Chapter XI
Foundation of the
national MEDICOS ORGANISATION (NMO)
(1977)
After
coming out of the jail, I had a bit ter
experience of polit ical leaders who
only proved to be the birds of the same feather on the issue of the closing
down of the capit ation-fee based
medical colleges. All polit icians,
be of the Janata Party, the Congress or even the Communists, had the same
colour. Providing admission to their children or wards wit hout
capit ation-fee obliged many of them.
A large number of students admit ted
to such colleges were wards of influential guardians. They fought their battle
like life and death. Even a pers onalit y like J. P. could not support providing justice
to the students of the Govt. medical colleges, say, few extra marks for their
PMT examination’s superiorit y in merit . Instead, the capit ation-fee
was abolished but the colleges were taken over by the Govt. benefit ing the students and teachers of private medical
colleges.
I
had disillusionment from the polit ics
in the jail it self, even senior
workers of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) did not come out in our
support (though later on, they led unsuccessfully such an agit ation in Karnataka) as they had workers in
non-governmental medical colleges as well. While we were in jail, none of them
came to see us.
I
had writ ten a letter to Ma.
M. G. Deoji, the then Organiser of the Bihar* State of the RSS in deep sorrow
that had I been at Delhi or Patna it ley
/ Sushil Modi were involved such negligence would not have happened. It has
been my old notion that we are capit alists
at least in one sense that we listen to voices prevailing in the capit als only. Deoji has been working in Bihar* since
1940 and I think though a Marathi, he has travelled to every nook and corner of
Bihar *, more than any Bihari**. He has known
me since my childhood. He told me that since it
was a students’ problem, he had referred my letter to Govindacharya of the
ABVP.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
Including Jharkhand
** or Jharkhandi
On
the day of Kunwar Singh Victory Day (23rd April) in 1976, I had seen
Deoji on the nearby road passing through my college and he had informed me that
Dr. Shrikant Shiledar and Dr. (Mrs.) Shilpa Shiledar had left for Nagpur as the
Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra Hospit al,
Lohardaga had also been sealed by the Govt. due to it s
connections wit h the Sangh.
In
that background, I was thinking in those days as to what could be done for the
medical communit y. Only after five
days of the wit hdrawal of the agit ation, Govindacharya visit ed
Darbhanga on the 8th August
1977 , on Rabindra Smrit i
Divas. While seeing him off at the station, I could get a few minutes to
explain to him the distinctive problems of medicos and suggested that if
something like the Medical Chhatra Parishad was formed we could sort out
our problems instead of fighting amongst ourselves and we could also provide a
platform for wider social service so as to help the Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra, wit h medical man-power. He told me to writ e down these ideas and to send them to him so that
they could discuss in the Central Commit tee
Meeting to be held at Bombay
I
was thinking over the proposal and on the weekend, I went to my ancestral
village, Samaul (in Madhubani district). On Sunday, the 14th August, 1977, it occurred to me that now it
would be too late, if I did not send my ideas for discussion and I woke up
after post-lunch nap and scribbled on paper, the manifesto entit led Seva Hi Dharmah (Service is Religion),
given in original in Hindi in the chapter
XXVII - epilogue (V)-(A), pg. nos. 266-277, wit h the aims and the organisational nature of the
proposed medical organisation.
I
posted the draft to him on 19th August and copies of the same to Ma.
Eknath Ranade, Kanyakumari and Ma. Bala Saheb Deoras, Nagpur Ranchi Ranchi
^uk
v;ksX;%
iq:"k% ukfLr] ;kstd% r= nqyZHke~AA*
(There is no letter which cannot be
used in a mantra, no vegetable which cannot be used as a medicine, no
man is worthless, what is needed is a good organiser).
I
referred to Ma. Eknath Ranade wit h
this shloka when I had the occasion to introduce the NMO, in the First
Conference at Patna
The
Central Meeting of the ABVP at Bombay October 3, 1977 , in the Bihar * State Conference of the ABVP at Darbhanga, the
assembled medicos (from Darbhanga. Patna Varanasi it h
my ideas. I was also nominated a member of the Bihar *
State Executive Commit tee of the
ABVP, though I was not even it s
primary member. The local Divisional Organiser of the Sangh, Jiveshwar Mishra
consented and wit hdrew his proposal
for me to work as Nagar Bauddhik Pramukh.
I
also thought that it was an
important work and therefore I left for Varanasi Patna it s training camp.
In
technical terms, I had gone abroad (Nepal ’s
Biratanagar, only a few km from Forbesganj) and outside the state (coastal
Jagannathpuri) but Varanasi it y I had seen so
far. People say it is on the trishul
of Lord Shiva. I think Kashi is the
religious-centre-capit al of the
motherland, spread and bounded triangularly from the points of Kashmir , Kamrup and Kanyakumari.
I
also wit nessed for the first time
such a huge gathering of youth, visit ed
the shrines and places of Varanasi it h
some French tourists speaking in their language. But, I did not know that God
had ordained me to come to Kashi where he was to use me as a paper or a pen to
writ e a new chapter in the medical
history of the land, in the cit y of
the legendary Dhanwantari Himself.
But
it was not so easy. I met Govindji
and asked him as to what he had planned. He in reply said that as he was too
busy in the management, Mahesh Sharma (General Secretary), programme in-charge
of the conference, should be contacted and he alone could convene a meeting of
the medicos. My friend from Muzaffarpur, Om Prakash Singh, was an old ABVP
activist and he could procure the permission for the meeting and it s announcement in that large tent-township.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
Including Jharkhand
I
was also told that a senior worker, Laxmi Kant Bhala would be in the meeting
who later asked me to address the meeting myself due to his busy schedule. Init ially the organising secretary of the ABVP, Bihar *, Chandreshwarji had assured me that in case nobody
came up; he would be joining our meeting.
I
thought, only an announcement might not work and so I should meet medicos pers onally from tent to tent. Ajay Jindal of Amrit sar it h
me. Later, I learnt, medicos of Amrit sar
On
the morning of the 5th Nov., there was the address by Prof. Rajendra Singh, in
a nearby shakha. Bhauraoji was also present there. I knew them pers onally. After the shakha was over, I told
Bhauraoji about the proposed organisation and requested him to come to our
meeting in the afternoon. He was happy to know about the intention of a
service-oriented medical organisation but expressed his inabilit y to attend the meeting owing to some prior
engagements.
He,
however, assured me that he would be meeting us in future and suggested to me
to speak to Ma. Madan Das, the National Organising Secretary of the
ABVP. I did not know at that time the significance of this post (I had come for
the first time in any such conference and as such was not well-versed wit h it ).
Moreover, I was thinking that I had already talked to the National President,
Bal Apte and General Secretary, Mahesh Sharma. I could hear Ma. Madan Das in the concluding
session only. I was pleased to listen to his appeal for starting the change
from ‘I’. Subsequently we were quit e
friendly.
I
had already brought a few blank un-ruled copybooks for the use of the
organisation. Since the time allotted to us for our meeting was only 30
minutes, I told Ashok Kr. Shrivastava of Patna pers in small pieces for
identit y slips. He wrote: name,
class, college, roll no, address for correspondence and permanent address,
putting blanks therein to be filled up by the attending medicos.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
Including Jharkhand
I requested Dr. Kripa Shankar, a
paediatrician of Varanasi (who had passed from
the Darbhanga Medical College it y
slips were distributed (5 min.); the preface and aims of the proposed
organisation were put up by me (10 min.); the medicos were asked to submit the names they suggested for the organisation (5
min.); active members’ names for the executive commit tee
were asked (5 min.); a few queries and the address of the president (10 min);
totaling 30 minutes. No Sooner had the time elapsed, I received a slip from
Mahavir Dutt Giri that press conference was to be held there and so I should finish in time.
This
is the history of those 30 minutes. Those who were present there themselves
were probably unaware of the fact that they were creating a history. Since the
time was short, I could not reply to the last question from a friend from Bihar whom I had asked to talk in the tent as he was from
my state. After coming to Darbhanga, I wrote to him, in the care of the address
of a known boy (since the medicos of Ranchi it ed their identit y slips). Later, in 1981, he became the Secretary
of the NMO but it took much time to
convince that friend Mrit yunjoyji.
Such things were inevit able in such
a short meeting.
The
names of the members attending the meeting instit ution/place-wise,
were:
DMC,Darbhanga -- Dhanakar Thakur;
ANMMC, Gaya
PMC, Dhanbad -- Gopal Krishna
Nair;
SKMC, Muzaffarpur -- Om Prakash
Singh;
NMC, Patna
PMC, Patna
RMC, Ranchi it yunjoy Kr.;
BSMC, Bankura -- Subhash Sarkar, Badal Asru Ghata;
GMC, Guwahati -- Nayan Jyoti Das, Lohit
Baishya, Uday Kr. Sharma;
Pt. BDSPGIMS, Rohtak -- Bhim Sain Sharma, Sushil Saini;
GMC, Amrit sar-- Ajay Jindal, Ashwani Sharma, Bharat;
GMC, Bhopal
GRMC, Gwalior
BJMC, Ahmadabad--
MPSMC, Jamnagar
-- Bhaumik V. Upadhyay, Bhavna I.
GMC, Nagpur
OMC, Hyderabad
J. Nag Manohar, N.G. Nirmala , Deepika Siri, N.G.
Geetha;
BMC, Bangalore
G. D. C. & H. (Govt.
Dental College
& Hospit al), Hyderabad
There
were some medicos from Ayurveda and Homeopathy as well and in fact, we took
them init ially in the organisation, but
the very next day, they demanded equal representation in all bodies and I found
myself not in a posit ion to satisfy
them and later on wit h the advice of
Chandreshwarji, I dropped the idea of one single organisation for all pathys.
I
had already mentioned in my first draft that we should have separate
organisations in Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Agriculture and Veterinary and
Engineering; to this later, I liked to add Accountancy and Management. I also
advised some of the inquisit ive
engineering students who were observing our meeting to organise themselves like
us.
Then
we had the problem of finally selecting a name for the organisation. I had
talks wit h Maheshji also who had
told me to have some attractive name, maybe in English. I along wit h Om Prakash Singh and Ravindra Keshari (a very
senior worker of the ABVP, Bihar *) went
through the collected slips of the proposed names. There were many, both in
Hindi and in English.
We
decided in favour of English, as also due to the non-availabilit y of a single word in Hindi substit uting the word medicos as in English which
meant to include a medical practit ioner
plus a medical student and more so for the simplicit y
in the use of the word medico to facilit ate
the working of a newly formed organisation.
Our
final issue was to find out the best
name from amongst the three : National Medicos
Association/Organisation/Council.
As ‘Association’ was simulating wit h the IMA and ‘Council’ wit h
the MCI, we opted for-
NATIONAL
MEDICOS ORGANISATION (NMO).
Thus
the NMO was born as if an Indian edit ion
of the WHO to cater to the needs and welfare of the one-seventh global human
population, attractive, phonetically simulating to even the WHO and stimulating
the medicos to it s spirit s.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
Including Jharkhand
Much later from the slips received, I noticed that though Dr. Shanti Prakash of
I
had a wish that the NMO should work for the nation like the Red Cross. Not only
it has proved so but also
surprisingly in 1989, I could know that the Indian Red Cross it self was also born on 5th November (in 1920).
Then,
there was a commit tee to be formed.
Seeing the largest number from Hyderabad , I told
Om Prakash to name Pulla Reddy as the General Secretary and also to have our
office at Hyderabad it was a
new work, I must act as the General Secretary. I was apprehensive that people
might think, I was working for the name (and it
happened so later) but on his insistence, I had to agree. Had he or anyone else
agreed, it would have been easier
for me eit her to roll the cart or as
per his guess the chapter would have been closed. After the whole thing was
drafted, I had a talk wit h Mahesh
Sharma who was amazed to find such progress and asked me to give him some
cyclostyled copies of the press release, which he later distributed in the
afternoon press conference.
The
press release had mentioned the objectives of the NMO and it s Executive Commit tee.
It was mentioned that the NMO would mobilise medicos on a common national
platform to serve the poor, particularly in the rural areas. The objectives of
the NMO would be to develop national character among medicos, creating a sense
of devotion towards the nation and the humanit y
and also creating fraternit y amongst
the students of different systems of medicine.
It
was also envisaged that it would
extend active co-operation to the ABVP and other patriotic and like-minded
organisations in different fields of constructive work.
It would share the responsibilit y of delivering primary healthcare services in the
villages, concentrating on One
College , One Village it h the Gram
Vikash Programme of the ABVP.
The
news was flashed by the national dailies all over the country. When I reached
my ancestral village, my uncle had brought a copy of The Indian Nation,
of Patna it had a big
coverage, most aptly captioned, Medicos Body to Serve Poor Formed.
|
Medicos Body to Serve Poor
Formed
Decision to
mobilise medicos on a common platform to serve the poor, particularly in
the rural areas was taken at a conference of medical students and doctors
held on the occasion of the 23rd national conference of Vidyarthi Parishad.
Large number of medical students
and doctors who had assembled here as delegates and observers to the ABVP
conference resolved to name the new organisation as National Medicos
Organisation. The objectives of the new organisation would be to develop
national character, create a sense of devotion to the nation and human
The conference resolved to extend
active co-operation to the Akhil Bhar
The National Medicos Organisation
will share the responsibil
Following were elected office-bearers
and members of the central executive comm
President- Dr.
Kripa Shankar, General Secretary- Mr. Dhanakar Thakur. Secretaries- Mr.
Ajay Jindal (North Zone); Mr. M. Pulla Reddy (South Zone); Dr. Vishwas
Sapre (West Zone); Mr. Om Prakash Singh (East Zone); Office Secretary- Miss
Deepika, Treasurer- Mr. A. Surendar, Members:
.............................................
(The
Indian Nation, Patna, Nov. 14, 1977)
|
When
I returned to Darbhanga, friends were congratulating me but I was in a deeply
perplexed mood as to how to shoulder the new responsibilit y?
I drafted the first circular; showed it
to many; got it cyclostyled and
posted them to all the founding members.
Myself being from a remote corner of the
country, I wished to see that finest day of my life when I could hand over my
responsibilit y to some other able
member at the first National Conference.
Much
water would have flown in the Ganga through the famous ghats of Varanasi pers ons
at the helm of the upheaval of the second independence, a revolution,
brought by ballots and more so by the illit erates
who liberated even the lit erates by
giving mandate against the National Emergency. And, by others and others...
Only people can judge what had been done and what should have been done.
But
as far as the NMO is concerned, it s
roots have gone deep and the NMO has taken it s
pledge to every word of it and it has been pure and dedicated to the humanit y, so divine like the divinit y
and purit y of mother Ganga in every
drop of it s water.
Concluding
this chapter, I humbly wish to suggest that nobody should assume that someone
is a founder of this divine organisation. Divinit y
is neit her born nor is dead at any
time. As I have pointed out already; I was playing merely the role of a paper or
a pen of Him and for this I was grateful to Him and the medicos who had given
me this opportunit y to learn and
serve.
Tolstoy
in War and Peace says,’ It is not the leader who makes society or brings
change, it is the society which in a
particular set-up of environment brings about a change in it self and so somebody comes up as a leader on the
surface.’
When
I later toured, many medicos, seniors and juniors, all over the country (from Punjab to A.P.) told me that they too had such ideas in
their minds and they were happy to know that such an organisation existed. And,
this was the environment, which prompted me to work. Hence, the Office
Secretary of our great organisation, the NMO, subsequently honoured me as it s first life member.
* and
to establish such model instit utions.(added
in 2007)
Chapter XII
We
were engaged more in making huts than distributing medicines since we had lit tle knowledge of medicine at that time. Yet, we
learnt many things from Dr. Subramanyam and Dr. M. H. Patil (of Hubli). We used
to note the requirements and supply them the next day and somehow helped them
in managing hundreds of cases.
I also wit nessed one of my lady
classmates weeping in the hall on the walkout day of Pathology examination,
since she was full term pregnant and she feared that she could not appear in
the re-examination. Indeed, it was one of the factors of my severe protest.
APTER XIV
The
journey to Patna in those days was tedious – you
had to cross the Ganga by a steamer and then
run for catching the bus or train first for Muzaffarpur and then for Darbhanga.
I remember the reaction of Dr. C. Khandelwal, on
the receipt of the first introductory booklet sent by me as a token of
‘Deepawali gift’ in 1980. “It is the
finest gift I have received in my life,” he wrote from Varanasi it ute,
Delhi it ies
like Dr. Lala Suraj Nandan Prasad, Dr. B. N. Das Gupta, Dr. S. N. Varma, Dr. C.
P. Thakur, Dr. S. N.
Arya, etc. addressed the scientific session.
Talks by the edit ors Deena
Nath Jha and Jaya Kant Mishra and RSS organisers Shrishankar Tiwariji and Madan
Dasji were equally thought- provoking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yet, I missed my occasional visit s to the Sweet Home of Laheriasarai and evening
snacks in order to compensate for the expendit ures
on the NMO.
The P. S. M. duty
period, I mostly spent in organisational work for lack of infrastructure to
work properly in the field. The big three whit e
elephants (i.e. ambulances) were only suit able
for the national highways which were far away from Darbhanga. Once on the road, it
broke the old iron curved name plate of the college. I could know in due course that parts of some
worth of those ambulances were utilized for private use like the staff cars of
public servants.
The sprouting NMO worked somewhat satisfactorily wit h the
passing days of my ‘house physicianship’. After the first conference, during the Puja
vacation, the workers from Darbhanga, Gaya and Bhagalpur had arranged a medical
camp in the remote village Anjan of
Chhotanagpur (the birth place of Lord Hanuman, who, in fact, was a
tribal, and not a monkey) which
impressed the senior workers of Ranchi
who had been so far aloof from the development of the NMO.
Chapter XVI
Ranchi
|
Aims and Objects of the NMO
(a) To
create a nationwide organisation of the medicos on a democratic basis, irrespective of caste,
colour, creed and sex for ‘pos
(b) To
work for the all round welfare and development of the medical profession.
(c) To
utilise their energy and dissemination of the medical knowledge for solving
the various health problems of the down-trodden people of the nation
particularly for the rural and tribal people w
(d) To
work for satisfying the basic needs of the medicos and to guide and help
them in solving their various problems arising from time to time.
(e) To
develop national character and discipline among the medicos.
(f) To
promote constructive activ
(g) To
promote progressive outlook among them along w
(h) To
develop harmony and homogene
(i) To
seek the co-operation and goodwill of doctors, educationists, educational and health author
(j) To
promote better teacher-student relationship in medical colleges and inst
(k) To
promote the academic environment in medical colleges and inst
(l) To
form a common platform on the basis of a common mode of work for all the
members of the medical commun
|
Chapter XII
A Christmas in Burial GROUND:
Andhra Cyclone Relief Work
While
the first circular for the founding members of the NMO was in the process of
posting, the news of the devastating cyclone on 19th Nov. 1977 in coastal Andhra Pradesh was
flashed in the newspapers of 22nd Nov. 1977 , reporting
over 6000 deaths of people apart from the colossal loss of property, cattle and
agriculture. The entire nation was in panic.
A
Nepali student prompted me to do something for relief work. I issued an appeal
for collecting money. I also sent a wire to the Hyderabad it
to proceed towards the cyclone-hit
areas. At Darbhanga, I started collecting smaller contributions from medicos.
Veteran freedom fighter Ramnandan Mishra appreciating the move, contributed a
small amount too as a token of his blessings to this work. The money was sent
to The Times of India Cyclone Relief Fund, Rs. 240 and Rs. 130 (from
girls) and Rs. 107 to the ABVP relief fund.
Fig.
13 _ For the Andhra Cyclone relief Fund the
NMO, Patna
I
recall that the agent of the local SBI branch called me the second day and
apologised that on the first day, the draft was levied an exchange fee. A token amount of Rs. 51 was also sent to the
P.M.’s relief fund. Altogether 305 boys and 80 girls contributed.
Our
Patna it deposit ed
Rs. 1471 to the Governor of Bihar. H.E. Jagannath Kaushal on 21.12.1977, which
was announced in the news on the AIR, Patna
From
the western coast-end, the Jamnagar it sent Rs. 414.47 to the relief
fund. Today I can say that a contribution of Rs. 2413.47 to the cyclone relief
fund was too small but it was
contributed by over one thousand people including the contribution from
Ramnandan Mishra as well (who for long remembered this work and also recalled it in his message to our First Conference in 1980).
It had come from Bihar and Gujarat , which are
far away from Andhra.
Not
only that it was the maiden work
from a nascent organisation, in it s
second month; had no letterhead of it s
own; no fund, nothing which indicated an organisation. The morning shows the
day; the medicos had shown their spirit
that the NMO was going to be the prime mover of social service in the coming
days which it has kept up so far, be
it relief in Tripura’s inhuman Mandai
massacre of 1981; Bohpal’s MIC Gas tragedy of 1984; earthquakes of Bihar in
1988; and Uttarkashi in 1990 and or devastating perennial flood*,
the NMO’s response was instant, and spontaneous everywhere, truly a mini-Red
Cross, in the service of those in suffering.
Sending
the money to the cyclone relief fund was not the end. On the morning of 22nd December 1977 , we
were four in the shakha. Suddenly, a proposal came to render service pers onally in Andhra. One non-medico among us was a
bit pessimistic but two medicos of
second year, Ksh. Birendra (who hailed from Manipur) and Satyanarayan Lal
happily agreed. And we planned to move the very next day — imagine no money, no
medicines, and no reservations in the train.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*Super-cyclone of Orissa 1999;
earthquake of Bhuj in 2001 and Tsunami disaster of 2004.
But
if there is a divine thought it is
He who does, not you. We met the President of the IMA, Darbhanga, Dr. S.R.P.
Sinha, who issued an appeal for physician’s samples. One cannot believe that
some six or seven big sacks of medicines were collected by next 8 a.m. Four teachers also gave some
money to us (total Rs. 60).
It
is exhilarating to recall, wit h Dr.
B.N. Das Gupta, it was my first
encounter as a medico (though in 1972, I had gone to him in connection wit h the treatment of my sister’s son having
hydrocephalus, who died of it . Dr.
Das Gupta was very short-tempered and for
a concessionary fee, on the suggestion of his ‘compounder’
(assistant), I had told him falsely
that I was a medico at Ranchi college
of Ranchi it h Ramanji, Secretary of
the IMA, Darbhanga. When I asked for donation, he gave me Rs. 20 but cautioned
Ramanji to take all accounts from me.
It
was the cyclone relief work which brought Dr. Das Gupta in the folds of the NMO
and it was wit h
his help that we could establish it
in Bihar*.
Dr.
S. N. Sinha promptly issued the concession orders wit h a forwarding letter to the authorit ies for help. Dr. S.R.P. Sinha asked me to prepare
a list of medicines and I recalled the days of my father when he had left the
job of a Sethji. But Dr. Sinha was wit h
us, working assiduously and went to see us off in his car. He had told us to
have a camera (even today, I have
not got one though I feel one should always carry it
as I had missed not only many such memorable events but also interesting cases
on the road, better than those printed in the text-books). We could catch the
train, as it was late (though in Mit hila, you did not need a time table, you could
simply go to the station, some train might be there, which might be of any time
of the day as per schedule). At Samastipur, we could get berths in the Mit hila Express and we slept turning the pages of
Prabhakar Machave’s 15 Languages of India
*
Including Jharkhand
We
woke up in the morning crossing the harvesting paddy fields of Bangbhumi.
Howrah it . Railway reservation, though now easier wit h the computers, was a matter of money in those
days, which we hardly had even for proper tickets. On producing the identit y letter of relief workers, somebody suggested to
us to go to the Strand Road it h great honour as we were going on a relief work.
But how could I be a VIP who while using a lift for the first time there,
escaped from being trapped in the gates although I had solved numerous sums in
Physics on it during my pre-medical
days.
It
is also thrilling to recall my first use of a telephone in my school-days in
the house of a businessman at Forbesganj, when I disconnected the line
ignorantly by pressing the buttons while the talk was still in progress and
even before that in attending a trunk call, I could hardly understand the
message that Bhaiya had told me for my father. Though I could handle TV,
VCR, myself only in 1989, I found that my brother-in-law, lit tle Saket was better, so I had given him an eponym
‘Voltage Master’. The electronics has changed the life but whether the I.Q. has
also been raised? And, certainly raising standards of life have hardly any
correlation wit h human values.
Since
the wait was prolonged, we came back
and caught the worst train, the Madras Janata Express and viewing the seacoast
reached Vijayawada 25th Dec. 1977 .
Next
morning, we went to Avanigaddha and Guntur it self as everything used to
be brought from there, Sridharji’s remark, I still remember, “The owner, a
lawyer who was also a big farmer used to have some 200 sacks of paddy each
year. He has not only lost his parents but also the crop. If we ask some chatani
and mix it in our breakfast purchase d from the shop, he will have a feeling that
his guests are having their meals in his home and he is not totally wit hered away.”
Such
were the remarks of the cyclone relief workers, a life long lesson for me.
The
environment was yet smelled foul due to the dead bodies of cattle. Mostly the
Sangh workers had already buried human corpses. We were told that even army
people were unwilling to perform this service. It was a burial ground. I saw a
damaged church having festoons of Christmas.
The
devastation was such that iron poles of electric lines were twisted like a rope
twined and intertwined. Very few traces of houses were left for miles together.
The
cyclone that was unprecedented in previous 108 years was reported to be so
furious that one pers on told me that
he could be saved only by catching an iron-rod which after receding water-level
was found to be nothing but the trishul on the top of the Shiva temple
of Ganpateshwaram, a village few km away from his home where he was sleeping in
his hut and the trace of which that I could see was only a cemented nad
(manger).
We
could work only up to 30th
December 1977 as our college was to reopen and my examination was
imminent. The IMA in it s meeting
felicit ated us. We shared our
memoirs. The AIR, Darbhanga interviewed me and I listened myself on the air,
for the first time. My professor of Pathology, Dr. S. N. Varma had also
listened to it and so he agreed to
preside over the first public function of the NMO on 14.1.1978, where we had
put a big board showing the path of the cyclone and our places of work. Our
narrations were very much applauded. It was more of an adventure.
Later
in 1984, when Swami Vivekananda, a medico, whose parents had
named him so, approached me for helping him to go to Bhopal for the MIC tragedy
relief work, I dissuaded him, as I was myself busy in my thesis work. His
simple argument silenced me that if I could have gone to Andhra while a student
why could he not?
I, then helped him to go and the team
remained there, even on the day of shudhikaran (neutralizing the
remaining poisonous gas) when half of Bhopal ’s
public, including many doctors had left the cit y;
the NMO workers were there to help the victims in the Hamidia Hospit al
Indeed,
our Christmas vacation in the burial ground will inspire many ‘Vivekanandas’.
Fig. 14 _ Six members of the NMO from Darbhanga wit h the ABVP members during action at Bhopal
Fig. 15 _ The NMO workers in the Orissa
super-cyclone, 1999.
CHAPTER
XIII
DORMANT
NMO: MY UNDULY DELAYED SESSION OF FINAL MBBS (1978-79)
In
reply to my first circular, the founding members of the NMO expressed keen
interest. Correspondence began flowing really like the ‘blood’ of the
NMO. One member, in fact, had supers cripted
his envelope wit h ‘Blood NMO’,
another had once sent a postage of 25 paise for reply. Letters pouring in were
full of enthusiasm. Cit ing a few
lines may be worthwhile – from Jamnagar it ive
health’ of the nation. I am sure we will be organised wit hin
the shortest possible time;” from Amrit sar …”Nothing is impossible, let us
move from Varanasi India is one... is to be proved by us by doing
maximum possible...” from Nagpur it
and spreading of our organisation...” from Hyderabad Bangalore Gwalior
The
work was in full swing when I left for the cyclone relief work in Andhra. From Vijayawada ,
I went to Hyderabad it able place for
the office, if he could get approval from the higher authorit ies. I
returned via Nagpur it y to discuss
things wit h Ma. Balasaheb at
Khapadi camp. Ma. Dr. Abaji Thatte was there who listened to our talks
attentively. Ma. Balasaheb
assured me of all help and he asked me to writ e
to all medicos passing MBBS for opting to work in the service projects
irrespective of their background or ideology.
When
I returned to Darbhanga, I was informed that
Prof. Rajendra Singh was to visit
Darbhanga on Makar Sankranti on 14.1.1978 and the medico
swaymsevaks had accepted the advice of Ma.
Deoji to hold Prof. Rajendra Singh’s meeting in the campus it self, that too under the auspices of the NMO.
It
was going to be the first public function of the NMO. We collected Rs.2 from each as contribution
from 32 medicos going to the shakha. From this fund of Rs.64 only, our
first programme was organised.
This
programme was, in fact, mainly to welcome the freshers in the college in which
Prof. Rajendra Singh delivered a thought-provoking lecture on, the role of
medicos in national reconstruction.
But, the programme also proved to be welcome to the freshly formed NMO it self as he dealt in detail wit h
the meaning behind the words __ National, Medicos and Organisation.
|
Prof. Rajendra
Singh
(Ma. Rajju Bhaiya)
(29.1.1922-14.7.2003)
P.P. ex-Sarsanghchalak
of the RSS
|
thus spake Prof. Rajendra Singh at the
first public
function of the NMO at Darbhanga on
14.1.1978:
Þus'kuy esfMdkst vkWjxsukbts'ku* dk uke cM+k
lkFkZd gSA
vki
^esfMdkst* gSa D;ksfd thou& foKku dk vki v/;;u djrs gSaA
nwljk 'kCn ^us'ku* cgqr egRo dk gSA geeas ls
çR;sd ds vUnj
;g
^vkWjxsukbts'ku* ,d jk"Vª dh Hkkouk fuekZ.k djsxk fd tks
vkt
xjhch dh ftUnxh esa] vLokLF;dj fLFkfr esa jg jgs gSa]
budh
lsok dk lkSHkkX; esjs thou dk y{; gksA
;g
Hkkouk ^us'kuy* 'kCn ls tkx`r gksrh gSA fQj vkrk gS
^vkWjxsukbts'ku*Adfy;qx
esa laxBu esa gh 'kfDr gSA
fo'o ds vUnj Hkkjr dk xkSjo'kkyh
LFkku
cus] tSlk gekjs iwoZtksa us cuk;k FkkA
fo'o
ds çFke ltZu esa lqJqr dk uke vkrk gSA
iphl
lkS o"kZ iwoZ pjd us cM+k esVsfj;k esfMdk cuk;k
vkSj
fgiksØsfVd 'kiFk ls vPNh 'kiFk nh fd]
^^eSa iSls ds fy,] /ku çkfIr ds fy, ugha] eSa lsok
dh Hkkouk
ls
;g çksQslu Lohdkj dj jgk gw¡A**
mu 'kCnksa ds fy,] lPps cudj] jk"Vª
ds mu {ks=ksa esa
tgk¡ dksbZ
igq¡pus ds fy, rS;kj ugha gS] vxj gekjk
^us'kuy
esfMdkst vkWjxstukbts'ku* yksxksa dks çsfjr dj ldk
;g mldk cgqr
cM+k dke gksxk vkSj mUgksaus tks dk
vkjEHk fd;k
gS] mlds fy, c/kkbZ nsrk gw¡ vkSj vis{kk djr
gw¡ fd os bl dk;Z esa ;'kLoh vkSj lQy cusaAß
Principal
Dr.T.N.Jha inaugurated the function and Prof. S. N. Varma presided over it . Apart from a second year student, Govindacharya
also welcomed the freshers.
While
I was describing our cyclone relief work, I cautioned everyone that in this
country the organisations also had high mortalit y
rates like that of infants and if it
so happened, the contribution of the NMO in Andhra would be remembered as
expressed by Ben Johnson in the famous English poem, It is not growing like
a tree, where a lit tle flower
was judged of more worth than a long-lived, useless tree like an oak. Prompt
reaction to this was from Prof. Rajendra Singh, “Those who have confidence and
will-power, prosper and when such strong pers ons
come together in an organisation they see that their desires are successfully
fulfilled.” The jam-packed hall had over a dozen of senior professors. The senior most among them, Prof. B. N. Das
Gupta remarked that those boys would do something in future.
But
the lit tle flower of the NMO
dedicated to the nation had to face rough weather. Keeping this in view, I had made the remarks
in the maiden public function.
Soon
started clouds of suspicion and our senior friends had drawn a hasty conclusion
that the whole show was for some nefarious motives of mine for name or
fame. I had prolonged correspondence and
virtually I surrendered as per their wishes, closed the files and the NMO went
in abeyance, which later proved to be a phase of ‘dormancy’ only.
I
can only say, for anyone who could not understand the motives behind the NMO:
“Forgive them for they know not what they are doing” – what Christ had uttered
on the cross.
Govindji
had a suggestion for me to work at the local level to see the results. I argued wit h
him that it might not give a
significant result for two reasons: eit her
I would have worked hard which might not be of interest to the medicos as a
whole in the country or even if I liked to work in my college, the local
friends would not cooperate wit h me
thinking it to be a pers onal project of mine and might even taunt on the
degeneration of a so-called national body working in a single college.
I
knew it well that even if I worked
in a class-room or even pers onally wit h a nationalistic spirit ,
in fact, it was national, a grand
organisation was not national wit hout
the spirit of nationalism. Yet, it
was a matter of the prevalent notion also that a national organisation should
have such geographical dimensions. It
should not be national only by thought.
That was why, I had asked him to suggest medicos of different centres in
the country to run such pilot projects and test it s
feasibilit y and if it had to be in only one college, let it be somewhere else, not in mine, to avoid the pers onal bias.
And
so, I decided to work on a pers onal
basis, even wit hout the banner of
the NMO. I vividly remember on the WHO
Day, 1979, instead of going to attend a function of the IMA, I preferred to go
to a nearby Harijan village, Chhapaki, wit h
some drugs. The villagers welcomed
me. There I continued serving till
21.6.1981. The first patient, an infant was brought to me, having corneal ulcer
in his pupillary area. I gave tetracycline eye ointment to apply. Next week, I again visit ed
the village; the ulcer was healed wit hout
any sequel. It gave me immense pleasure,
difficult to describe in words. And, at
that time, I did not know that atropine should also have been prescribed for a
corneal ulcer.
Later
in 1979, Prof. Rajendra Singh visit ed
Darbhanga again but I did not mention to him about the NMO though I had
arranged his meeting against utter protest by some CPI and Congress minded
sections (the AIMF and the NSUI) of medicos.
It may be mentioned that the Progressive Medicos Federation, a
forerunner of the AIMF had earlier demanded in a pamphlet banning the RSS Shakha
in the Darbhanga medical campus.
Medicos
were attracted finding the word ‘medico’ in the PMF/AIMF, but later when the
NMO was formed, almost all of them gravit ated
to the NMO, finding the NMO as their own platform and organisation. This programme of Prof. Rajendra Singh was
held in between the two theory papers
of Medicine of my final MBBS examination.
The meeting was held peacefully and was well attended in our audit orium and I also did well in my examination papers . If you
work for a social cause, God helps you, since it
is His work you are only a doer.
Encysted
in files, the NMO went into a dormant phase on 14th Feb. 1978 , finally receiving the letter
of Govindacharya not to expand the NMO and I became busy for my fourth year
examination from 4th April
1978 . I was in utmost
tension and probably I would have fared better in examination wit h the NMO work.
I
had enteric fever, and in it s
paroxysm, I appeared in the first few papers . A cot was arranged for me in the examination
hall and when I finished my first paper, out of tiredness or toxaemia, I had to
lie down and invigilators came near me in anxiety. Init ially,
when Chandrabhanu had approached the principal for special permission of writ ing in examination on bed, the principal was under
the impression that it was for
adopting unfair means but Chandrabhanu had told him that it
was better to take my examination in the principal’s chamber it self. When
the principal came to the hall and knew it
was I, he regretted for it
ultimately.
I
had changed from my ISc days and it
was the examination where Prof. H. R. Yadav and many others were impressed wit h my honesty when nearly all examinees were
copying from books on their desks. I
also protested against a walkout in the last paper and asked for protection, as
I was willing to appear even alone, though I did not know some of the answers.
By
those days, the sanctit y of
examination was totally lost. The extension of dates was a common
phenomenon. Our examination should have
been held in June 1977 it self. I vividly remember, when some boys had
approached me for my signature on an application for fixing the examination
dates on due time, I told them to take my signature on another sheet also,
which they could require for the extension of examination on which I would not
sign at any cost later on. Believe me,
they were the same who did require it
afterwards for it but dared not ask
me to sign again.
I
used to say in-joke that a good dissertation could be produced on the impact
of marriage dates on examination dates as in those days; the dates had been
advanced as an influential student was going to be married.
I also w
But
students are not the only cause for the extension of examination dates;
probably more important are the authorit ies
i.e. college as well as the universit y. Medical colleges being usually attached to
general universit ies, results are
further delayed unnecessarily many a time where a tabulator hardly understands
what the different terminals, practical, viva or clinical examinations are
meant to be. The sufferers are
ultimately the students and so if a demand for the extension of dates comes
through students, I will term it
nothing but a sacrilege or in a most
simple word, suicidal.
My
final examination (scheduled in 1978) was held in 1979 and the result could be
declared (due to non-returning of answer-books by the examiners) in 1980 and
finally, I could join internship on 18.3.1980 (having been admit ted to the first year on 13.11.1973), total course
being only of four years and six months (and myself completing and passing in
the first attempt, could complete MD in only Sept. 1985). No doubt, I had been
wit h medicos for a longer time to
have experience but at a great cost.
This menace of delayed sessions is to be fought against by all of us.
In
spit e of illness, I did better in
the fourth year than in the final year, not because I had read better, but as
the examiners of the fourth year were still ‘teachers’ not merely doctors. While my Microbiology examiner was himself
insistent on my knowledge of ‘Sabauraud’s media’, on the basis of my vivid
description of the differences between cholera and cholera el tor and
the life cycle of Paragmonis westermani causing haemoptysis, the
external examiner in ENT was asking a VIP candidate about the score of the
day’s cricket match since he was apprehensive that any question might prove to
be a ‘bouncer’ and he had promised a senior secretary of health secretariat to
award ‘Honours’ to his future son-in-law.
(Unfortunately, in spit e of
awarding Honours in Eye & ENT, the boy failed because the examiner of
Obstetrics & Gynecology was not satisfied and was ready to ask even
questions of ENT, when approached for passing that candidate).
As
one grows to the final year the pairavi factor becomes worse as
influential in-laws are of superior strata (common in the days of merit purchase d
by dowry). I am sorry I was married much
later.
One
interesting case of pairavi was that of a boy few years later. A candidate was the ward of a Union
Minister. There used to be a coding
system for theory papers , so sample
of his handwrit ing was sent to the
examiner. The examiner could not differentiate it
from the handwrit ing of another
candidate and so he awarded 83 marks to both in Surgery paper. Thank God, the other poor fellow also did get
senior ‘housesurgeonship’ in Surgery due to it .
One
other boy was famous for pairavi due to his versatile use of the
bicycle, which he had purchase d only
for this purpose to have close contacts wit h
gurus in the widespread colonies of the DMC. Whether it
was a marriage party in any house or any household work, he was omnipresent.
Once, he flew on a helicopter wit h
the Chief Minister’s daughter after she had delivered a baby in the wards. Later, in due course of his service he got
himself posted at the place where he liked.
On his success story of getting ‘Honours’ in many subjects, I used to
tell my friends, “Please have pit y
on him, at least his pairavi is not congenit al,
but acquired by hard labour.” He was the
son of a poor farmer. The story of
Honours for money, bottles of wine or gifts like refrigerator was not unheard
of.
Yet,
I found a great honest teacher, Dr. Basudeo Prasad of ENT, who was much pleased
wit h the intelligence and labour of
my brother-like Manipuri Birendra.
Though he had the highest marks in viva-voce but other boys got Honours
by pairavi in theory papers . After the results, Birendra had brought an
idol of Krishna from Manipur for Basudeo Babu. I went wit h
him and gave it to his son. Later, the teacher told me that even on
knowing the fact that it was a token
of reverence he did not like it . His son had violated his standing instruction
not to accept any gift from anybody but he had accepted the idol of Lord
Krishna brought from Manipur on account of me as I was close to the teacher
being a social worker.
Regarding
Birendra, Dr. Basudeo Prasad had told in a junior class that he would have even
awarded him an MS not to talk of Honours. He had also told the examiner of
Ophthalmology that he himself had not such clear conceptions as those of
Birendra when he was an under-graduate student.
It
does not mean that I had no pairavi at all but they were not so
powerful. Pairavis have different
types – for Honours, high marks and passing, and for me it
was mostly of the third variety, which I never needed, though someone might
have told the examiners and again it
was a fancy or phobia. And, sometimes I
was rather in deficit , as I was not
asked hard questions. Later on, I was
repentant for pairavis made on my behalf. My pairavikars had
probably assumed that I was a social worker so I should hardly pass; this myth
could only be exploded when I competed for MD (Gen. Med.) and DCH, barely
missing out MD (Paed.) also.
Somehow,
I could manage my examiners, at least some of them were pleased, by moving to
uncommon points, e.g. in FMT, I was asked to define, Forensic Pathology. I had never heard this term but
instantaneously I made a definit ion,
“That branch of Pathology which helps the state to run the law.” I do
not know whether it was right or
wrong, but he was satisfied. He was
honest, so probably having seen honesty in my theory papers ,
he found me among three students to pass separately in each theory paper (but
he was close-fisted in awarding marks).
Such
was also in the case of my external examiner in Medicine, Dr. T. K. Saha who
had failed nearly all candidates in a
short case of the respiratory system but seeing my obsessively respected
clinical methods (as standing in attention for showing drooping of the
shoulders, refusing to percuss the front of the chest wit hout
bringing the patient to the sit ting
posture like Lord Buddha, refusing to count the intercostal spaces in lying posit ion, etc.), he became much pleased but awarded me
only 14 out of 25 marks in each of two short cases. The other was a CNS case, in which I faired
equally well. Not only this, Dr. Saha
praised me before the other external examiner, Dr. Bajpayi from Varanasi
It
is astonishing to recall that the same Dr. Saha as my examiner in MD could
leave me in a distress as to why I did not count the rate of respiration in the
patient. Probably by the time of MD so much unnecessary things were deposit ed in my brain due to the modern knowledge of
Medicine that it sliced off those
important clinical points, which were known to me in a masterly manner when I
was an undergraduate student.
But
his fellow examiner, Dr. Bajpayi was a bit
suspicious. On my diagnosis of ‘Hodgkin’s disease, stage III B’, he asked me the points in favour of it . I could
show him the ronchi on the back of the chest (due to glands pressing
bronchi). He said, “You would have done
better, if you had not asked from others (like RMOs).” An RMO instantaneously protested. He said, “You do not know the boy who may be
wrong but is honest enough not to take help from anyone else.” It was beyond the comprehension of the
examiner that an undergraduate could find and explain the pressing symptoms. He
was not closed-fisted like Dr. Saha, but awarded me only 28 out of 50.
Still
the examiners of medicine were
fair. They had awarded me the third high
mark in theory papers , largely on
the honesty of my answers. It may be
amazing that on a note on significance of wave examination in Medicine,
I had writ ten full 32 pages, not
only the clinically appreciated waves like that of a, c, v, etc. in venous
pulse, etc. but also a vivid account of the diagnostic wave tracings of ECG,
Echo, EEG, EMG, etc.
While
I had writ ten excellent essay on
anaemia, depicting the Indian pattern, I did not know how I could writ e some tests of the HPA-axis whose relevance, I
can appreciate now and only now. I had
writ ten, “Give steroid and count
eosinophil, eosinopenia will suggest for the hyperactivit y
of the pit uit ary.” I know this test is not in practice but my
knowledge of Physiology might have directed me and as I feel now, it can be very easily done.
But
do not think I was brilliant. I had not mentioned acute transverse myelit is as a cause of paraplegia. I could not define brow in a dummy-pelvis
though could describe the management of the face presentation. One external examiner was so much pleased on
listening, ‘Type I and Type II dips’ in cases of the fetal bradycardia that he
offered me his pencil to draw the graphs (which I could hardly remember) and he
asked me, “Where did you read it ? “Clayton’s edit ed
Obstetrics by Ten teachers”, I replied.
The
book was simpler than Holland and Brews Manual of Obstetrics for a
simple student like me who had difficulty in the ENT paper for recalling the
word ‘trumpet’ while dealing wit h
laryngocoele and I had rather drawn a diagram of that musical apparatus.
There
were no teachers other than the Head of the Department of PSM to introduce me
as a good student to the external examiners where my fate was judged on only
two questions: ( i ) “As an owner of a
mine will you provide the workers shoes or shirts and why?” My answer was,
“Shoes, to prevent hookworm in water-logged mines.” ( ii ) “By eating in a rat
infested restaurant which disease will you encounter?” “Salmonella dysentery, not the
plague”, I answered. I was awarded the best marks. But in the Physiology paper,
long back, I had described all the signs and symptoms of cerebellar lesion but
can you imagine all I had writ ten
was on the contra-lateral side!
In
a terminal examination of Biochemistry, describing the inabilit y of the body in the peripheral utilization of
sugar, in cases of diabetes mellit us,
I had compared it wit h S.T. Coleridge’s famous The Ancient Mariner’s
condit ion in the mid-sea, “Water,
water, everywhere, not a drop to drink”
(so is sugar present in plenty here but unable to be utilized for want of
insulin).
I
had my own method of studying and answering in examinations. Every examiner of mine was not a drunk like
that of the Surgery who possibly missed numbers even in totaling the marks (I
think, my 51 marks may be for 61).
Fortunately, I passed because in any case, I was not the bottom-ranker,
in the clinics of Surgery.
I
had a fascination of presenting the cases and I had a record from the third
year class it self, whether those
were before Prof. Mohan Mishra, Prof. N.P. Mishra, Prof. R. R. Ganguli, Prof.
Jamuar, or anyone, I had no hesit ation
at all. They all were famous clinical
teachers of my State. Prof. Ganguli
could appreciate my worth when I told him that a lactating woman’s lactosuria
could be differentiated from the glycosuria by the simple osazone test of the
Biochemistry. I knew it was difficult for the PGs to recall their
pre-clinical teachings.
Prof.
Mohan Mishra in the theory classes of the third year knew me from my
description of kuru in cannibalistic tribes when he had asked for examples of
long acting viruses. Once, he had also remarked that intelligent pers ons suffered more from migraine – if it could be a crit erion,
I might also be rated as intelligent.
But
it is not the fact. I recall, Prof. N. P. Mishra’s lecture in the
third year (which was the first lecture on Medicine), “You can be a Master of Arts or Science; You can be a
Doctor of Medicine, but never a ‘Master of Medicine’.” I still recall those sayings of that great
clinical master.
I
had never read only for examinations, even
the night before the examination.
No one can imagine that the night before the Pathology paper, I was roaming
over the anterior and posterior station developments in the life cycles of
different species of Trypanosoma causing sleeping sickness or Chaga’s
disease. I knew pretty well that I was
not to appear in the examination in Africa or Latin
America , but it was
true.
When
I view my student life in general and as a medical student in particular – I
find, I was never systematic and step-wise in my approach. And only, a
systematic study is called Science which is not like Philosophy. Now it
is too late, so I have chosen Medical Philosophy as my specialty.
Sushrut is
remembered wit h great honour as the
father of Indian Surgery. It is surprising that he had begun the surgery of
different complex condit ions such as
fractures, amputations, tumours, and cranial and abdominal operations when the
modern surgical techniques were in infant stage. He is also credit ed as the pioneer of cataract operation.
(Courtesy, the Aayrurvigyan Pragati 1981: 1: Cover ii.
Sushrut
Father of Indian Surgery
NMO
SPROUTS – MY INTERNSHIP AND ‘HOUSEPHYSICIANSHIP’
(1980-82)
My
final year classes and Sunday free clinics in the Harijan village,
Chhapaki along wit h the Shakha
in the campus were going on. The NMO being dormant in files, due to the utter
disappointment and also lack of money, I did not go to the Bangalore it h joy that
my thesis on technical forums had finally been accepted there. Govindji had
ankylosing spondylit is and he was
recovering in Bombay
He
expressed his concern over rising menace of the Progressive Medicos Federation
(PMF), a left wing organisation that had the intention to turn medicos agit ators like trade unions instead of harmonising
them wit h the spirit of service, as we in the NMO desired. Now the PMF
is known as the All India Medicos Federation (AIMF). He also wished in his letter of 22nd September 1979 that after my final examination, I
should make a systematic approach towards it .
I
responded posit ively to his sincere
appeal. After examinations were over,
the parleys began. A meeting was held in
room no. 4 of the old hostel of the Patna
Medical College ,
where Baidya Nath Mishra, the Office Secretary of the Patna it
of the NMO, (1977) resided. Friends from
Muzaffarpur had also joined. Later on,
we had a meeting wit h Govindji at
Vijay Niketan (Sangh Karyalaya) also.
It was felt that no official intimation to all concerned was sent.
Yet,
we had finalised some preliminary things such as the NMO should operate in Bihar * only as a sponsored organisation of the ABVP.
Again we met in the Bihar* State Conference of the ABVP at the Ram Mohun Roy
Seminary, Patna it s Hindi nomenclature. Dr. Chiranjiva Khandelwal
was reluctantly submissive but I did not agree. I had the notion that we were
to revive the dormant NMO and not to create a de novo synthesis. My
roommate Arvind suggested to me wisely leaving it
for the moment. I returned to Darbhanga.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Including
Jharkhand
** Much later in 2005,Dr. Baidyanath
Mishra informed me that the girl medicos of the PMC - Shikha Gupta, Lata Shukla, Saroj, etc. had gheraoed
Ma. Madan Das Devi and Ma. Govindacharya demanding that their
organisation , the NMO , should be
allowed to run to which both assured
them posit ively.
The ABVP Bihar* State team met at Mait hon (near Dhanbad). Dr. Khandelwal was there. There it was felt that undue procedural delay was not good
and so a final circular was issued on 14th Jan. 1980 by Sushil Kumar Modi,
Secretary Bihar* State, ABVP, convening
a meeting of important medico workers at Patna on 26th Jan. 1980.
I
was in a fix, whether I should attend that meeting at all, apprehending no
conclusion and that too after such a tedious journey to the State capit al. Chandreshwarji assured me that this time the
cart would move. I wit h Ashoka of
the DMC went to Patna it ya Sammelan’s
publication, Aayurvigyan Shabdabali. I thought this time, I would accept
a translation of the NMO also, along wit h
it s original name and to cover the
nearest meaning, I translated it as ^jk"Vªh;
vk;qfoZKku Nk= laxBu* (Rashtriya Aayurvigyan Chhatra
Sangathan).
Besides
me and Ashoka from the DMC; Om Prakash
and Winay Siddhesh from the SKMC, Muzaffarpur; Baidya Nath Mishra from the PMC;
Vishnu Prasad Agarwal from the NMC (who were subsequently designated as the
office secretary and the treasurer); probably Vijay Krishna and Amit abh from the MGMMC, Jamshedpur were present and
all were nominated for the State Executive Commit tee
of the NMO. The name of Vishwamohan from
the RMC, Ranchi it tee and there we decided
to hold the first conference of the NMO at Patna March 30-31, 1980 . (Init ially,
the dates proposed were Feb.24-25, but being the College Days of the PMC, the
idea was dropped and instead, the meeting of the Executive Commit tee was fixed on Feb.27, which took place
accordingly).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
Including Jharkhand
The
whole meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere. The NMO’s name wit h Hindi translation was approved. It was decided that the name of the ABVP
would not be printed on letter-heads, receipts, etc. and it s
membership would be independent and there would be no unit
of the ABVP in the medical colleges.
However, any willing pers on
was free to seek membership of the ABVP.
It was also decided that the ABVP’s divisional-in-charge or anybody
senior to him/her or a pers on
designated by him/her only could guide a college unit
of the NMO from the coordination point of view and the convener of the NMO’s
college unit s would be an ex-officio member of the town commit tee of the ABVP for wider co-operation.
Govindji was also
present and he delivered the concluding address. It was my humble opinion from
the beginning that the NMO’s membership should be open even to those who do not
subscribe to the Sangh’s ideology as the health is the most universal thing and
I used to say that sponsorship by the ABVP was like that of the UNO’s
sponsorship to the WHO which had it s
own constit ution and separate
membership. China
Om Prakash and I
had made out a draft constit ution of
the NMO at Varanasi it self
in 1977 and it was later presented
to our executive commit tee meeting
on 28th Sept. 1980
at Patna it h some modifications therein. In this we accepted ex-officio membership of
the secretary and organising secretary in the state executive commit tee, on a reciprocal basis wit h
the ABVP. However, we could not get our
organisation registered for want of money, skill and time to devote at Patna it wit h Aa
so that it might come on the top of
the medical journals when arranged alphabetically.
Though the NMO was
dormant since 14.2.1978, it could
sprout as an organisation on 26.1.1980.
The first conference was quit e
close and hectic efforts were required for the success of the conference as
well as organising the NMO’s college unit s
in that short span of time. It was
amazing and also amusing to note that we were not only successful but also it was a grand success.
142 delegates from
all 10 medical and dental colleges of Bihar *
attended the conference except from Dhanbad where, in fact, we could not reach
before the conference. Dailies flashed it
including an edit orial in The
Indian Nation. If participation of Bihar *
in successive conferences is analyzed, the first conference was the best. The
conference was financially balanced. Doctors of Patna
Octogenarian Padmabhushan Dr.
Dukhan Ram’s Deep Prajjawalan on 30.3.1980 was the most memorable moment
for me and for many of the medicos who were wishing to see this dream fulfilled
for long.
|
Fig. 18 — Padmabhushan Dr. Dukhan Ram
(Hony. eye surgeon to the First President Dr. Rajendra Prasad) inaugurating
the first conference of the NMO at
|
* Including Jharkhand
The medical world therefore had
welcomed the NMO. The chairman of the
reception commit tee was Dr. R.V.P.
Sinha, a nationally known surgeon. Dr. B.N. Sinha, President, IMA Bihar* State
had showered his good wishes through a message.
The NMO also found it s
real President, in Prof. S. J. Kale, more a rishi than a doctor and an
anatomist from Jamshedpur , under whose guidance
we could make the organisation truly national again in the 1986 conference at Jamshedpur
I, myself, opted
for the post of organising secretary and liked Om Prakash to be the secretary, who
was the ablest. The slogan of “LokLF; lsok!
jk"Vª lsok!! (Swasthya Seva!
Rashtra Seva !!)”, was the outcome of his fertile mind. I had chided him
for not going on a scheduled tour of Dhanbad, which remained wit hout any representative, but I liked him very
much. He expressed his inabilit y, I
think due to his strained relations wit h
the ABVP.
Then, my choice shifted to Winay Siddhesh as he had
laboured much for the conference and had intense love for the NMO. I remembered
we had gone to the temple of Lord Hanuman near Patna it
is today. Though Chandreshwarji and I had taken his consent, I was later asked
by Sushil Kumar Modi to change our mind for a pers on
from the capit al, and a pers on from a non-Brahmin group.
Radheshyam Gupta who was selected as such though had worked
for the conference, proved virtually a non-starter as the secretary. It is my candid opinion that a pers on should be selected on his abilit y only in any commit tee
of any organisation.
I remember, the
tour of Bhagalpur it h a fellow
passenger in his shop of electric decoration.
I had not introduced myself to him but later I saw him again near the
conference venue at Patna it ed him to join the
conference.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Including Jharkhand
I know, many
workers thereafter have spent their nights on the floors of the platforms
otherwise we could not have established this organisation having minimal
resources. Many of them were from well-off houses. The taste of social service lies in dedication
and austerit y and not in the status
or show. I used to joke that when I had
visit ed Goa in 1981, the whole group
had slept on the moonlit platform
and had experienced Goa , as Vasco-da-Gama
himself might have probably experienced.
The day I left for
Bhagalpur , I had applied for the provisional
registration wit h the Medical
Council of India at Patna it h my elder brother as
early as 1978, when I had returned from the Andhra cyclone relief work. I was under his financial support. He rated it
as a sheer wastage of my monthly allowance due to my association wit h the NMO work and, thereafter, I had to severe
financial relations wit h my family
members forever. I made up my mind not
to have money from the family thereafter – rather I would give as and when I
earned. Then init ially
my loan scholarship helped me and so did the stipend of internship and
‘housephysicianship’ later.
So from 1980 to
mid-1982, I could work satisfactorily.
The tours were also limit ed
to few colleges of the State and the correspondence was also not much. The NMO also grew to be self-reliant. Seed
money of Rs. 200 had once been given by
the ABVP, which I wished to return but they did not accept. However, we used their office and they also
helped us wit h whatever was
possible.
In the days of
1977, I had, no doubt, spent from my monthly allowance __ mostly on correspondences numbering one
hundred and odd. Some of those mails
were also registered. I lived on a notion that I never misused the money as I
did not visit cinema or hotel like
my other friends and thus my brother had no right to ask me how I spent my
allowances. I knew that it was not a fixed sum and my family’s money was kept
in my bank account and I was free to use it
as per my discretion. I feel sorry but it was an unfortunate event that the NMO had to be
dormant and as far as the gratit ude
to the family is concerned how I could repay that which had brought me up and
allowed me to work for the society?
The days of the
NMO have changed. Only a few days back
(on 12.11.1989), we planned for an ambit ious
collection drive of Rs.10 lakh for the Central Office at Ranchi that had
started in 1977 at Varanasi wit h
pieces of few papers from a
copybook.
But money is not
an indicator of our success. It is the warm affection that the medicos
developed for the NMO and only due to that the conference at Patna it herto thriving
on capit ation-fee were included in
the NMO wit h the result that the
first function of the sprouting NMO was held at Muzaffarpur on 17.2.1980, early
in the morning, after the day of the full solar eclipse, as if the eclipse of
the NMO had also passed off.
The sun had a
total eclipse on 16.2.1980 and my roommate Arvind was busy in experimenting on
the dilated eyes of rabbit s and I
was preparing notes for the next day’s meeting at Muzaffarpur. How I could change my skill of
experimentation into social instrumentation, God only knows!
I became unsocial,
yet I preferred to attend the executive commit tee
meeting of the NMO at Patna it
ceremony of my sister’s son and for this I was chided by my elder brother.
I was very close
to my mother. I purchase d a small
transistor for her and started visit ing
my village off and on to be wit h
her.
Any worker devotes
most of his time to the place of his dwelling and I was no exception. Dr. S. M. Mishra had long back suggested to
me to organise non-controversial things like symposia and it was wonderful to recall that the Darbhanga unit of the NMO had organised over a dozen of such
monthly symposium and the campus was thrilled wit h
it s consistent rhythm.
I had the opportunit y to meet each and every teacher, including
retired ones, in some or other connection related to the NMO. I had the habit
of meeting workers of the NMO everyday in hostels widespread in the campus and
I think I must have a record for wandering in these beehives of medicos, wit hout being bit ten
anytime by anyone.
The NMO work
needed time and till my ‘seniorship’, I preferred night shift duty for
that. Though some of my friends were
also fond of it , but for some other
reasons … to have closeness wit h the
staff of wards whom I always preferred to address as ‘sisters’ but surprisingly
once a widow nurse protested at being addressed as ‘sister’. During my ‘juniorship’ they were taunting me,
as I did not allow them to enter my chamber in nights on the pretence of taking
water from the tap. I had never been a member of any tea club as I did not take
tea and was usually an absentee in the parties like farewell.
I disapproved of
photography for pers onal grandeur
and I do not remember barring one event of group photography in the second
year, if I was present in any. Even in
the farewell of my ‘seniorship’, I was an absentee for which the teachers were
sore at me. I did not know why this attit ude
developed in me but only later I was able to change my habit . Probably
in the past it was all for avoidance
of unusual pomp and show.
Yet, people liked
me. I remember a young man whose mother was in a serious condit ion. We had a token strike and when I resumed duty
at mid-night, the relieved senior resident told me that Prof. N. P. Mishra had
already conveyed to the relatives of the fatal outcome and whatever was needed,
had already been done. Around 3 a.m. , the young man knocked at my
chamber. I went to see his mother and
asked to bring injectable digit alis. The murmur was 6/6; for the first time I
could see the patient where such a
murmur was audible wit hout a
stethoscope, like a wheeze. Intravenous
digit alis had it s
effect and by the morning round of the professor, she had improved much,
contrary to his predictions. I think she
had not been fully digit alised. The
Prof. was very much pleased wit h
me. That boy used to come to me on and
off for consultations. When his mother
was to be discharged he wished to offer some donation. I told him to donate a book on the ECG. That
boy still has much reverence for me.
But another colleague of mine took the book
he donated to the unit and I became
angry and finally left that unit and
joined ‘seniorship’ in Prof. Mohan Mishra’s unit . Long back, that friend of mine had a
quarrel wit h another colleague. Prof. N. P. Mishra scolded him saying,
“Because of you, my best house-physician has left my unit .”
Init ially Prof. N. P. Mishra had an impression that I
had no interest in work but later he saw my punctualit y
even in knee-deep waterlogged hospit al
in rainy days. Also, he found that I was able to find some unusual things like
‘silent gap’ in the auscultation.
Once, I also disagreed wit h his diagnosis in the evening round for a
hemiplegics (he had ascribed it to the
embolism from mit ral stenosis). I stamped it
functional, which proved later on to be correct. On my subsequent diagnoses of functional
cases, he commented that young Dhanakar diagnosed functional cases more in
ladies and he should better know to manage them.
But I had also
lost a lady of middle age branding her functional but later on I could conclude
that it was a septicaemic
shock. But it
was too late and in spit e of the
intravenous infusion of antibiotics and steroids, I could not save her on that
fateful night. Prof. N. P. Mishra used
to say, “Never brand a case functional unless you have excluded all other
possibilit ies.” She was a rural middle-aged lady, not a
charming lady from a town. (I do not
mean that rural do not have psychiatric problems in contrast to that hemiplegic
lady). But Prof. N. P. Mishra used to
appreciate my diagnosis of Psychiatry, which would have been a scientific entit y not to label them merely as ‘F. N. D.’ and giving painful injections as
placebo.
I also worked on a patient of S.L.E. during ‘juniorship’.
I said to Prof. N. P. Mishra, “If tuberculosis has multi-drug regimes, why not
S.L.E. should have one which may reduce the dose of steroid.” He allowed me to do so. I followed her for three years and a paper
was published on this case in the Pat. Medical Journal 1987; 61 (II):
230-232. Such work in highly developed
renal lesion was not done at that time anywhere else. Even an immunologist like Dr. A. N. Malviya,
from the AIIMS appreciated my venture in a meeting at Ranchi
On a rainy day
while I was alone wit h Prof. Mishra,
he told me that he was pleased wit h
my work and suggested to me that it
was an appropriate time for my marriage.
Joining
‘seniorship’ in Prof. Mohan Mishra’s unit
was interesting. My friend from Tripura,
Tarun Palit , was going to be
replaced by me and so he was worried. I explained to him why
I had to leave that unit
but he could not understand. The Asst.
Prof., M. P. Singh attached to Prof. M. Mishra was worried that I was a leader-like pers on
and I would not work properly and so he asked someone to call me so that I
could be prevented from joining his unit .
The messenger friend apprehended how I could work there if the Asst. Prof. was
not willing. I told him that I would be
meeting him wit h the joining letter
the very next day and in due course of time; the teacher was amongst the
closest to me due to my sincere work.
During ‘seniorship’, I recall how a
brother could be intimately attached to a brother, a patient having berry
aneurysm and I also saw how an old man was happy in his illness to find all his
four sons near him like Ram, Laxman, Bharat, and Shatrughna. I do
not know whether we four brothers living far away from our parents will have
this fortune?
Prof. M. Mishra
himself was known in the Doctor’s Colony as Shrawan Kumar for his utmost
devotion to his parents. But for his
homesickness, he would have been in one of the best instit utions
of the world. Methodical, scientific and
specific in his approach, he was at the same time a great believer in Mit hila’s glorious tradit ions. Speaking in chaste Mait hili
wit h patients, public and even
medicos, you could not flex him by any means. Wit h
a calculator in his pocket, he would find the statistical significance wit h ease as much as that of any sign or symptom of a
disease. A master of the ECG and inquisit ive
to learn always, I sometimes think he was no doubt; a grand physician but he
would have been a computer scientist par excellence.
His senior and
teacher, Prof. N. P. Mishra, had the rare faculty of consistency in efforts and
by his assiduous labour he could reach any height. Very popular as a teacher he used to bring
patients like some other senior teachers from his pers onal
clinic also. For him no one was
brilliant. He used to say, “I need
mediocre whom I will train to be fit
in any instit ution.”
A grand history
taker and a meticulous clinical examiner, when he used to speak in
post-emergency rounds, it might be
difficult for you to keep standing if you were not accustomed to fasting. How punctual he was in teaching that he told
me when he had a cardiac attack (of multifocal extra systoles) that he felt
something wrong was going on in his body during rounds in the ward but he had preferred
teaching to retiring. A wonderful orator, Saraswati used to dwell on his
tongue.
I was really
privileged to work under those masters.
Internship period
is said to be insignificant but I was impressed by the punctualit y of Prof. H. N. Dwivedi, a friend of Prof. N. P.
Mishra. Whether his batch was rarely gifted?
I had done five-suprapubic cystostomy, few hydroceles and many
abscesses, etc. Some of the operations
were done in the torchlight (thanks to electricit y
dept.) even in humid climate during rains.
Prof. Dwivedi was eager that I should join Surgery. He took me as his assistant in many major
abdominal surgeries, lumber sympathaetectomy, amputation, and throidectomy, etc.
My senior ‘housesurgeon’ was very much impressed to see that I brought from the NMO’s drug-kit anti-diarrhoeal drugs for a beggar having
carcinoma of rectum; probably none dared even touching him due to foul smell.
I had given my
choice for internship in Medicine in an insignificant unit
to make free the RMO for his MD examination taking over all his routine
work. He was the same RMO, Dr. U. N.
Singh, who had protested before Dr. Bajpai, my external examiner in the final
MBBS. Dr. U.N. Singh was a socialist whose father died of peptic perforation
during the National Emergency wit h J. P.’s lit eratures
under his head. I managed the cases as
per my choice and learnt more than an average internee.
In Obst.
& Gynae., my senior friend’s wife Dr. Kalyani Gupta, was the ‘housesurgeon’
who used to tease me, “You are to do P. V. in labour room, etc.” I experienced,
the department had hardly anything in scientific fervour ... ladies used to
talk more about their husbands and houses, knit ting
sweaters, etc. (Thank, my wife knit ted
a sweater for me before joining the Obst. & Gynae. department otherwise,
she might have been at a loss to find a choice of the design)…But when my Bhabhi requested me to come for night
duty at least for their safety, I
happily agreed.
But there the atmosphere was
educative wit h a good number of dedicated teachers; clinics and wards full of
patients wit h varieties of diseases that I could learn
well and could nourish the sprouting NMO
at the same time.
|
Internship —
Relevant or Redundant
(Abstracts — Students’ session,
NMOCON-91, Karnavati)
Dr.
(Miss) Navjot Gill who was adjudged the best speaker said
that during internship students put into practice all that they had learnt
during MBBS course. This offers opportun
As
all are not going to do post-graduation
Dr.
Jogesh Patel, an internee said that internship is a golden period of
the life both for curricular and extra-curricular activ
(Courtesy, the Aayurvigyan Pragati 1992; 12:2)
|
Chapter XV
NMO in Controversy
(1982-85)
|
|
|
Fig. 19 — During
|
Two
medicos from Ranchi went for the relief camp
after Mandai massacre in Tripura and later the second conference of the NMO was
held at the RMC, Ranchi it yunjoy
worked hard and the conference was comparable to any other medical conference.
In the scientific session, a paper was presented for the first time in Hindi by
Dr. Y. N. Jha of Bhagalpur it h
the medicos and Nanaji Deshmukh who himself had renunciated polit ics exclaimed over the thought and progress of
such a constructive organisation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Now
Jhankhand
**Renamed
as the Aayurvigyan Pragati from the second issue (after it s registration wit h
the Registrar Newspapers For India,
R.N.39518/1981)
At
the airport, Dr. B. N. Das Gupta told me to receive the guest Nanaji and Nanaji
told me to take care of the guest, Dr. Das Gupta. Our saffron flag wit h the insignia of Dhanwantari was unfurled there
for the first time. Medicos from Burla (Orissa) and Agra
I
had also expressed (at Hubli) on query of
Prof. K. N. Poddar, the then vice-president of the ABVP that running an
organisation named ‘National’ in a State looked ridiculous and also it was difficult to work organisationally since out
of nine medical colleges and a dental college except Patna, Darbhanga and
Ranchi, students annually admit ted
to a college were 50 or even less,
and one could not expect good work at any time in more than 50 per cent of the
total centres, as it depended upon
the batches of workers, who were a
floating population. Later, I talked to other senior workers but they had their
own priorit ies.
|
Fig. 20 — Dr. S. N. Upadhyaya hoisting the NMO
flag during the third conference at the PMC,
|
The
third conference was also held at the PMC Patna during which we started Dr.
Atam Prakash Oration. The delegates from Burla and Cuttack it because of the scorching sun and the number of
delegates dropped down to 70,
Though in
our Ranchi
conference only 63 had registered, including two from Burla (Orissa) and Agra Bihar *
remained six in both the conferences.
Lack
of enthusiasm for printing the new issue
of the Aayurvigyan Pragati, on account of inadequate number of articles
and involvement of our workers in the surgical conference, prompted me to get it printed at Patna Ranchi had rich edit orial experience but they expressed satisfaction
when the third issue was released at Patna it . For us, it
was a new venture. Our experience was limit ed
to the printing of letter-heads and pamphlets only. This also took much time
and in spit e of the hard labour of
the convener of the conference, Dr. Baidya Nath Mishra and a new worker Shambhu
Gupta, we could not attract too many medicos.
But
the doctors donated generously to the NMO and the conference was not in the
deficit . I remember, Dr. Ashish
Mukherjee’s advice of getting signatures of donors on the counterfoils. He said
due to his honest work and clear accounts, Dr. S. K. Ghosh Dastidar could
erect the magnificent IMA house at Patna
But
the scorching sun during the conference period had also bearing on the minds of
the workers and the sprouting NMO had, an uphill task to save it self in the coming years. Whenever, a new thing comes on the horizon,
controversies begin. The chapter of dormancy was one of them but again the same
prejudices and egos came into play and they had different manifestations.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Including Jharkhand
On
the conclusion of the Patna it y; I had started private practice at
Shubhankarpur, a suburb of Darbhanga. Due to the conference, I was a long
absentee and also in view of my financial bankruptcy hovering over me, I wished
to be free. However, on the request of workers, I kept the work of the Aayurvigyan
Pragati under me, as it did not
require any touring.
Dr.
Navin Kumar Sinha had done appreciable work at Gaya Ranchi
I
hoped the trio would work in unison and the cart would be moving smoothly but it was not to be. The growth of the organisation
virtually came to a halt in the coming days.
Though
relieved, I got embroiled in my own problems, which are described in detail in
subsequent chapters. Navin and Pramod also left the scene wit hout even having taken over the charge in the true
sense. In the next meeting, in July 1982 at Patna Gaya
In
those days Mrit yunjoy had joined the
Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra, Lohardaga, and on his init iative
Pramod issued a circular for a meeting
of the NMO at Ranchi Ranchi 21st May 1982 ,
Ma. Shrishankar Tiwariji had advised me to settle myself first
and then contribute to social work. He had even advised me to join the Army,
where it was easy to secure a job.
Regarding the NMO, he was sore over the pers onalit y clashes and Darbhanga vs. Ranchi it h the ideals of the Sangh.
I
think this happened because Mrit yunjoy
and I were senior most in our places and were equally good workers but having
some different approaches. Init ially,
the idea of a separate organisation of medicos was not palatable to him (which
he himself told later in a meeting) and that was more due to a communication
gap between us than prejudices. After Varanasi Patna was also a factor that
workers from Ranchi and Jamshedpur
How
these absentees created confusion can be exemplified by the choice of the
insignia for the NMO. In Feb. 1981, we had
a meeting at Patna it was proposed by me that
we should adopt ‘Dhanwantari’. I had been seeing in my father’s clinic, a
picture of Him, published by Zandu Pharmaceuticals. A worker brought that
sample from a local drug store and we accepted it ,
in the map of undivided India Ranchi it
was not printed and only while releasing it ,
Dr.Barmeshwar Prasad advised on the dais mentioning ‘Dhanwantari’, it could be finally accepted.
Again,
in the next issue, He was portrayed like four-handed God (which I know is
equally correct as per scriptures) but we later dropped it
in favour of the present form looking like a rishi, sketched by an artist
of Patna
I
was told that some young workers had also argued for the colour of our flag as
saffron against the suggestion of whit e.
Of course, the matter was solved before I reached Ranchi
They
also had objection on some of the articles for the Aayurvigyan Pragati,
which had already been approved by the edit or. While appreciating the talents of the medicos
of Ranchi it ects and of the medicos of
Darbhanga as masons, I had suggested to
them to follow the instructions of the edit or.
Mrit yunjoy and Binod K. Khait an
were really gifted artists who shaped the journal, which we are still
maintaining. A good worker Subroto died in an accident on the 11th December 1981 .
It
was communicated to me that in the Ranchi
The
message sent by Dr. B.N. Das Gupta is worth mentioning. He had advised: “(i)
to be communit y service oriented,
(ii) publicit y of those services, be
it medical or social, (iii) to make
commit tees responsible for
particular systems of work - this should include members in ‘stairs’, i.e. both
senior and junior people, so that work can go on when seniors go away on job,
(iv) to hold meetings more regularly so that members engaged in welfare of the
society may come to know each other closely, (v) eit her
by pers onal contacts and or letters,
endeavour to have close contact wit h
eminent professional medical people, (vi) in all commit tees,
funds should be raised and strict control on finances be observed and internal
audit s be done and this be made an
invariable condit ion of working.”
I
think these instructions would go a long way for developing any organisation.
But
on the 3rd Oct. 1982 ,
no senior pers on, including Dr. D.
K. Sinha was present and it was
chaos when the issue came up as to what should be the name of the organisation?
I told them that they were convening a meeting not for a de novo
synthesis but of an organisation formed long back which already had it s three big conferences. Some members,
particularly Mrit yunjoy and Sushil
from Darbhanga were insistent that it
should be known only in Hindi nomenclature.
I
told them that there had been a long debate already on this topic. It was no
wisdom fighting on it . It would be
better to popularise the Hindi name as I had no hatred for Hindi but I had
difficulties because people used to confuse ‘Aayurvigyan’ wit h ‘Ayurveda’. So. I advised them to work and have
the experience. Sushil had already developed some sort of pers onal differences wit h
me and he protested for the first time there organisationally. Some young
workers from Ranchi
Nothing
tangible happened in subsequent months. The ABVP convened a meeting at Patna April 11-12, 1983 . Though I
was present in that meeting, I was a silent spectator, mentally confused over
my pers onal financial problems while
wait ing for admission to MD. This
time Mrit yunjoy replied on a question put by a younger
member. He told him that init ially
he did not feel the necessit y of a
separate organisation but later on he felt that the medicos’ problems could
only be tackled by a separate organisation like the NMO.
After
this meeting Mrit yunjoy wit hdrew*
himself voluntarily from any activit y
of the NMO and engaged himself in his pers onal
work. Pramod had not come in the meeting as he had joined service in the IEL,
Gomia. Navin too had been busy in his pers onal work. Sushil had also become busy in his
hospit al duty and study.
In
October 1982 and October 1983, however, I could manage to publish issues of the
Aayurvigyan Pragati to maintain it s
registration alive. Sporadic programmes were held by Ranchi ,
Darbhanga and Patna unit s
but Bhagalpur it was a notable exception which
really organised it self in those
days and did several good programmes, particularly due to the efforts of
Vijayendra.
Now,
Darbhanga had some new workers, notably Prabhat who suggested to me to tour
south India Ranchi Ranchi new workers led by Dewanand were willing that the
next NMO conference be convened at Darbhanga which the senior workers of the
ABVP at Patna
The
real controversy started when in a workers’ meeting Sushil’s name was proposed
as the convener of the conference. Though I had no objection but he had stopped
even talking to me and so it was
difficult to work. Yet, I did not protest.
He
convened a meeting of the workers and changed the officials of the journal arbit rarily and passed a resolution that the NMO name
in English should be dropped despit e
protest from me that any local unit
could not decide it . Even voting
took place but in protest I walked out and put all the matters before Dr. B.N.
Das Gupta, in the presence of Sushil and his supporters Pawan and Harinandan
who were also good workers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* He rejoined the NMO during 1990s.
Listening
to both parties attentively what Dr. Das Gupta advised, still echoes in my
mind: “(i) convene a bigger meeting, (ii) do it
under the guidance of a senior pers on
and (iii) sort out the problems as per the Constit ution.”
Nobody
took care of his mature advice. The conference scheduled at Darbhanga during May 6-7, 1984 , was put off
on the advice of the ABVP seniors at Samastipur in the Bihar *
State Conference of the ABVP during March 3-4, 1984 . I, however, did not go there.
The
6th issue of the journal was released at Wheeler Senate Hall, Patna it
somehow from other sources. Dr. Das Gupta was already puzzled wit h the complexit ies
and he told me on 12.3.1984 that he would not remain as edit or, if controversies were not resolved.
On
the advice of my saintly senior friend Dr. K.P. Deo, I came to Ranchi
There
had been one more reason for them to have hatred for me. At the end of 1983,
the AIMF had sponsored an agit ation
for the regularisation of hostels in the DMC. I had suggested to the NMO
workers to remain aloof from it as it would finally lead to Rajput vs. non-Rajput clash
and also the AIMF people had, not long ago, demanded banning of the shakha
in the DMC campus and had also tried to disturb a meeting of Prof. Rajendra Singh.
But for their own reasons, they preferred to follow the agit ators.
In
the ABVP conference at Patna it tee under the ‘presidentship’ of Dr. (Capt.) D. K.
Sinha was formed. Sushil became it s
organising secretary. I was a silent spectator in the show. They put my name
also as an invit ee member.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
Including Jharkhand
The
commit tee later met at Patna March 10-11, 1985 , which I
did not attend. I thought to let them work for the NMO and I should concentrate
on the journal and it s 8th issue was
published in those days.
Again
a meeting of that commit tee was held
at Patna April 7-8, 1985
for which I was not informed. I received a circular (dated the 18th April 1985 ) on 27th April.
As per the circular six workers attended the meeting and it
was stated as the first point to use only the Hindi name of the organisation. I
had seen the draft copy of that circular in the hands of the office-secretary,
Abhay Kumar Ashok and had told him to convey to Sushil that this issue should
not be raised again. But Sushil did not agree. The fourth conference was to be
held in the last week of August at Bhagalpur
I
expressed my inabilit y to attend the
next meeting at Patna May 11-12, 1985
in disgust. I wrote letters to Dr. (Capt.) D. K. Sinha and the ABVP seniors. I
did not go to that meeting where virtually I was expelled from the organisation
in spit e of the protest from Dr. D.
K. Sinha who advised them not to leave me out seeing my contributions. Some
young workers were in a fix.
On
the same day (11th May) Dr. K. K. Sinha wrote a letter from Ranchi
invit ing me to come to Ranchi it orial work. I received both letters simultaneously
at a juncture when I was to appear for the MD examination very shortly.
After
attending my younger brother Shubhakar’s marriage on 26th May 1985 and taking my admission
in DCH in the DMC on 29th May, I reached Ranchi 2nd June 1985 ,
and absorbed myself in the study and edit ing
of Progress in Clinical Neurosciences. I returned to Darbhanga on 16th
August and remained busy in appearing at the MD examination, which perhaps ended
on 26th September 1985 .
Many
important developments took place in the meantime. Before I had left for Ranchi it h Ma. Shrishankar Tiwari, in which I had
expressed that the NMO was worth running only if allowed to run independently
since it was difficult for the ABVP workers to understand the
intricacies of medical field and also that they had their own priorit ies.
I
had also planned to go independently, based upon the views of a few good
workers, being disgusted wit h the
unpleasant happenings. Vivekanand was to go on a tour and we were to meet at
the API conference, Udaipur in Jan. 1986 under
the presidentship of some eminent doctor, e.g. Dr. B. B. Tripathy of Cuttack it led
to join any organisation, which had no foreign links and or fait h in violence. The NMO was in contrast fully
national, as well as true to the spirit
being dedicated to the service of humanit y
but this plan could not be pursued.
In
the meantime, the ABVP, on seeing the complications felt that the NMO was
worthless and in one of it s central
commit tee meetings, it passed a resolution to close it step-by-step. Init ially,
it was decided that the NMO should
run only at Darbhanga, Ranchi and Bhagalpur and probably at the mammoth youth conference at Delhi
After
a long gap, Pramod Kumar Tiwari suddenly appeared at Darbhanga wit h Dharmanand Jha for the preparation of the P. G.
entrance examination. They could gather this news about the ABVP’s decision
from Sushil who had cautioned them not to divulge it
to me, as it would hurt me. I was
not told about this till my MD examination was over, during which Harendra
Pandey, a senior ABVP worker, had visit ed
the campus whom the NMO workers Prabhat and Birendra had frankly said that they
would not leave the NMO. Earlier, while I was at Ranchi it ed the campus and had enquired as to who and how
many workers were to follow me.
Rejuvenation OF MEDICOS POWER: NMO SPREADS NATIONWIDE
AGAIN
In
fact, nobody was following me. We all were followers of the same ideal. The
whole controversy was pathetic. Yet, it
needed a serious blow to have an end. When I knew the developments, I
remembered, P. P. Guruji’s (M. S. Golwalkar) famous proclamation, “If everything crumbles down, I will begin
from the beginning.” But, I had no such spirit ual
power. I asked Prabhat, the most sincere worker of Darbhanga, whether he would
work wit h me, if a fresh move would
be taken up. He assured me that he would follow me.
Subsequently,
an emergency convention of the General Body of the NMO was held at Darbhanga on
30.9.1985, under the presidentship of Dr. Pramod Kumar Tiwari. It was resolved
that the NMO would work freely, dedicated to the nation as before. Medicos’
power was rejuvenated. Sweets, actually meant for my MD results, took a better meaning on being distributed after
the meeting.
But
it was not wit hout
an aftermath. The programme of blood donation to be held on Gandhi-Shastri
Jayanti, was threatened by them. However, it
could be held by the intervention of the local Sangh workers. It reminded me of
an episode of the Ranchi it of the NMO, which had been
synonymous wit h blood donation (as
Darbhanga was for the symposium). In it s
first blood donation programme, the AIMF people had disturbed it when Prof. Surendera Sinha had come out saying
nobody could be wicked than one who disturbed a pious programme like blood
donation, which might be arranged by anyone.
Pramod,
Dharmanand and I went to Rajgir to meet the seniors of the Sangh. Dr. Abaji Thatte listened to us. Wit h his introductory letter, the medicos, mostly
from the Ranchi it toured all over the country
propagating the NMO. The Ranchi it ratified our resolution
immediately. Later on, the Bhagalpur it too joined us, once the
controversy was over.
We
met at Jamshedpur Dec. 6-7, 1986
and declared it as the fourth
National Conference of the NMO, under the saintly guidance of Prof. S. J. Kale.
Convener of the conference Indrajeet and his friends like B.N. Roy, Mahesh,
etc., being fully backed by their Ranchi it aries like
Ma. Bhaskar Rao, Dr. B. N. Das Gupta, Dr. B. B. Tripathy (Cuttack), Dr.
N. N. Khanna (Varanasi), Dr. Sujit
Dhar (Kolkata), etc. that the young medicos had yet creative power.
Fig. 21 — Workers of the NMO, DMC wit h the NMO, President Dr. Sujit
Dhar at Jamshedpur
Fig.
22 — Mrs. Radha Singh,
IAS, inaugurating X Anniversary Celebrations of the NMO at
Radha
Singh, IAS, the chief guest, was so thrilled that she announced the NMO as her
own organisation and later it s
registration could be possible only by her pers onal
efforts. Dr. H. P. Sinha, ex-principal of the MGM
Medical College ,
Jamshedpur it Dhar came as an observer and took the reins of
the organisation as the National President. Ma. Bhaskar Rao again came
to guide us at the Bhagalpur
Fig. 23 _ Dr. Suhash Tetarway (extreme L.), Dr. Ksh.
Birendra Singh (extreme R.) and on his side Dr. Satish Kr. Midha conducting a
medical quiz in the Bhagalpur Conference on 1.4.1988.
Fig. 24_ NMO
workers of Bhagalpur it h Ma. Dr. Abaji Thatte
(3rd from L.), Ma.
Shrishankar Tiwari (1st from R.), and Ma.
Bhaskar Rao (2nd from R.) during the V
National Conference of the NMO at Bhagalpur April 1, 1988 .
The
purpose of this narration, in no sense, is meant to malign anyone. What I feel,
on my part, is that I lacked the art of communication and, therefore, I am
taking up all the blames on my shoulders. At the same time, the success in
overcoming the riddles of the controversies belongs largely to the younger
medicos whose dedicated and selfless service alone could create admirers like Ma.
Dr. Abaji Thatte, Ma. Bhaskar Rao and Ma. Shrishankar Tiwari and
many others in the medical and social fields. Every
organisation faces teething trouble in the beginning because it is made up of human minds, so subtle in nature
and if it is controlled, you will go
to samadhi, hardly having any interest in the worldly affairs. And such
brit tle differences, unfortunately
take bigger shapes.
Whether
my peer Mrit yunjoy was not
well-communicated wit h my ideas or
younger Sushil, Pawan, Hari and Deoranjan were not flexible or the successors
of Mahesh Sharma of the ABVP could not appreciate the finer aspects of the
problem, are not the points at all, as they all worked wit h
their utmost sincerit y for the NMO
and the nation and I still owe to them much reverence for the zeal, they all
had and they have still respect for me. It is merely the kal chakra! One
can say only that we are all one as we were one. I welcome them all to the NMO
folds, if anyone still stands ashore.
We
lacked probably guidance from our seniors for long and another conclusion is
that the sentiments should be honoured and not weighed by mere hefty arguments.
What is going to happen tomorrow is not predictable and any conjecture may have
no end. For the NMO rather everything seemed to have ended well.
For
me, however, in my pers onal life, I
will hide some truths, lest readers should become tearful. Truly this had been
for a great mission. I would be but a
sinner, in case, I hate any fellow worker though he might have even abused me.
Maybe,
God was planning for the good or is still planning well for me, in my pers onal life as well as for the NMO. While thinking
over the past few lines I had typed, the postman dropped an envelope having in it the divine message of His Holiness Swami
Chinmayanada, which he wrote himself from Indore 14th November 1989 . The message was:
“National
Medicos Organisation is an answer to a very urgent need in the country. I
congratulate you all and wish the Organisations help from all charit able Trusts and liberal donors.
The
Organisation can consider it self as
NAMO and not as NMO. It sounds as ‘NAMO’ and has a significant meaning. Love.”
This
was in response to a letter and lit erature
of the NMO, which I had pers onally
handed over to him on 10th
November 1989 at Ranchi it a
and Upanishad classes, which I had attended.
How
the great men change the meanings! Not long back, I had chided Suhash for writ ing Namo wit h
some other workers on registers in lighter vein (he had even printed it , in Hindi, so, while thanking advertisers in the
souvenir, published for the Gwalior it may so
happen that some saint would say, “There is no need of medicine or medicos as
everybody is healthy on physical, mental and spirit ual
planes,” and then it would be better
called as Om Prakash used to say lightly. Sorry, he also used to abbreviate it s Hindi translation jk"Vªh;
vk;qfoZKku Nk= laxBu as RA.A.CHA.S. ¼jk{kl½-
The
divine message of H.H. Swami Chinmayananda reverberates as the blessings of Acharya
Vinoba Bhave writ ten in his own
handwrit ing on the 23rd Jan. 1981 , at Pawnar, which
is:
982)
Fig. 25 — Divine Message from Acharya Vinoba Bhave.
When medicos’ power rejuvenated, I
think, on some medicos’ advice, I also did a good work i.e. marriage on the
same date, eight years later Ramnandan Mishra had quoted to me Vinoba’s saying,
“If you are in a fix whether to marry or not, you should.” I could obey him
only due to the rejuvenation of the NMO.
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