Life 1
She is advised to take treatment for depression. She is stubborn and becomes hysteric when questioned. “Who defines me as depressed? How can a male doctor treat me unless he becomes a woman and lives my life?” She is branded outspoken
Life 2
She consumed sleeping pills and committed suicide leaving her three months old baby to none. People now say that she was depressed after she left her parents to lead a life with her lover. It seems she struggled. Lover, Parents, Relatives, Friends remained aloof. Total isolation.
Life 3
She is nowhere. She stands puzzled and perplexed in the midst of her mom and dad who curse her for being mysterious. After an arranged marriage she ran away from her first husband without even living with him for a day. Now her so called imbalanced mind is striving hard to cope up with her second husband, who taunts her every now and then. He shouts at her in crowd “If you were bold enough you would have committed suicide” Her two years old daughter learns new lessons of depression witnessing her mom’s loneliness and helplessness; dad’s overpowering nature; and grandparent’s detachment.
Life 4
She is totally lost amidst the chaos witnessing suicides of near and dears. But, she feels attached to her dead sisters. With broken heart she shrinks within the four walls of her bedroom, which any time can be inspected by her mom-in-law. She clings to that old walkman to escape from the silence that engulfs her life. Those bundles of books shifted from her hostel rooms bear the burden of those irretrievable pleasant past. “A woman should have money and a room of one’s own.” (Virginia Woolf A Room of One’s Own)
Life 5
She had alcohol for the first time in her life. It was a weak revenge. She stole the Chivas Regal from her husband’s collection. She fails to trace out the innocence behind those lengthy phone calls that her husband shared with his girl friend. “Is emotional infidelity more dangerous than physical infidelity as Rajath Kapoor once mentioned in Lounge?”
Conclusion:
She researches on how life situations and culture generate depression in women. She found out that women engage in the processes of self-alienation in their attempt to live up to the societal and familial expectations. Key elements of depression according to her are inhibition of activity, inhibition of anger, and low self-esteem. She emphasizes that married women in particular are more prone to develop depression.
