lives and problems 93
Biju, Kavitha and Benny
My research assistants Biju, Kavitha and Benny ask most of the questions
in the following interviews. Although I speak Malayalam, my knowledge of
the language cannot compare with that of a native speaker who is fl uent in
the various vernaculars and attuned to cultural sensibilities of interaction. Th e
presence of my assistants made our interviews richer and made the people we
spoke to feel more at ease in a place where foreign researchers are unusual and
conspicuous. Equally important to their assistance in interviews, Biju, Kavitha
and Benny, all of whom had some training or interest in mental health issues,
revealed aspects of culture and everyday life in Kerala and interpreted issues
that arose in interviews and in other aspects of our research. Because of their
important role in interviews and interactions with patients, Biju, Kavitha and
Benny require further introduction.
Biju is an easy-going yet enthusiastic man who lives and works and, it seems,
knows everyone in the city of Trivandrum. Biju, during the primary research
period for this project in 1997, was in his late twenties and worked as a clerk
at an ayurvedic medical institute. He had also been exploring other career
options, including graduate studies in psychology, enrolling in the civil service
and, after completing work on this project, working as a medical transcrip-
tionist. Biju’s personality includes strongly developed, opposite characteristics,
which is part of his appeal. He is very down-to-earth and yet philosophi-
cal, intellectual and interested in new and exotic experiences. He can seem
quiet and even dreamy, as if lost in his own world, yet he is warm and socially
en gaging. Biju’s sociability is evidenced by his many friends and connections.
As we moved about Trivandrum, we encountered people he knew in every
corner of town, and he made this city of one million feel like a village. He is
socially savvy but earnest, and often sought after as a negotiator and mediator.
People frequently bring along a friend when they have to negotiate anything,
from a business deal to a marriage proposal, just as they do when they visit a
therapist, and Biju was often picked for this role.
Biju’s empathetic and communicative instincts came out in interviews.
Patients we spoke to quickly opened up to him, and sometimes our interviews
even seemed therapeutic. A few patients we spoke to became friends with Biju,
and at their request he met with some of them alone and informally, not as
part of this research project, but because they felt they benefi ted from talking
to him.
Kavitha is equally easy-going although not as outgoing as Biju. Having
recently fi nished her Masters thesis in psychology on stress suff ered by wives
of Malayali men who work in the Persian Gulf, which will be discussed later in