We pause today to remember our beloved Dr. Sushila Nayar—fondly remembered by generations as Badi Behenji—on the anniversary of her passing.
Looking back at records from 1938, it is humbling to glimpse the world she stepped into. At a time when India had barely ten medical colleges, she was one of just 51 women in the entire country to graduate as a doctor. Emerging from Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi—where only 25 students were admitted each year—she entered a profession that was then almost entirely closed to women.
She could have chosen a life of comfort and prestige. Instead, she chose the dusty paths of Sevagram. The formative years she spent here with Mahatma Gandhi shaped her understanding of health, humanity, and service. She carried these lessons for the rest of her life.
In 1969, she returned with a clear purpose: to build the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences. She did not merely establish a medical college; she shaped a way of thinking. She showed that excellence and ethics must grow together in rural India, and that the science of medicine can never be separated from the spirit of service.
For all of us—students, teachers, and alumni—her life is a reminder that institutions are not made of brick and mortar alone. They are built by belief and sustained by courage. MGIMS stands today because she once believed it must.
Badi Behenji, your physical journey may have ended on this day, but your legacy remains the soul of Sevagram. We offer our deepest pranams to you. You were—and always will be—the light that continues to guide us.
