City psyche: Caution, wet floor

 

 

MUMBAI: Trust Mumbaikars to come up with innovative contingency plans to tackle the seemingly endless rains.

 

Take for instance, Harshada Shastri, a call centre employee, who will be spending Tuesday night at an aunt’s place near her office. “After 26/7, my parents gave me a list of relatives who stayed in the vicinity of my office at Malad,” she said.

 

Others, who made it to their offices in the morning, decided to stay back at the workplace.

 

“I don’t want to wade through the waters when there is a fear of catching leptospirosis,” said Swati Natrajan, a management trainee.

 

According to Dr Anjali Chhabria, psychiatrist, parents and children suffered the most last year. “Parents need to be reassured that their children are going to be alright. Children who saw water levels rising, too, did not let their parents out of their homes,” she said.

 

Parents are scared of sending their children out in the rain fearing diseases like leptospirosis, which had struck last year. “People are reliving the traumatic experience now, which is making them even more cautious,” said Chhabria. “One fortunate thing about this year is that people, especially parents, are better prepared with contingency plans,” observed Dr Bharat Shah, President of Indian Psychiatrists Association. 

 

“People are overcautious, taking pains to see to it that they don’t get stranded. As far as children are concerned, parents should convince them that they are in control of the situation and there is no need to get frightened,” he said. Dr Maya Kriplani, consultant psychiatrist, Jaslok Hospital, added, “Parents have to understand that fear is normal, considering last year’s circumstances.”

 

According to Dr YA Matcheswalla, President, Bombay Psychiatrists Society, the memory of the floods were likely to resurface for someone who faced them just a year ago. “Just like the government and municipal authorities who have come up with emergency plans, it is natural for these people to be better prepared for this year’s monsoon.”

 

He added, “One of my clients used to even book a room in a hotel, and lock herself in that room as she felt safer there. Many people, who were migrants, have left the city for their villages for the next two months.”

 

This year there were more freak accidents and not cases of drowning, as people had taken necessary precautions, he added. However, even these incidents contribute to the overall anxiety, said psychiatrists.