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 …
Two Tragedies
Yesterdayโs Air India tragedy in Ahmedabad, where 241 lives were lost within moments of takeoff, has left the nation grieving. For many of us, the news brought a wave of shock and sorrow. For some, it also stirred the memory of another flight, another heartbreak, from a time long past. In January 1966, ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ Mahajan …
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ต ๐๐ผ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฆ
When Gandhiji was assassinated in January 1948, the world Dr. Sushila Nayar had built her life around collapsed. She was just 33. In the chaos that followed, she threw herself into relief workโrescuing abducted women from the violence of riot-torn Punjab. Something inside her had broken. She had lost Bapu. And with him, the compass …
The Jouney of MGIMS Library
Long before Sevagram became a sprawling campus of healing and learning, something quietly profound took root beside the Biochemistry lab on the ground floor of the old Kasturba hospital. It was 1969. The college was just finding its footingโand so was its library. A single almirah, 35 books, one table, and two chairs. But what …
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. …