๐๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ, Pendsey. ๐๐ช๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ? ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ Happy Birthday! Itโs the 18th of May. Like always, I wake up thinking of you, ๐๐ฟ. ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐๐ฒ๐. For years, Iโd call and surprise you with my rusty German. Youโd laugh, loudly. โ๐๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ,โ youโd say. Your accent was better. Your joy, louder. That laugh still echoes. …
Doing away with MD thesis
I must admit that I, too, wasโand still amโa medical teacher who guidedโor is misguided the more appropriate word?โover three dozen postgraduates in writing their MD theses. I do not wish to stand on a pedestal or adopt a โholier than thouโ posture. I have erred, misjudged, behaved badly, mishandled situations, and at times, been …
The Double-Blind MD Thesis
โSo, whatโs up?โ I asked the young postgraduate from a neighbouring medical college. He had just run into me on the road. โIโve finished my thesis, sir,โ he said, sounding both relieved and battle-weary. โNow preparing for the MD examsโjust two months to go.โ โThatโs done?โ I raised my eyebrows. โAlready?โ โYes, sir,โ he nodded. …
The fall of the MD thesis
Another DNB thesis lands in my inboxโjoining its MD cousins. My task is to evaluate it. A formality, really. The postgraduate has written it, the professor has supervised itโor so the paperwork claims. I enter the username, type the password, and open the fileโwithout hope. An immaculate PDF appears. Crisp formatting. Polished grammar. Elegant English. …
A Tribute to Sudhakar Joshi
This Sunday, Dr. Sudhakar Joshi passed away. An alumnus of the GMC Nagpur class of 1969, he was four years senior to me. Between 1979 and 1982, during our postgraduate years in Medicine at Government Medical College, Nagpur, we found ourselves gravitating more toward the residents and lecturers than the professors. They were closer to …
Remembering Dr. H.C. Attal
This morning, my friend Ramesh Mundle called to inform me that Dr. H.C. Attal, former Professor of Medicine at GMC Nagpur, passed away yesterday at the age of 86. He taught us medicine during our residency at Government Medical College, Nagpur, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He led one of the six medicine …
A Vist, A Downpour and a Suitcase Full of Yesterdays
Exactly a week ago, I landed in Indore to visit my elder sister. But my heart tugged in another directionโtoward someone I had to see. Dr. Karunakar Trivedi. That morning, I dialed his number. His voice, gentle and warm, hadn’t changed with time. He welcomed me without pause. By noon, I was standing before Trivedi …
Gandhi and the Mystery of Blood Pressure
โYesterday, I took three drops of Sarpagandhaโmorning and evening. Walked and talked. Still, my blood pressure was 196/ 112. But thereโs no cause for worry.โ โI took three drops of Sarpagandhaโmorning and evening. Walked. Talked. Still, my blood pressure is 196 over 112. But thereโs no cause for worry.โ A letter. Dated October 28, 1941. …
Anaemia Story 1942
This afternoon, while leafing through the brittle pages of a dusty medical journal, I paused. There it wasโa paper from ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ป๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ, dated August 1942. The author: Dr. Sushila Nayar. I blinked. Could it be ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ Sushila Nayar? The physician who walked beside Gandhiji and founded ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ MGIMS? The young doctor who became …
๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ผ๐บ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐: ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฃ๐ผ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐
“Enough is enough,” thundered Dr. Sushila Nayar, her voice cutting through the hall.“No more free PG seats for MGIMS boys and girls. If they want postgraduate degrees, they must first serve two years in the villages.” She meant it. In 1969, Dr. Nayar had built MGIMS on a dream: to raise doctors who would live …