Associate Professor of Ophthalmology · Six Years at Sevagram · The Lens Through Which Students Learned to See The Formative Years: Discipline Tempered by Grace A life in medicine is often defined by the specific lens through which a physician views the world and the people within it. For Dr. Sudershan Kumar Dhawan, that lens … Read more
Reading the Heart Through the Chest Wall Before echocardiograms and digital monitors entered the wards, cardiology depended almost entirely on the raw acuity of a physician’s senses. Dr. H. N. Khattri belonged to that fading, masterful era. In a rural hospital where technology was exceptionally scarce, his trained eyes, highly sensitive hands, and attentive stethoscope … Read more
The Ultimate Measure of Character In the fiercely hierarchical world of academic medicine, titles are the absolute currency of success. To watch the people you trained rise past you, claim those titles, and eventually become your superiors is a bitter pill that very few doctors can swallow. Dr. Savita Borle swallowed it without a single … Read more
The Crossroads Dr. Gupta took the official Army appointment letter from his young student’s hand, tore it definitively in two, and said: “The Army is not for you. Your path lies in academics.” Raju never forgot that moment. The offer had been deeply attractive. Captain Borle. A salary of ₹1,850 a month—nearly three times what … Read more
The Quiet Contentment He had desperately wanted to study medicine. He missed the admission cutoff by exactly five marks. Dentistry was not his choice; it was his only remaining option. In the early 1970s, seats in Indian dental colleges often went vacant. Medicine was the coveted, fiercely contested prize; dentistry was simply what remained after … Read more
Tadavale, the Dream, and the Dry Rotis Shobha Tapade — she became Shubhada Jajoo after her marriage — was born on June 13, 1957, in Tadavale, a small village near Barshi in Maharashtra. Her parents, Ratanlal and Godavari, had eleven children and severely limited means. She was the youngest. The family could not always sustain … Read more
Reader in Obstetrics and Gynaecology · Six Years at Sevagram · Ten Thousand Surgeries, A Hundred Thousand Hours of Teaching Nagpur, the Merit Scholarship, and the Village Labour Room Pradip Sambarey was born on December 30, 1955, in Nagpur, to Wamanrao — a stern yet fair central government officer — and his soft-spoken wife. He … Read more
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology · Thirty-Six Years at Sevagram · The Department’s Beating Heart Kusupur, Cuttack, and the Journey West Swarnalata Samal was born on April 14, 1948, in Kusupur, a village in Odisha whose rural quietness gave her early formation its particular character — a quiet strength and a deep, unshakeable empathy that … Read more
Gondia, the Eye Camps, and the Generous Doctor Shakuntala Chhabra was born on November 22, 1949, in Gondia, the youngest of six children of Amir Chand Chhabra, a forest contractor who had migrated from Rawalpindi. Two childhood experiences crystallised her understanding of what medicine was actually for. At rural eye camps, she watched doctors restore … Read more
Reader in Obstetrics and Gynaecology · Seven Years at Sevagram · The Temple Bell in the Corridor Tirunelveli, Mumbai, and the Single Mark Chellamma Krishnan Iyer was born on August 11, 1948, in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, the eldest of three daughters. Her father, Kechappa Iyer, was a stenographer at Mazagon Dock in Mumbai; her mother, … Read more