In Memory of Dr Madhao Dattatraya Khapre5 min read

(4 February 1937 – 19 January 2026)

I have just learnt that Dr. Madhao Dattatraya Khapre passed away this evening in Nagpur.

He served MGIMS as Professor and Head of Pharmacology for many years, from February 1971 to August 1987.

Outside the campus, he was a devoted senior member of the Shri Dnyaneshwar Madhuradvait Sampradaya.

In Sevagram, he lived with quiet discipline and a gentle faith, visible in his daily life.He was a voice in the classroom, a familiar presence at college functions, and someone who could make a heavy day feel lighter with nothing more than a warm, unhurried smile.

I worked with him in Sevagram from 1982 to 1997. Even today, I do not picture him sitting behind a desk. I see him walking briskly across the campus, eyes bright, as if a tune was always playing inside him.

He once said something, I never forgot:

“Anybody with a bit of hard work and rote-learning could become an engineer or doctor,
but music and singing could not be learnt this way…
I wanted to be a devoted Hindustani classical vocalist in my adolescence but ended up being a doctor.”

He became a doctor, yes. But music never left him.

Dr. Khapre was born in Nagpur on 4 February 1937. He grew up in Khapre Wada, in a simple, rooted home. At his father’s insistence—his father was a lawyer—he joined Government Medical College, Nagpur, in 1955. He had wanted to take up music full time, but he set that dream aside and chose medicine.

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He came to MGIMS in the early 1970s, when the institute itself was still young. Those were the years when the college was being built not only with bricks and files, but with people. He belonged to that first generation of teachers who gave MGIMS its character—Dr. Indurkar and Dr. Kane in Anatomy, Dr. K.N. Ingley in Physiology, Dr. R.V. Agrawal in Pathology, and in Pharmacology, the unforgettable pair of Dr. M.L. Sharma and Dr. Khapre.

Together, Dr. Sharma and Dr. Khapre built the department, each in his own way. Dr. Sharma was dramatic, full of jokes and energy. Dr. Khapre was quieter, but his clarity was something else. He could take a long, dry list of drugs and turn it into a story that students could actually follow. He made pharmacology feel simple. He also moved easily between English and Marathi so that no student felt lost. Between Dr. Sharma’s flair and Dr. Khapre’s clarity, the department shaped lessons—and memories—that students still carry today.

Even today, alumni speak of Dr. Khapre’s notes with affection. When standard textbooks became popular, students still said, “Dr. Khapre’s notes are enough.” It was not a shortcut. It was trust.

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But if pharmacology was his profession, music was his first love. He became the cultural pulse of MGIMS. He started 𝗦𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗺, where students would gather most evenings to practise—often in the Pharmacology hall itself. On Friday evenings, he would even sit on the tabla while our Principal, Dr. I.D. Singh, played the harmonium. Looking back, those scenes feel almost unreal in a medical college setting—so simple, and yet so serene.

He brought the same energy to theatre. In February 1974, he put together a full three-act Marathi play, 𝗞𝗮𝗸𝗮 𝗞𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗮, and persuaded his relative, the respected director Mr. Sudhakar Deshpande, to come from Nagpur and guide the students. Dr. Khapre stayed in the background, quietly fixing what needed to be fixed, and making sure nothing fell apart. When the audience rose for a standing ovation that night, a part of it belonged to the Pharmacology professor who believed a medical college should also make space for the arts.

His home, too, became an extension of that spirit. During college gatherings and Ganpati days, he would organise small mehfils—his baritone leading the way, Sudam Ambulkar singing bhajans, Hari on the tanpura, and young students like Avinash Wagh on the tabla, with Shyam Babhulkar and others joining in. A trained classical singer and Sangeet Visharad, he enlivened every programme with humour and song—whether it was “झनक झनक पायल बाजे” or “केतकी गुलाब जूही चंपक बन फूले“.

He also coached colleagues in acting, patiently building their confidence, and even accompanied young Sujata Bele to performances in Wardha and Nagpur, simply to steady her nerves. In the early 1980s, he himself took the stage in पंख लाभले आज सुरांना at Dhanwate Rang Mandir, alongside seasoned artists like Pandit Prabhakar Deshkar.

The same warmth followed him outside the spotlight. I remember him speaking fondly of the old Sevagram music gatherings—hours of practice, chiwda, paan, and laughter. And his kindness never needed an audience. Decades back, when Gajanan Ambulkar’s father passed away during a torrential downpour, Dr. Khapre walked through ankle-deep mud to help carry the arthi.

In the summer of 2023, I spoke to him on the phone for almost an hour and a half. His voice was full of nostalgia. “The two decades I spent in Sevagram were the golden days of my life,” he told me. He sounded so pure—like someone speaking of home.

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Dr. Khapre passed away at Viveka Hospital, Nagpur, on 19 January 2026, just days short of his 89th birthday. He leaves behind a legacy closely linked to MGIMS. His nephew, Rajabhau Khapre, served in the Department of Pharmacology. His grand-nieces, Dr. Mukta Khapre-Umarji (Batch of 1974), and Dr. Mugdha Khapre (Batch of 1998), are both MGIMS alumni.

For those of us who learnt under him, worked with him, or heard him sing “Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje,” Dr. Khapre remains a vivid memory—an exceptional teacher who made pharmacology less frightening, a musician who carried devotion in his voice, and a colleague who showed us what simple goodness looks like.

Tonight, MGIMS has lost one of its pillars. But somewhere in our minds, his voice still rises—warm and full of music.

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