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.
|
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 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.
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.
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
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