A resident of Mental Health Centre, Peroorkada, for the past six months, the lean and presentable 40-year-old man wanted to go home and be reunited with his family. His family, though, was torn. Past experience had taught them that he could not stay away from drink.
He has a condition called alcohol use disorder. He may go months or even a year without one, but then relapse and turn into someone who was a far cry from a beloved husband or father.
His wife said that since he had no savings, she and her two children were living with their mother. Taking him back, without asking her mother or other close relatives, was impossible.
He promised he would not touch a drop of drink, would go to work and listen to her, the wife said. She said she wanted to believe him, but even her children could attest to the fact that he could not be trusted to stay sober. His mother and siblings did not want to have anything to do with him, pointed out.
Finally, it was decided that he would be accommodated at Karuna Sai, a deaddiction and mental health centre at Vellanad, till his wife and children moved into a rented house where they could all stay together.
