Reflections on Medicine and Life by Dr. S.P. Kalantri
Documenting the legacy of MGIMS, Sevagram heritage, and medical history.
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 … Read the essay
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 … Read the essay
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 … Read the essay
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 … Read the essay
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 … Read the essay