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
Professor & Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology · Two Tenures at Sevagram · The Corridor That Fell Silent Harda, the Gandhian Father, and the Formation Mrudula Naik was born on January 16, 1941, in Harda, Madhya Pradesh, the fifth of six children of Dadabhai and Anandibai Naik. Her father was a distinguished Gandhian conducting research … Read more
Professor & Head, Obstetrics and Gynaecology · Medical Superintendent · Cousin of Dr. Sushila Nayar · Laika Aunty of Guru Nanak Colony The children of Guru Nanak Colony had their own name for her. Not Dr. P. Nayar, not Professor, not even Aunty in the usual campus fashion. They called her Laika Aunty — after … Read more