SP Kalantri
SP Kalantri
Yesterday evening, in the quiet of the MGIMS library, I found Sushrutaโthe student magazine from 1974. Its cover was worn. The pages were yellow, some torn at the edges, faded with age. They carried the smell of time. As I turned them, I reached the Marathi section edited by Dr. Narayan Daware (class of 1971), …
If you ask any MGIMS student from the 1970s or โ80s about their Dean, or even most of their professors, the memories may be hazy. Names of many classmates might have slipped away too. But mention Babulal, and the recollections come rushing back. In those days, Babulalโs canteen was their ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข, their little world in …
Yesterday, I was in Kolkata for just a few hours. I called her on the phone and told her I was in Alipore. โAlipore, sir?โ she said, โIโll come right over.โ She hadnโt even finished rounding on her patients, but she made time to meet meโfor a single cup of tea. I hadnโt realised how …
It was 1970. A restless, curious man walked into the MGIMS campus, a camera bouncing on his chest and his eyes already chasing the light. The college was still young, still growing. But Surendra Gurjar, newly hired and unsure, already saw stories. Stories in light, in shadows, in faces. He didnโt pose people. He didnโt …
Bombay, 1975. The air was salty, the streets bustling, and a young doctor stood quietly outside the gates of St. Georgeโs Hospital. Fresh out of internship at MGIMS, Sevagram, he had no roadmap for his future. Sevagram did not offer postgraduate trainingโits founder Dr. Sushila Nayar wanted her students to serve in villages. But government …
In 1969, Dr. P.L. VaishwanarโProject Officer and Head of Physiology at GMC Nagpurโarrived in Sevagram to help build Indiaโs first rural medical college. He wasnโt focused only on bricks and mortar. He wanted to build people. Before the college could welcome students, it needed a teamโnot just doctors and professors, but technicians and attendants who …
๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฆ: (๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฐ) In my last post, I shared how Dr. Sushila Nayar secured approvals from the central and state governments to start MGIMS in 1969โand how, against all odds, she managed to get an unexpected โน2 crore grant from USAID. For a moment, it felt like the hardest part was over. But …
How did students get into MGIMS five decades ago? I asked a senior professor of pharmacologyโan alumnus of the MGIMS Class of 1970โand he shared his story. Itโs a charming throwback to simpler times, full of serendipity, sincerity, and a touch of destiny. ๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ ๐ ๐๐ค๐ก๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ฃโ๐จ ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐๐ค๐ข๐ ๐ ๐ฟ๐ค๐๐ฉ๐ค๐ง The year was 1969. …
In my last post, I told you how deputy prime minister Morarji Desai in 1968 agreed to fund a medical college in rural India. But there was a catchโa formidable one. The hospital would need to raise 25% of the funds itself. Not just once, but every year. Forever. The formula was simple on paper: …
Between 1966 and 1969, Indian politics was a storm in motion. Indira Gandhiโonce dismissed by Ram Manohar Lohia as a โgoongi gudiyaโ (dumb doll)โdefied 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 …