Summary
Most people spend fifty years learning and building, but few plan for the final twenty-five years centered on purpose. By applying "existential arithmetic," we can transition from accumulation to contribution, ensuring that our health, systems, and stories serve a deeper meaning.
Cultural expectations surrounding the elderly are being challenged today, and with good reason!
While it was the norm to slow down and retreat into a quieter life post-retirement, more men and women are finding purpose and joy in doing the opposite.
WisdomCircle honours such men and women by shining light on their journey through an inspiring series called “Wisdom Stories”. These people have successfully smashed stereotypes, and their stories remind us that life should be lived to the fullest, no matter what age or stage.
“Growing up in a traditional land-owning family in Mangalore, my life seemed set on a predictable trajectory: learn to cook, get married, and settle into domesticity. My mother was particularly firm about this, steering me away from my dream of studying medicine and later towards Psychology, which she viewed as a compromise, though still too ‘modern’ for her liking.
My true career began not by design, but by a fortunate accident during my bachelor’s viva. An external examiner, impressed by my performance in the viva, asked about my future plans and I confessed a secret ambition to combine my love for psychology with my passion for elocution to become a radio jockey. He smiled and suggested a new program in Mysore that perfectly merged those interests: Speech and Hearing.
Convincing my family was a battle. My mother refused to let me apply, insisting I stay home until marriage. I staged a satyagraha, refusing to back down until she finally relented, on the strict condition that I apply only for that one course, convinced I wouldn’t secure one of the seven seats available across India. I did, and though she didn’t speak to me for a week, my journey had officially begun.
I started my professional life at NIMHANS, where the clinical exposure taught me more than any textbook could. It was there, and later as a professor at AIISH Mysore, that I began my involvement in children with autism, a condition earlier described as a rare psychiatric disorder that we weren’t supposed to touch.
The catalyst for my deep dive into this field was a boy named Tito. His family had travelled across India, meeting only dead ends until they reached Mysore. My colleague noticed Tito could communicate by pointing to letters, revealing a profound intelligence trapped behind his silence.
Working with him changed my perspective of autism entirely; he went on to write an autobiography and feature in a BBC documentary, proving that the potential for communication existed even when speech did not.
By the age of forty-eight, I decided to take voluntary retirement and move to Bangalore. I intended to leave the field entirely to work on issues facing the ‘girl child,’ but I couldn’t escape the reputation I had built. Tito’s story had spread, and desperate parents began seeking me out.
I saw families running from pillar to post, speech therapy in one corner of the city, occupational therapy in another, exhausting themselves for very little gain. When I returned from a Fulbright assignment in the US in 2000, I found twenty-three young couples waiting for me at Lakeside hospital, literally pleading with me to ‘do something’.
I realised I couldn’t walk away. I proposed a radical experiment: a group intervention where all therapies would be provided under one roof, simultaneously. At the time, this was unheard of; the prevailing wisdom was that children with autism were too individualistic for groups.
We started in a single hall with twelve ‘unmanageable’ children and three fresh therapists who had never worked together. It was absolute bedlam at first, with anxious mothers hanging outside the window to watch. But we persisted, and within six months, the chaos turned into connection. The children showed remarkable gains, and a later ten-year follow-up study confirmed that over 76% of our children had successfully mainstreamed into regular schools.
That experiment evolved into the Com DEALL Trust. We formalised our methods, published manuals in three languages, and helped set up nearly forty affiliate units across India so that families wouldn’t have to uproot their lives to find help.
Today, my focus has shifted from the clinic to the cloud. I’ve handed over our primary unit to St. John’s Medical College and am now working on the Com DEALL app. My goal is to empower families in remote areas and those who cannot afford expensive therapy, guiding parents to become the primary change agents for their own children.
To seasoned professionals, I say this: do not be afraid to step out of the box. I entered this field by accident and stayed because of the desperate need I saw, but it has become the most enriching part of my life.
The greatest reward isn’t the awards or the recognition; it is the simple, profound joy of seeing a child connect with the world for the first time. That is the gift that keeps me going.”
– Prathibha Karanth
Interviewed by Nehal Naik for WisdomCircle
Explore more inspiring journeys—read more Wisdom Stories here.
