Dr K.V. Desikan, a legend in leprosy, passed away on 23rd October, 2022. He was ninety six. In a career spanning more than sixty years, Dr. Desikan invested considerable effort and time trying to understand the mystery that shrouds leprosy. He began working in an area few others cared about. Leprosy, in the early fifties, …
Dr BC Harinath
The passing away of Dr BC Harinath evokes so many memories. He came to Sevagram in 1970, fresh with a PhD in Biochemistry from the USA. Sevagram was a small village then and young Harinath had trouble adjusting to Sevagram. The first batch of medical students had arrived only a year ago and Dr Harinath …
The Hundred Tests and the Missing Story
Dilip arrived in my outpatient room and settled on the stool with the solemnity of a man about to announce something of national importance. โI have a stone in the gall bladder,โ he declared. He did not sound like one in distress, but rather like someone unveiling a secret possession. I leaned forward. โYes, but …
Five Doctors, Five Roads Less traveled
In Sevagram, some medical students chose roads no one expected. They arrived at MGIMS in 1969 and the early 1970s with one aim. To become doctors. Yet life, with its quiet nudges and sudden jolts, steered them elsewhere. What unfolded were stories richer than fiction, each marked by the sacred soil of Sevagram. _________________________________________ Take …
Down Memory Lane
Dr. Alhad Pimputkar (MGIMS Batch of 1971), the lead actor of the unforgettable Marathi drama ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐๐, takes us back to February 1974โwhen this play brought the Sevagram campus alive and left the open-air auditorium ringing with laughter. Two of the playโs brilliant actors, Dr. Sudhir Deshmukh (1970 batch) and Dr. Narayan Daware (1971 batch), …
Dr. Anita Borges passed away
Dr. Anita Borges passed away yesterday. A heart attack took her from us. What a remarkable pathologist she was. I never met her, but in 2017 I watched her hour-long YouTube talk, โ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ด๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ด๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐๐ด๐ฎโ. Professors are often stubborn, their egos rarely allowing them to acknowledge mistakes in public. She was the exception. She …
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด
Nostalgia. I use this word often. Perhaps it comes with age, a habit of looking back, of holding on to the past. But sometimes I wonder. Am I using it right? The ending -algia makes me pause. In medicine, algos means pain. Every day, I prescribe analgesics to my patients, medicines that take the algia …
This is Not Cricket
A few days ago, Saurabh Ganguly switched off the IndiaโPakistan match after the 15th over and watched the Manchester Derby instead. Iโm not surprised. As a medical student in the 70s and 80s, I grew up watching Pakistan at its peakโImran Khan, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Sarfraz Nawaz, Abdul Qadir, Mudassar Nazar, Wasim Akram, Waqar …
Bappa and Joshi: The Gentle Legends of MGIMS Stage
I still remember that evening in Sevagram in 1974 as if it happened yesterday. The dusty courtyard of the hostel had been swept clean, a few strings of yellow bulbs hung across bamboo poles, and students kept rushing about with last-minute instructions. We were ready to stage Kaka Kishyacha, a Marathi play that had already …
Five Doctors, Five Roads Les Traveled
In Sevagram, some medical students chose roads no one expected. They arrived at MGIMS in 1969 and the early 1970s with one aim. To become doctors. Yet life, with its quiet nudges and sudden jolts, steered them elsewhere. What unfolded were stories richer than fiction, each marked by the sacred soil of Sevagram. ______________________________________________________ Take …
An Evening in Sevagram, 1974
Yesterday evening, in the quiet of the MGIMS library, I found Sushrutaโthe student magazine from 1974. Its cover was worn. The pages were yellow, some torn at the edges, faded with age. They carried the smell of time. As I turned them, I reached the Marathi section edited by Dr. Narayan Daware (class of 1971), …
The man behind the Lens: Surendra Gujar
Last week, I shared a post about Surendra Gujarโthe ever-present photographer who arrived in Sevagram in 1970 and went on to serve MGIMS for more than two and a half decades. In 1997, he turned off the flash and walked into the light. He was more than just a photographer. With a simple camera, steady …