Page 66 - Tehelka Issue 13 - July 15, 2018

column

Dementia is painful,

better mind it now

The LasT llnesses spare almost none. But the thinking that this may never happen to us.
rapid increase in the number of pa-
Dementia, in literal terms, is unimaginable.
Word tients suffering from Alzheimer’s and It’s not easy to put ourselves in the place of
related disorders should be an urgent
the demented. How can one wrap his or her
Abdul WAsey I cause of concern. At present, an esti- mind around what it must be like to lose
mated 1.6 million people in India are suffer- your brain. We, the storytelling animals,
ing from the disease. Sadly, the awareness invent confident memories of our future.
and understanding about it is very low. The This is the reason why we don’t care or take
worst part is that there is no sure-shot cure precautionary measures to slow down age-
for such kind of illnesses. ing, reduce the chances of major illnesses or
Legendary Urdu poet Bashir Badr and get ready to fight the deadly diseases before
former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee they actually hit us.
— both popular and intelligent personali- No doubt, Alzheimer’s and dementia are
ties of their respective fields at one point of deadly diseases. Scientists are yet to con-
time — are glaring example of how people firm a single theory that proves where this
go into oblivion when such diseases come
calling. While Bashir Badr, whose memory
is fading away very fast, is living in solitude Globally, India houses
in Bhopal these days, Vajpayee — after suf-
fering a stroke in 2009 that weakened his second-most number
cognitive abilities — too is living a secluded
life. of people suffering
We all find, on regular basis, many de- from dementia, but
mentia patients around us — in our lo-
calities, relations and among friends. Their something concrete is
medical conditions frighten us. More so be- yet to be done about it
cause we had seen them living normal lives
until recently. Now they are not being able
to recognise their children or recollect their medical condition comes from, or why. The
own writings as in the case of Bashir Badr. disease seems to have sprung itself from
It also scares us because dementia turns deep within the human architecture, a
its patients into mindless individuals. Mind- curse written over the door to our last, hith-
less, selfless, unreasonable creatures, some- erto unexplored chamber. Some experts
how still looking like human beings. We see suggest that the disease remains in every
a metaphysical incompatibility in them, brain, lying in wait for activation.
and it is deeply unsettling. For all practical About five million people are expected
purposes, they seem like headless bodies, to suffer from Alzheimer’s across the coun-
up and shambling around. And the saddest try by 2050. But nothing tangible has been
thing is that you can’t help them in any way done to deal with it at individual, societal,
to improve their condition. medical or governmental level. Like mil-
Each dementia story comes across as lions other patients, dementia-hit Bashir
an individual tragedy. We witness it in our Badr is now in a condition where he finds
neighbourhood. Some time we read about it very hard to speak even a word. So are we
it or watch it or hear about it. Initially, one when we think of such diseases and the in-
starts fearing that something similar may action to do away with them.
happen to him or her. But after few mo-
ments, we shrug such thoughts off our head, letters@tehelka.com

Tehelka / 15 july 2018 66 www.Tehelka.com

66 The Last Word-Abdul-Column.indd 2 03/07/18 4:14 PM