He is ‘Doctor Fixit’ for broken hearts

CHANDIGARH - He may not have suffered a broken heart himself or even qualified as a medicine man, but that has not stopped others from calling him ‘Doctor Rehabilitation’, ‘Doctor Feel-good’ and ‘Doctor Fixit’.

Ranjay Vardhan, an assistant professor at a post-graduate girls’ college in Chandigarh, specialises in a unique area - mending ‘broken hearts’ - which is not just for those who were disappointed in love.

Having established the Broken Heart Rehabilitation Society in Chandigarh in 1991, Vardhan is all set to expand the sphere of the unique venture. He will be launching a dedicated website for broken hearts within a couple of months.

“Broken hearts is not only about people who fail in love. It can be any failure in life that can leave anyone with a broken heart. Actually everyone, at some stage in life, has a broken heart. This is where this society can help,” Vardhan told IANS.

Vardhan, a sociologist by profession, even penned a book in 2008 - “Coping with Broken Hearts - World’s First Self-Help Book for Broken Hearts”, to let his idea reach out to the maximum number of people.

“The provocation for setting up the Broken Hearts Society was that I could see many people around me who were upset at not achieving things in life and in love. No one was doing anything for them. So I started working in this direction and helping people through counselling. This was the first of its kind venture in the world,” Vardhan claimed.

The society, which now has 100 members, does personal and e-mail (brokenheartrehabilitation@gmail.com) counselling for anyone who needs assistance in this regard.

“Many people approach us for counselling,” he said.

“A few weeks back, a young couple came to me. They had strained relations and had decided to divorce,” Vardhan told IANS.

“After listening to both of them we discovered there was just a communication gap between them. We told them to go out on a holiday trip, to attend parties and to go for dinner on every weekend. Through this, they got time to listen to each other and settled scores. Now they are living just like any other compatible couple.”

Talking about another case that involved a 73-year-old man, a resident of Patiala, Vardhan said: “This man had bitter marriage experiences twice in his life. When he came to me, his third marriage was also on the verge of collapsing.

“Initially he used to cry like a child and say nobody loves him. He had 10 sessions with us and we taught him how to hold his nerve and keep his cool through meditation. He was self-centred and an egoist but now he has completely changed. In fact, he is also contributing to our movement,” said Vardhan.

Vardhan’s unique efforts for broken hearts found him an entry in the Limca Book of Records in 1999. He also has knowledge of eight languages (French, German, Sanskrit, English, Hindi, Persian, Punjabi and Urdu).

Vardhan, who is headed to Harvard University to present a paper at an international conference on Sociology in June, has a dream “to get the Nobel Prize”.

“I may not have got the Nobel Prize yet but I did get a book of mine released at the Nobel Prize hall!” Vardhan said. He has written five books, including one on “Single Women - a Study of Spinsters”, and scores of papers so far.

In 1997, Vardhan organised what he calls the “world’s first rehab camp for broken hearts” in Chandigarh May 3. He has even dedicated May 3 as Broken Hearts Day.

Vardhan says that losing heart after any failure, in love or life, is not the way. “There are ways to overcome these things. We can provide some,” he added.

(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)