Gulab Singh Baghel

Sevagram General Store: The One-Stop Shop for Village Life In Sevagram in the mid-seventies, the medical college was just six years old. There were neither big showrooms nor fancy shops, no cinemas or luxury shopping malls. Only one bus would ply between Sevagram and Wardha; a cycle rickshaw would take an hour and a half … Read the essay

Kiran Munjewar: The PQRST Man

ECG is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Kiran Munjewar. He met me this morning in the hospital and I seized the opportunity to speak to him. Munjewar was an ECG technician. He is estimated to have recorded close to half a million ECGs in a career that spanned four … Read the essay

Dr. Anant Ranade

Dr. Anant Ranade arrived in Sevagram in 1942, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s vision. The Ranade family hailed from Jamkhandi, a city in Bagalkot district, Karnataka, once ruled by Shrimant Gopalrao Patwardhan. The rulers of Jamkhandi bore the title ‘Raja’ and belonged to the Patwardhan dynasty. Dr. Ranade’s father, Damodar Ranade, served as the Diwan of … Read the essay

Dr KV Desikan

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, … Read the essay

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 … Read the essay