{"id":1238,"date":"2026-01-12T07:03:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T16:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/books.kalantri.co.in\/?page_id=1238"},"modified":"2026-03-03T11:10:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:40:05","slug":"living-on-own-terms","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sp.kalantri.co.in\/gmc73\/med-superintendent\/living-on-own-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0Leaving on My Own Terms"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Burnout<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

By the summer of 2022, I had served as Medical Superintendent for nearly thirteen years. My predecessor had held the post for a decade; I had surpassed him in time, if not in patience. But calendars mattered less than the persistent heaviness in my gut. I was tired in a way that sleep did not cure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Administration had once energised me. I enjoyed the complexity\u2014budgets, people, crises that demanded quick judgement. Over time, that energy thinned. I found myself losing touch with the two things that had brought me to Sevagram in the first place: patients and students. To patients, I was no longer the physician they sought out; I was the official who was \u201cnever available\u201d in the OPD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My wife Bhavana noticed it first.
\u201cThese days our colleagues no longer smile in the hospital corridors. Many simply look away.\u201d
She was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The daily friction of administration\u2014saying no to colleagues, managing expectations, firefighting without pause\u2014had hardened me. I could feel cynicism seeping in, quietly, like a leak in a boat that still appears seaworthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it wasn\u2019t only personal fatigue. The institution itself seemed to be drifting. Leadership structures were aging, succession planning remained vague, and decision-making slowed. Outside Sevagram, the world of medical education was moving fast. New institutions offered younger faculty clearer paths and greater autonomy. We were holding our ground\u2014but no longer stretching ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The numbers reflected this stasis. Admissions and outpatient visits rose modestly over a decade, but not enough to suggest renewal. The hospital was not failing. It was stagnating. Institutions rarely collapse overnight; they decline one deferred decision at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around this period, I came across a line by Morgan Housel that struck with the force of a diagnosis:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cNothing diminishes past success like overstaying your welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I recognised myself in that sentence. I had played my innings. Staying on would not solve deeper structural problems. It might even delay their resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Months passed. Conversations with management were cordial but circular. I was reassured that I was \u201cirreplaceable\u201d\u2014a word that often means \u201cconvenient.\u201d My resolve hardened. This time, I would not negotiate with myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 4 January 2023, I wrote formally to step down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did not argue my case at length. I stated simply that the cumulative weight of administration had begun to erode my peace and purpose, and that my family\u2014wisely\u2014insisted that health come before titles. I asked to be relieved within days, not months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I quoted Vijay Merchant\u2019s old advice: retire when people ask why, not when they ask why not.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaving was not easy. But staying would have been harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stepping down felt less like retreat and more like stewardship. It allowed the institution the chance to renew itself\u2014and allowed me to return to what had first given my professional life meaning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Burnout By the summer of 2022, I had served as Medical Superintendent for nearly thirteen years. My predecessor had held the post for a decade; I had surpassed him in time, if not in patience. But calendars mattered less than the persistent heaviness in my gut. I was tired in a way that sleep … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1084,"menu_order":7310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1238","page","type-page","status-publish"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLeaving on My Own Terms \u2014 Stetho in Sevagram<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On 4 January 2023, Dr. S.P. Kalantri wrote formally to step down as Medical Superintendent after thirteen years. He had quoted Vijay Merchant: retire when people ask why, not when they ask why not. 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