Between 1966 and 1969, Indian politics was a storm in motion. Indira Gandhi—once dismissed by Ram Manohar Lohia as a “goongi gudiya” (dumb doll)—defied expectations. Not only did she win the 1967 general election, but she also consolidated power and emerged as a formidable Prime Minister. The Congress party soon split: the old guard became …
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Sevagram
The Birth of a Dream: How MGIMS Sevagram came into Being
In May 1964, after Prime Minister Nehru died, Lal Bahadur Shastri assumed office. One day, during an informal conversation, Shastriji shared a concern with Union Health Minister Dr. Sushila Nayar: “We produce thousands of doctors every year, yet our villages remain without care. These doctors are trained in cities. And stay there. Why can’t we …
Why I remember Dr Sandeep Kumar Dey Today
Last Thursday, a plane crashed in Ahmedabad. In just a moment, 274 lives were lost—people on board and on the ground. As the news scrolled across my screen, something stirred deep inside me. A long-healed scar began to ache again. In that moment, I was transported back 25 years—to another plane crash, another tragedy, another …
Two Tragedies
Yesterday’s 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, 𝗟𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁 Mahajan …
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗚𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗚𝗜𝗠𝗦
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 work—rescuing 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 footing—and 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 Das—widely known as B.N. Das and one of the earliest members of the MGIMS library team—called me this morning. Now in his early 80s, his voice quivered with emotion as he reminisced about Dr. R.V. Agrawal’s 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 calendar—almost 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 Delhi—famoulsy frugal. Beside him sat Vasantrao Naik, Chief …
The Dark Room
This evening I was walking past the old Kasturba Hospital building—the 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 “𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝗺.” It hung askew on the aging wall, its rusted edges …
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 direction—toward 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 …