Zaira Wasim opens up about battle with depression
Mumbai, May 11: Actress Zaira Wasim, 17, who courted fame with "Dangal" and "Secret Superstar", says she has been suffering from depression for over four years, but was pushed into a "bubble of denial"
The National Award winner opened up about her struggle via a lengthy post shared on Instagram on Thursday night.
"I'm writing this to (finally) admit and confess that I, for a very long time have been suffering from depression," Zaira wrote.
She said she has been "embarrassed and scared" to admit it not only because of the stigma that goes around with the word depression, but most importantly because of always being told that 'You're too young to be depressed' or 'It's just a phase'".
The young and talented girl from Srinagar said she has sometimes popped five antidepressants everyday, faced anxiety attacks, was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night, felt empty, restless, anxious and hallucinated, apart from having sore limbs from sleeping too much or not being able to sleep for weeks.
"From overeating to starving myself, unexplained fatigue, body ache, self loathing, nervous breakdowns, suicidal thoughts, were all parts of this phase," said Zaira, who made her debut with Aamir Khan's 2016 drama "Dangal".
Zaira said she knew something wasn't right for her, however, people and doctors around her told her, "It's nothing, you're too young to be depressed".
Her first panic attack was at the age of 12, and another one at 14.
"Now all I remember is losing count of the number of panic attacks, losing count of the number of medicines I've had and I'm still having..."
Zaira said she could never accept the fact that she suffers from a disorder called depression, which "affects almost 350 million people worldwide; without asking for their permission to ruin their mental and emotional state or asking them their age".
Depression and anxiety is not a feeling, she said.
"It's an illness. It's not somebody's choice or fault. It can affect anyone, anytime."
Now she has embraced it and understood it, and decided to share about the struggle "without being ashamed, embarrassed and having the fear of being judged for it".
Zaira said perhaps a "complete break from everything, my social life, my work, school and especially social media", might help her.
"I'm really looking forward to the holy month of Ramadan as it may be the perfect opportunity to figure things out. Please remember me in your prayers."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Washington Sundar's twin strikes help India keep New Zealand at 92/3 at lunch on day one, 3rd Test
Mumbai (PTI): Off-spinner Washington Sundar stymied New Zealand’s progress with two vital strikes as the visitors reached 92/3 at lunch against India on the opening day of the third and final Test here on Friday.
Washington (2/26) added two more dismissals to bring his wicket tally to 13 in the series, maintaining consistent pressure on the Kiwi batters after pacer Akash Deep (1/22) gave India the first breakthrough.
At lunch, New Zealand had their hopes pinned on Will Young for a long haul who batted well to reach 38 not out (3x4s, 1x6s), with Daryl Mitchell (11 not out) at the other end.
Washington’s identical strikes to remove skipper Tom Latham (28) and in-form Rachin Ravindra (5) helped India pull things back in control in the second half of the session as New Zealand appeared to be consolidating on a day one wicket, which had something in it for all parties involved.
Coming off a 11-wicket match haul in second Test at Pune, Washington picked up rhythm soon after his introduction into the attack to keep testing the Kiwi batters' defence.
It did not take him long to strike, drawing the New Zealand captain out to defend but beating him with the drift and turn on a delivery that pitched in the line of stumps in his third over, Washington beat the bat’s outside edge to hit the off-stump.
Kiwi batting sensation Ravindra suffered a similar fate on the fifth delivery that he faced off the Indian spinner, who again got the ball to drift and turn past the outside edge and hit the off-stump.
Earlier, with not much initial movement off the surface assisting the Indian pacers, the ploy to go a little fuller in length seemed to work well as Mohammed Siraj trapped Devon Conway (4) in front of the wickets but a thick inside edge saved the opener in the third over.
However, Akash angled one into the left-hander which beat Conway’s bat to pin him out leg-before, with New Zealand also burning a review against the on-field call.
While Latham consolidated from there on, using the sweep shot to a good effect, Young once again showed his array of strokes and composite defence as a solid No 3 batter for the Kiwis.
Young went after anything that had width on offer to collect boundaries and having studied R Ashwin (0/20) quite well for the ace Indian spinner's first three overs, he did not have any hesitation in shimmying down the track to clear the ropes over midwicket.
