India has around 6 lakh people living on the streets with untreated mental health conditions. This number is far higher than what official estimates acknowledge. In Kolkata alone, census figures suggest 69,000 homeless people, but the reality is likely much higher because people with severe mental illness are often not counted at all.
Sarbani traces her journey from corporate life to the streets of Kolkata, where a single moment changed everything. She watched a young man eat from a garbage vat, just next to Missionaries of Charity, where free food was being distributed. That moment led her, along with psychiatrist Dr. K. L. Narayanan, to create Iswar Sankalpa. The organisation was built on a clear belief: care should reach people where they already are, not force them into institutions.
As the conversation unfolds, Sarbani points out that nearly 35% of all homeless people live with mental illness or co-morbid substance use conditions. Yet care rarely reaches them. Instead of hospitals and asylums, Iswar Sankalpa built a model of care on the streets. Chaiwalas became caregivers. Neighbourhoods became support systems. Trust mattered more than walls. Social recovery often began before clinical recovery.
The episode also follows the long process of making the state acknowledge what it had ignored. Police stations were never meant to be spaces of care, until Sarbani insisted they had to be. Government offices turned her away repeatedly, until persistence and legal grounding slowly opened doors. Over time, the system began to shift, making space for people who had long fallen through every crack.
A defining moment came when Sarbani wrote to A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, asking him to stand by people who were both homeless and living with mental illness. He replied immediately: “I will come.” His presence made the invisible visible, and institutions could no longer look away.
This is not just a story about mental health. It is a story about dignity, belonging, and what care looks like when people step in. Watch the full episode now.