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At 25,she was a mother of two and a drunkard's wife. At 30 she was a struggler,trying to break free from the mental and physical torture inflicted upon her by her husband.

Seventeen years of traumatic experience with an alcoholic husband made Prafulla Mohite take up the cause of de-addiction

At 25,she was a mother of two and a drunkard’s wife. At 30 she was a struggler,trying to break free from the mental and physical torture inflicted upon her by her husband. Seventeen years and several failed attempts to admit her husband to a de-addiction centre. Prafulla Mohite in the end had to give up and her husband died of excessive liquor consumption. Shaken and stirred with 17 long years of experience of bearing with an alcohol addict,Mohite after her retirement,was determined to nurse the wounds of the women undergoing the nightmarish phase of their lives. And just after getting relieved from her family vows,the 60-year-old was at a place where she longed to be. Sehchari,an initiative of the de-addiction centre Muktangan which counsels and supports the wives of the alcohol addicts is where she found her recluse. Mohite,who craved for an emotional support during the 17 years of tolerance of an alcohol addict wanted to become the support system for Sehchari also a name given to the wives of the alcohol addicts. Started in 1997 by Mukta Putambekar,deputy director of the organisation,the project Sehchari aims at providing emotional support to the wives of the addicts.

Mohite today counsels over 70 women a week at different seminars of Sehchari in the city. In 2002,when Mohite started off as a counselor to Sehchari women in Solapur she knew she has found her way. “I am from Solapur and from 2002 to 2003,attended seminars to share my experience. Mostly I used to end up counseling the ones,who were not only vulnerable but also panicky about the whole situation. Sehchari seminars were a platform where the bottled up emotions were vented out,” says Mohite,who also feels that the plight of an addict’s wife is underestimated many a times. “More than the person who is the addict,the woman or wives handling their husbands are prone to a mental imbalance. She is the one who remains sane and the irresponsible behaviour of her husband,family woes and future concerns torment her more. Many become suicidal. So to take care of the addicts and to provide support to them it is very necessary that the support system is free from all flaws. That is why in Sehchari we through different means try to relieve the pressure mounting on wives. Wives hold themselves resonsible for their husbands being a drunkard which is not the case at all. So we counsel them.Sehchari of addicts become submissive at times aggressive but here we teach them to be assertive,” elaborates she. After six years in the centre in Pune Muktangan,which opened a special section for women addicts recently,has Mohite as the section head. However,for Mohite the responsibitlity met with an inner conflict. Working for de-addiction center Muktangan for seven years as the counselor and guide to the wives of the alcohol addicts,Mohite doubted her potential to take care of women whose excessive alcohol consumption had left them at the doorstep of the de-addiction centre.

“My past experience had left me with not only wounds but gashes. With Sehchari women I was able to empathise. But after the ill behaviour of my husband I thought I would never be able to sympathise with alcoholics. But then gradually in due course I started seeing the addiction thing as a disease and all my apprehensions vanished.

Today,Nishigandh,the five month old women wing of Muktangan has over 25 female addicts and all vouch for their Mohites love and affection towards themselves.

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