SP Kalantri

Cricket

Bevan Congdon

Bevan Congdon died today. I remember his two towering sixes in the 1969 Nagpur test (India vs. New Zealand) โ€“ incidentally, the first cricket match that I saw live at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur. A connoisseur’s dream, he scored match-winning sixty-plus in the first inning and had no problems reading the variations in …

Cricket

Vidarbha wins Ranji trophy

Vidarbha did it! What a victory! This day reminds me of Kapil Dev lifting the 1983 World cup in England: the Vidarbha team was as much an underdog as the Indian team was in 1983. Thirty-five years ago, a bunch of Indian players took over the mighty West Indian team and made history by defeating …

Cricket

Vidarbha inching towards a victory

Rajneesh Gurbani seems to be in sublime form! This morning, he scythed through Delhi’s middle and tail for a hat-trick against Delhiโ€” no mean achievement in a Ranji Trophy finalโ€” and went on to claim four wickets in just six balls. He bowled intelligently today: neither Mishra, nor Saini, nor Shorey could read his incredible …

MGIMS Sevagram

Dr Sushila Nayar

26 December brings vivid memories of Dr. Sushila Nayarโ€”fondly called Badi behenjiโ€”across the kaleidoscope of mind. She was born on this dayโ€”103 years ago. Five decades ago, she began working to implement mission impossibleโ€”designing a medical school in Sevagram. She fought all odds, relentlessly and ensured that her dream of starting a rural medical school …

Cricket

Vidarbha in Ranji trophy final

What an exciting victory! Vidarbha in Ranji Trophy final! Absolutely unbelievable! Vidarbha cricket’s finest hour! The teams were so closely matched and the result so incredibly close! The way Vidarbha held its nerves in what turned out to be a nail biting finish and snatched victory from the tightening jaws of defeat makes me very …

Sevagram

Madhukar Anant Mehendale

Dr Madhukar Anant Mehendale. This 98-year-old living legend defies his age. Whenever we see him strolling in our colony in Sevagram, he reminds us of his wit, intelligence, sense of humour and deep love for languages and history- qualities that leave us mightily impressed. We have one more reason to be proud about: his son, …

MGIMS Sevagram

MGIMS alumni

Sadhana Bose and Dipali Trivedi (MGIMS Alumni 1985 batch) visited Sevagram recently. While Sadhana was busy monitoring the educational activities and shaping the career prospects of the school children she is closely associated with, Dipali took some time off and requested me to give her a guided tour of the hospital. This is the first …

Cycling

Sunday cycling

Ridhora. A small village, 40 km from Sevagram houses Panchdhara damโ€”a tall reservoir dam that controls the flow of Panchdhara River. Today morning, before dawn broke, Ashwini Kalantri, Abhishek V. Raut and I began a 100- km ride. As we went past Pavnar and Seloo villages and decided almost impromptu to head for the dam, …