Reflections from Sevagram
Essays on medicine, memory, and life in Sevagram
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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,…
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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…
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Badibai: A Life in Stories
I call her Badibai—the elder mother. It is a heavy title, perhaps, for a woman who is my sister, but from the moment I opened my eyes to the world, her affection has been so encompassing that the name simply stuck, fitting her as naturally as a well-worn cotton sari. She is eighty-three now. But…
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Gabbar of Sevagram
This morning an old man stepped into my office, his jacket sagging, a faded muffler loose around his neck. His wooden tulsi beads had deepened in colour with age. He studied me, then joined his palms with a shy, familiar smile. It took me only a second. “Gabbar,” I said. “So you have come.” His…
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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺’𝘀 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗝𝗵𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶
The bustle of any election, even today, makes me think of an older, quieter contest. I recall the Lok Sabha battles of Dr. Sushila Nayar, Behenji, fought far away in Jhansi. This was long after she had begun her great work, establishing the Medical College, right here in our own Sevagram. By 1971, the great…
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𝗗𝗿 𝗕. 𝗦. 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗲𝘆
Fourteen years ago, on this very day, 𝗗𝗿 𝗕. 𝗦. 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗲𝘆 left us for good. Even now, nearly four decades later, my residency days at GMC Nagpur return with startling clarity. I still see him stepping into Ward 23: immaculately dressed, tie perfectly knotted, suit crisp, shoes shining, and his English as flawless as his…
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B.M. Tupkar
(12 July 1942-17 November 2025) In the Sevagram of the early 1970s—when nights seemed darker, trees stood taller, and time itself moved at an unhurried pace—a young man arrived with a small kitbag, a quiet smile, and a heart that beat for badminton. His name in the school register read Bhaskar Marotrao Tupkar. But for…
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𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆-𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿
In these fifty years of our shared journey, twenty-four friends from the GMC Class of 1973 have quietly taken leave of this world. Two left us in our college days — sudden, painful departures that reminded us, even then, how fragile the young heart can be. Some went later — to a heart attack, a…
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Dr. Rajendra Kokate
𝗗𝗿. 𝗥𝗮𝗷𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮 𝗞𝗼𝗸𝗮𝘁𝗲 (12 January 1956 – 1 November 2025) Our GMC Nagpur batch of ’73 is a little emptier today. We’ve lost one of our own: Dr. Rajendra Kokate, our dear batchmate from B Batch, Roll No. 117. That small stretch of dissection hall benches, where Pramod Mahajan stood just ahead and Dilip Tikkas…
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💊 Pantoprazole: The Darling That Broke a Few Hearts
Yesterday, I wrote about Pantoprazole — the darling of the decade, the pill that has found a forever home in our drawers, handbags, and pockets. The post sparked quite a buzz. Some friends swore by this “miracle” pill; others whispered warnings about its darker side — weak bones, fractures, damaged kidneys, fading B12 stores. Fair…
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Pantoprazole: The Pill of Perpetual Peace
An hour from now, I will be sitting in the Medicine OPD, thinking about a drug that the whole world seems to prescribe—and, not to sound holier than thou, I must admit that I do too. Pantoprazole. If there’s one drug that has quietly conquered the world—without firing a single shot—it’s this one. This modest…
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The Two Englishmen Who Shaped My Destiny
Two Englishmen entered my life when I was a schoolboy in Wardha: Mr. Bachelor and Mr. Reginald Craddock. A long road runs from the Wardha railway station to Arvi Naka—today three kilometres of life and noise—full of doctors, banks, petrol pumps, shops and mangal karyalayas. In the mid-sixties, my father bought a house on this…
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