Opinion What Kapil Dev should have said to students on dealing with stress and depression
If he had known that 1,64,033 people died by suicide in 2021 in India, perhaps he might not have said what he did
Kapil Dev (File) 
Kapil Dev says he is not a fan of cricket anymore. He has “moved on”, he claimed at a programme organised by a private coaching company a few days ago to felicitate students who topped the recent entrance examinations.
I am also not holding a cricket ball in my left palm and a bat in my right hand all the time, but I definitely enjoy watching and playing the game while practising my mental health game with the same passion.
Moving on is not about deleting, disconnecting from the past or living in a fantasy. Life is not a bunch of cupboards, organised in a chronological fashion, that hold our memories of life.
It is a continuum where one moves to and fro, looking at the rearview mirror occasionally to learn lessons from the past and drive forward successfully.
‘Hum unme se hai jo peeche jhaank ke nahi dekhte hain’ , said Sharukh Khan in a movie. Kapil Dev echoes this philosophy but misses the woods for the trees.
“‘Pressure’ and ‘depression’ are western phrases,” he thundered and I fell off my chair.
“You have not moved on Kapil Paji,” I wanted to tell him, “You are in an elite cocoon, blinded by stone-age ideas.”
If he had known that 1,64,033 people died by suicide in 2021 in India, he might never have said what he did.
Instead, he might have said, “Studies and exams can cause pressure and you have successfully managed to get through. Congratulations, guys!’
He might have said, “Remember the four P’s — Play, Prayers, Pranayama and Peaceful Sleep — that help in calming down.”
“Exercise dissolves tears and fears, and improves memory,” he might have told his audience, giving an important message to younger generations.
The applause would have been louder and would have sunk into the brains of the thousands who watched the video of his talk.
If it had been me instead of the Legend on the dais, I would have asked the students to share their strategies to beat the blues and achieve mindful states during their planning and preparation stages.
To pronounce that “pressure and depression are western concepts” was unfortunate. I would exhort the captain of India’s 1983 World Cup champions to move away from the arc lights for some time and listen to the voices of the parents who have unfortunately lost their children to self-harm. They are in the thousands.
The great allrounder forgets that the world is changing, even if the human brain has not changed its size shape, colour, volume or weight.
Depression is more common now than malaria and dengue.
The rapid pace of life and the adverse effects of globalisation have their own casualties in the form of lifestyle diseases and depression. There are nearly 20 crore people with mental illness in India.
In this scenario, I wish Kapil Dev and all other leaders in sports become mental health ambassadors like Deepika Padukone, Karan Johar and Virat Kohli.
Only then will I agree that Kapil Dev has “moved on”.
The writer is a Mumbai-based psychiatrist
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