Monsoon Semester 05: The Second Glance
English

Good morning, good morning.
Everybody on time today.
And you, green fellow.
Very good.
Friday.
Monday, you were here.
Tuesday, here. Wednesday, Thursday...
Where has your boy gone, ah?
Five days. This cycle has
not moved in five days.
Most of us walk past a parked bicycle.
Mani Anna looked twice.
Call it the second glance.
The first glance sees a crowd.
The second glance sees a person.
An empty seat by the window,
that used to be full.
Assignments submitted
at four in the morning.
Again, and again.
A plate, left untouched.
A student who used to make
everyone laugh, and has gone quiet.
None of these is a diagnosis.
Each one is a reason to look again.
Mani Anna noticed a bicycle.
Who else had noticed something?
And what might it mean?
Sir, one minute. The first-year
boy with the green cycle. Kabir.
Kabir? Yes, yes. Back row, by the window.
His cycle has not moved
from the stand in five days.
Maybe he's walking.
Good exercise, Anna.
In this rain? No, sir.
Thirty years I have watched these cycles.
I know when one is parked,
and when one is left.
Lab five. Lab six. Lab seven.
Three labs in a row.
How did I not see this?
Three hundred students, sir.
You see the screen.
I see the stand.
He was one of the first names I learnt.
I'll send him the
attendance warning today.
Seventy-five percent is the rule.
Warning mails I have seen
for thirty years, sir.
They don't bring many
children back to lab.
Then what does?
A person, sir. Not a mail.
Thank you, Anna. If you notice a change
in anyone else, will you tell me?
I always notice, sir.
Now I will also tell.
Ma'am! Quiz club, Saturday, six sharp.
You're our guest quizmaster.
You can't say no.
I can say no. I simply never do.
Is that your third chai?
Fourth! Sleep is for
after placements, ma'am.
And when are placements?
December!
December is a long way away, Tanvi.
I'm fine, ma'am. Really!
Just a busy semester.
Hmm. Come for chai on Friday anyway.
No quiz questions.
Okay... okay. Friday.
Tanvi looks fine. She hasn't
slept properly in weeks.
She isn't ill. She is struggling.
Five minutes. I have
someone at quarter past.
Five minutes. Promise.
Everyone promises five minutes.
A first-year has missed three labs, and
his cycle hasn't moved in five days.
Is he depressed?
And one of mine is running
on almost no sleep.
Bright, busy, always laughing.
Is that an illness?
Maybe. Maybe not. And that's not
a question you have to answer.
Think of three things.
Stress is everyday weather.
A deadline, an exam.
Everyone gets wet, and it passes.
Distress is when the rain doesn't lift.
Weeks of it. Sleep goes, appetite
goes, a student pulls away.
And illness, like depression,
is a health condition.
Assessing that is my job, not yours.
So we don't diagnose.
You notice. You ask.
And then you walk them over to me.
So a cycle that hasn't moved...
That's a very good reason to ask.
Mental health and mental
illness are two separate scales.
A student with a diagnosis
can be flourishing.
And a student without
one can be struggling.
In 2025, researchers surveyed eight
thousand, five hundred and forty-two
students at thirty Indian universities.
Thirty-eight percent reported moderate
or severe symptoms of depression.
Twelve percent reported suicidal
thoughts in the past year.
Warning signs are often quiet.
Withdrawal. A change in routine.
Talk of being a burden.
Noticing matters more than diagnosing.
And noticing is not surveillance.
Nobody should monitor students'
phones or social media.
Noticing is what Mani Anna did.
He looked twice, and he told someone.
You covered his seat?
So it is dry when he comes back.
The next time I see him, I'll talk to him.
What will you say?
I noticed you haven't
been in lab this week.
How are things... really?
Very nice, sir. But the cycle is fine.
Say it to the boy.
To the boy. Yes.
Try this week: choose one signal
to watch for in a large class, such
as three missed sessions in a row.
And ask your teaching assistants and
lab staff to tell you when they notice a
change.
And here is a phrase to keep.
I noticed you haven't
been in lab this week.
How are things, really?
Support details and sources
are below this video.
See you in week six.