Learning to Live Again

When people fall prey to any addiction, their homes and families are invariably dragged into a rut. It takes a lot for the addicts and their near ones to come out of the mess around them. Today there are many institutions that work towards the rehabilitation of drug and alcohol addicts. But, in the past, when a handful people were working in this field, a new project characterized by novel de-addiction experiments, was taking shape. This path-breaking experiment factored in the Indian social milieu while arriving at rehabilitation methods. It was a formula that presupposed the cooperation of the families of the affected patients. It placed the human being at the centre of the treatment, thereby relying less on medical aid. Muktangan was the name of this pioneering experiment, which has been active in this field for the last 25 years. Learning to live again book is a story of Muktangan, narrated by its founder Anil Awachat. The writer is a popular Marathi auther, a recipient of several literary honors, including the Sahitya Akademi award. - Anil Awachat