The other side of Dr NN Wig

Mukul Bansal

IT was numbing to receive the news that eminent psychiatrist Dr Narendra Nath Wig had passed away. Numbing because there are some individuals in one’s life whom one expects to fight back and emerge victorious in the battle of life and death.

About a year ago, Dr Wig had introduced me to Dr IC Pathak, chairman of the Chuttani Medical Trust (CMC) and a former director of PGI, Chandigarh.

I was awestruck on meeting Dr Pathak, who was 92 years old at that time but would discharge his full responsibilities as the chairman of the CMC. He had fought major illnesses like a heart attack and cancer. These are the kind of fighters one draws inspiration from.

Dr Wig (86) till a few months before he passed away would visit the CMC thrice a week as a consulting psychiatrist besides running his free mental health clinic at Lala Lajpat Rai Bhawan twice a week. It was some experience to see how loyal Dr Wig was to his patients.

I believed that Dr Wig would fight back and recover from his illness soon. But that was not to be.

In their tributes, his friends, colleagues and admirers have touched on several aspects of his personality and his compassion for those patients who could not pay — he had consciously decided after he had retired from the WHO that he would not be a physician for the rich only. He ensured what he said — “an hour of dignity for the poor” — by listening to them and their attendants and treating them well.

In 1999, I came across a book published by his students in his honour. My eyes rested on a description of Dr Wig as “the father of Indian psychiatry”.

Soon enough, I got a chance to meet Dr Wig. I thought he had a leonine voice and presence. While talking to him, I learnt that Dr Wig was passionately fond of Urdu poetry, especially Ghalib. 

After sometime I met Dr Wig again and shared a Ghalib couplet: Dekhna taqreer ki lazzat ki jo usne kaha, maine ye jaana ki goya ye bhi mere dil mein tha (See the beauty of speech! Whatever he said, I felt this was also in my heart). I overlooked the fact I was talking to a Ghalib specialist, but he heard me out and nodded.

When Dr Wig's wife, Veena Wig, died about two or three years ago, everybody close to him knew that her death had affected him greatly. One day, while sitting with him, I recalled his love for astronomy and an Urdu couplet sprung to my mind, which I recited to him and to which he said, "Achha hai."

The couplet was: "Raat bhar aasman ko takta hoon, jaise taaron mein ja bassa koi."

Sometime back, Dr Wig had said he was curious by nature. He said besides other things he took interest in many things like watching birds in fields, stars in the sky, Urdu poetry and music, both classical and popular. In Dr Wig's death, a large number of friends, his colleagues and students and, above all, members of his family have lost their friend, philosopher and guide.

Mortal remains consigned to flames

Chandigarh, July 14

The mortal remains of Prof NN Wig were consigned to flames at the Sector-25 crematorium here on Saturday. A large number of residents, including dignitaries, doctors, and bureaucrats attended the cremation.

Prof Wig (88), passed away following a brief ailment on July 12. He was rushed to PGI but could not be saved. A noted psychiatrist, he had set up the Department of Psychiatry at the PGI, Chandigarh. — TNS