Dr Sanjeev Jain is head of the department of psychiatry at Nimhans Bangalore. A clinical psychologist, he speaks on the present and future young of India with the insight of a sociologist and social psychiatrist. Dr Jain is currently engaged in researching and writing a four-volume history of the growth of psychiatric services in India. The final volume will focus on the psychiatric history of India’s partition in 1947. Excerpts from an interview with Sugata Srinivasaraju: