9-yr addiction behind, he motivates others

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 14

Thirtyeight-year-old city resident Manish Saini was 29 years old when he got hooked to “chitta” drug and since then his life has become a living hell. He has lost lakhs of rupees and his wife left him. He was also involved in liquor smuggling. “My life had literally ruined and I could feel that I was getting weak from within and would live for only a few years hence,” says Manish.

“But one fine day, my mother Sudesh’s motivation made me shun drugs and become a clean man once again,” he recalls. And ever since, he has not looked back and has managed to get 10 more drug addicts to shun drugs.

Manish now works as a manager at a shop selling raw material for hosiery industry in the Shivpuri area of the city.

Giving details of leading a life of drug addict, Manish informs that he was very attached to his elder brother. “When my brother passed away, I felt low and shaken and that is why I fell prey to the vicious circle of drugs. At that time, I owned two cars, had around Rs 10 lakh in my bank account and a house worth around Rs 12 lakh. But slowly, due to my addiction to “chitta”, my money and everything else started decreasing and within a few years, I was left pauper,” he recalls.

Manish informs that to make ends meet, he entered into the world of liquor smuggling. “At that time, I used to focus only on “chitta” and nothing else bothered me. My family life got disturbed and one day, my wife left me. It was then that I realised that my life has no meaning,” he informs, adding that his mother Sudesh always stood by him and motivated him to shun drugs.

It was around a year back that he decided to shun drugs forever. His mother brought him to the drug de-addiction centre at the Civil Hospital, Ludhiana. “Owing to the motivation of my mother, I made strong will power to shun drugs and that is why, after taking medication for only around three weeks only, I managed to shun drugs. I want to inform everyone that staff and doctors at the drug de-addition centre are the best, and it is because of them that my journey of drug de-addiction was easy. Also, my treatment was done free of cost,” he informs.