Youngster on a 4,000km-walk to spread awareness on mental health

In the city for a pit-stop, life coach Ronit Ranjan is walking solo from Kanyakumari to Leh to spark a conversation about the issue

Hyderabad: Growing up all Ronit Ranjan wanted to do was serving his nation. So when he came of age, he got into the National Defence Academy in Pune in 2015, to make his dream a reality. However, just when he had his ducks in a row, life decided to throw a curveball at him and a spinal injury left him physically unfit for the Army.

Ronit recovered over time, but the Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) he suffered made him think about the status of mental health in India. “There was this spurt of hashtags about mental health by celebrities after the suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. There was a seven-day cycle of discussion about mental health issues and then nothing. There has to be conversation around it at the school level. During my research, I found that one out of four students in the age group of 13-15 years is depressed in India. India has the highest suicide rate among the 10 South-east Asian countries. I decided to start a petition asking the Ministry of Education to incorporate mandatory Mental Health curriculum from Classes 9-12,” says Ronit who wears many caps – life coach, author, fitness & nutrition coach, and SSB coach.

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Towards that, he has started an online and offline petition with the goal of getting 1,00,000 signatures and plans to meet government officials, social activists, school officials, social media influencers among others.

Notwithstanding the pandemic, he decided to walk solo from Kanyakumari to Leh (4,000 kms) to add weightage to his mission called Project NH Mental Health. “We must focus on educating and sensitising students about this issue through dialogues, discussions, activities, feedback, skill training, etc. It’s time observing mental health week/day in schools round the year,” says the 23-year-old.

Following his recovery, he started afresh pursuing a Social Sciences course at Christ University in Bengaluru and penned down his experiences as a cadet in the book ‘The Mighty Mustang’ at 21. “With Covid-19, the number of people slipping into depression has gone up significantly in our society. Psychologists I know tell me that they are flooded with requests seeking help. But rural India which also struggles with mental health issues is largely unaware that there can seek professional help. While I walk along the National Highway, I hit villages with flyers talking about mental health and conduct talks in schools. Friends helped me with translations and send me voice notes in places where they don’t speak Hindi,” adds Ronit. Along the way, he has had brushes with anti-social elements, but he has remained deterred.

“It’s risky with Covid-19 as well. I’m a guy going to so many places and meeting different people. But I take my precautions. My day starts at 3:30 am and by 4 am, I’m on the road. I try to cover 35 km every day. So far, I have covered 1,250 km and reached out to 50 schools, colleges in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, AP and Telangana,” shares Ronit.

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