Between 1966 and 1969, Indian politics was a storm in motion. Indira Gandhiโonce dismissed by Ram Manohar Lohia as a โgoongi gudiyaโ (dumb doll)โdefied expectations. Not only did she win the 1967 general election, but she also consolidated power and emerged as a formidable Prime Minister. The Congress party soon split: the old guard became …
The Birth of a Dream: How MGIMS Sevagram came into Being
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: โWe produce thousands of doctors every year, yet our villages remain without care. These doctors are trained in cities. And stay there. Why canโt we …
Why I remember Dr Sandeep Kumar Dey Today
Last Thursday, a plane crashed in Ahmedabad. In just a moment, 274 lives were lostโpeople 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 yearsโto another plane crash, another tragedy, another …
Two Tragedies
Yesterdayโs 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, ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ Mahajan …
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ต ๐๐ผ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฆ
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 workโrescuing abducted women from the violence of riot-torn Punjab. Something inside her had broken. She had lost Bapu. And with him, the compass …
The Jouney of MGIMS Library
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 footingโand so was its library. A single almirah, 35 books, one table, and two chairs. But what …
More than Books: A Tribute to MGIMS Library and Dr. R.V. Agrawal
Bhupendra Nath Dasโwidely known as B.N. Das and one of the earliest members of the MGIMS library teamโcalled me this morning. Now in his early 80s, his voice quivered with emotion as he reminisced about Dr. R.V. Agrawalโs role in establishing the MGIMS library. B.N. Das, then a 24-year-old from Calcutta, would later retire from …
A Voice that built MGIMS
August 8, 1968. A date like many others in the national calendarโalmost forgotten. But in a modest meeting room in Delhi, something quietly historic stirred. Three minds met. The agenda: to build a medical college in Sevagram Morarji Desai, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, was from Delhiโfamoulsy frugal. Beside him sat Vasantrao Naik, Chief …
The Dark Room
This evening I was walking past the old Kasturba Hospital buildingโthe one that now houses the Department of Community Medicine. I had walked past it hundreds of times, but today, something made me stop. There it was: a small, weather-beaten board that read โ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ผ๐ผ๐บ.โ It hung askew on the aging wall, its rusted edges …
Happy Birthday, Pendsey!
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. …