Balancing Act

‘The fruit is bound to be sweet if the seed is pure’- Saint Dnyaneshwar has said in one of his writings and one interaction with Puntambekar is enough to prove the truth that lies in the statement. For the daughter of Anil Awachat and late Dr Anita Awachat,the art of living a balanced life comes quite naturally. “My father has been a firm believer of socialism whereas my mother preached Gandhian principles. In fact it was due to the same that our childhood was different than most of the children our age. Till standard five,we went to the corporation school,as it was closer to the Mental Hospital quarters where we used to stay. Studying or playing with the maid’s children was a routine thing for us. I also remember going and staying at our maid’s house for days. Those days imbibed in us the simplicity and kept us grounded. The empathy that we gain today is because of our strong roots,” says Puntambekar.

“I was always known as father’s daughter. Though his artistic approach and his indifferent persona have been taken by my sister,the one quality that I picked up from him is reading. Baba,as we call him,still says that I am a perfectionist like my mother,” she smiles.

Muktangan was founded by Dr Anita Awachat for the rehabilitation of drug or alcohol addicts and Puntambekar joined the organisation 16 years ago with a motive to write a thesis for her PhD. “My mother was a mother to everyone at Muktangan. Every one would respect her and at the same time be afraid of her. And that’s the reason that when she passed away in 1997,we thought many would return to addiction. Thankfully,that did not happen. By then,even I had developed a bond with everyone at Muktangan. Being her daughter,I was handed over the torch of the work that was started by her,” adds Puntambekar.

While the systems established by her mother came to her help,it was Puntambekar,who introduced a professional approach in the organisation dividing it into departments and assigning responsibilities such as department heads and administrators and so on. With 60 staff members attending about 125 cases on a given day,Muktangan today even boasts of a ladies ward and a special section for wives of addicts. Having bagged the ISO 9001- 2000 certification,the centre also boasts of 85 per cent recovery rate amongst women,which is almost 40 per cent higher than the rest of the world. “The problem area is that 25 per cent of the patients are youngsters. We have been conducting sessions for students of standard eight and nine till date but now,we are planning to conduct such sessions for children of standard four and five,” she adds.

Seeking a balance between life and work despite being at the epicentre of sorrow and helplessness,Puntambekar says,“There are times when I sit and think- why am I doing all this and the answer comes that I could not have been happier doing anything else. We all need an identity and Muktangan gave me that face. Today,I am Muktangan and Muktangan is me!”

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