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 …
More than Books: A Tribute to MGIMS Library and Dr. R.V. Agrawal
Bhupendra Nath Dasโwidely known as B.N. Das and one of the earliest members of the MGIMS library teamโcalled me this morning. Now in his early 80s, his voice quivered with emotion as he reminisced about Dr. R.V. Agrawalโs role in establishing the MGIMS library. B.N. Das, then a 24-year-old from Calcutta, would later retire from …
A Voice that built MGIMS
August 8, 1968. A date like many others in the national calendarโalmost forgotten. But in a modest meeting room in Delhi, something quietly historic stirred. Three minds met. The agenda: to build a medical college in Sevagram Morarji Desai, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, was from Delhiโfamoulsy frugal. Beside him sat Vasantrao Naik, Chief …
The Dark Room
This evening I was walking past the old Kasturba Hospital buildingโthe one that now houses the Department of Community Medicine. I had walked past it hundreds of times, but today, something made me stop. There it was: a small, weather-beaten board that read โ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ผ๐ผ๐บ.โ It hung askew on the aging wall, its rusted edges …
Happy Birthday, Pendsey!
๐๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ, Pendsey. ๐๐ช๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ? ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ Happy Birthday! Itโs the 18th of May. Like always, I wake up thinking of you, ๐๐ฟ. ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐๐ฒ๐. For years, Iโd call and surprise you with my rusty German. Youโd laugh, loudly. โ๐๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ,โ youโd say. Your accent was better. Your joy, louder. That laugh still echoes. …
Doing away with MD thesis
I must admit that I, too, wasโand still amโa medical teacher who guidedโor is misguided the more appropriate word?โover three dozen postgraduates in writing their MD theses. I do not wish to stand on a pedestal or adopt a โholier than thouโ posture. I have erred, misjudged, behaved badly, mishandled situations, and at times, been …
The Double-Blind MD Thesis
โSo, whatโs up?โ I asked the young postgraduate from a neighbouring medical college. He had just run into me on the road. โIโve finished my thesis, sir,โ he said, sounding both relieved and battle-weary. โNow preparing for the MD examsโjust two months to go.โ โThatโs done?โ I raised my eyebrows. โAlready?โ โYes, sir,โ he nodded. …
The fall of the MD thesis
Another DNB thesis lands in my inboxโjoining its MD cousins. My task is to evaluate it. A formality, really. The postgraduate has written it, the professor has supervised itโor so the paperwork claims. I enter the username, type the password, and open the fileโwithout hope. An immaculate PDF appears. Crisp formatting. Polished grammar. Elegant English. …
A Tribute to Sudhakar Joshi
This Sunday, Dr. Sudhakar Joshi passed away. An alumnus of the GMC Nagpur class of 1969, he was four years senior to me. Between 1979 and 1982, during our postgraduate years in Medicine at Government Medical College, Nagpur, we found ourselves gravitating more toward the residents and lecturers than the professors. They were closer to …
Remembering Dr. H.C. Attal
This morning, my friend Ramesh Mundle called to inform me that Dr. H.C. Attal, former Professor of Medicine at GMC Nagpur, passed away yesterday at the age of 86. He taught us medicine during our residency at Government Medical College, Nagpur, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He led one of the six medicine …
A Vist, A Downpour and a Suitcase Full of Yesterdays
Exactly a week ago, I landed in Indore to visit my elder sister. But my heart tugged in another directionโtoward someone I had to see. Dr. Karunakar Trivedi. That morning, I dialed his number. His voice, gentle and warm, hadn’t changed with time. He welcomed me without pause. By noon, I was standing before Trivedi …