatry Society (ANCIPS) 2013
