Serially whole book will be put as blog and later on some chapters will be updated also.
The
Autobiography
of
An
Unknown Medico
Dr. Dhanakar
Thakur
This book describes the condit ions
under which a boy of a middle class tradit ional
Indian family became a doctor, and laid the foundation of a national organisation
of medicos -- the National Medicos Organisation (NMO), for the fulfillment of
his social obligations, all at a price of his pers onal
comforts during a period of pseudo-socialistic developments in Bharat (1955-2018).
Front
cover depicting the nagphani
(prickly pear) to which the author has compared himself in a poem (pg.177). The border is from one of the
famous Madhubani paintings of Mit hila to
which the author belongs and had studied there in the Darbhanga Medical
College
Part of this book is
also available on websit e :
Picures from Pagemaker could not be copied
in this Wordfile but those will be in the actual book.
© wit h the author. All proceeds from this book
will go to social work.
(If
not published by any publisher)
Minimum
acceptable donation: Rs. 100 for U.G. students , Rs. 200 for doctors/others
Price
(for instit utions/libraries): Rs. 500
(from outside India
and Nepal
price (for pers ons):
Rs. 300 (from outside India and Nepal
For free distribution amongst
medicos (medical students and doctors) of Bharat and Nepal INDIA Ranchi ,” at the
BANK of INDIA
Money may also
be deposited in S/B Account No. 48102010871415 in the S/B Account of “Antrarashtriy Maithili
Parishad,” at the Union BANK of INDIA, Shyamli branch, Ranchi and inform on E-mail: dhanakarmithila @rediffmail.com /phone
us on 9430141788. Money may also be sent
by M. O. or cheque/bank draft
payable to ''
Antarrashtriy Maithili Parishad"
at any of the banks in Ranchi and
asking current postal address of Dr.
Dhanakar Thakur.
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..... We may convert every house in the country into a char
ii
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Dr. Jaykant Mishra, ex-prof. &
HOD, English, Allahabad Universit y;
Prof. Damodar Thakur, BA (Cantab), ex- DPI, Bihar; Prof. S.Choudhary, IIT,
Chennai; Prof. S.Narayan, JNU, Imphal; Prof. C. K. Jha, Tata College, Chaibasa;
Prof. N. L. Das, Forbesganj for their
valuable suggestions.
My
sincere gratit ude is to late
J. K. Datta (25.2.1924-27.6.2002), ex-legal adviser, HSL, who spared his full 13
days to correct the manuscript and to
his friend R. C. Prosad, ex-DGM. (Tech.), HEC, Ranchi
who took over correction work further (in almost 100 sit tings
at his residence) till I was transferred to Bangalore
In the init ial
stages, late Abhash K. Chatterjee, IAS (21.01.1941-14.12.2002) (an eponym of
scholarship, honesty, simplicit y and
dedication to poor, whose views on staunch nationalism and History were similar
to the author’s, though ‘topper’ of 1966-67 batch of the IAS, he resigned on
several burning issues needing urgent attention), an intellectually senior
friend and guide to the author, he died while he was to go through the final
proofs of the book which was lying on his table. Mrs. A. K. Chatterjee provided
nagphani painting for the cover design.
Late
Chatterjee had also corrected many pages of the script; so also Sudha and
Priya, Ms. Atoshi Ghosh, Mrs. Savit a
Kumar and Mrs. Anima; The RDCIS, SAIL, Ranchi’s, ex-GM, K. C. Chatterjee,
ex-ED, S. Jha encouraged; A. K. Jena,
prepared draft Indices; Somnath Mit ra
and M.Gangadaran, designed cover pages; M.K. Verma, C. B. P. Singh, Md. Abbas,
Ram Prasad Sah, Durga Prasad, MTI’s S.
Jha and Alok kumar and my colleagues,
Dr. Hridesh Saha, Dr. S. K. Mishra, Dr.
J.K. Rath, Dr. Bina Prasad and Pravin and many others provided valuable
help through long 18 years of the
gestation of the book. N.K. Jha of the MECON drew the map.
The
data was first entered in the Catholic Press, Ranchi but in it s long gestation period was lost and could not be retrieved when I made up
mind to publish it
on the historic occasion of the Silver Jubilee Celebration of the NMO on 10.11.2002
(which it self was an important
milestone in the life of this unknown medico) due to the efforts of Dr. Lal Chandra, Dr. N. M. Singh, Dr.
Anil Jain, Dr. Harsh Vardhan of the NMO, Delhi. During those days I was a guest
of Dr. V. B. Kathiria, MP from Rajkot it ude
to them and each and all who provided help in various ways, prominent among
them were Dr. D. K. Sarker, Dr. Vimal, Dr. Punit
Agrawal, Dr. Manish Bhushan Pandey, Dr. Rajkumar Gupta, A. S. Yadav who helped
me in reading proofs despit e the
Deepawali holidays. Roh (i) tash (wa) and the staff of Dhaliwal
Printers, New Delhi it ude.
But
the book could not be published on that historic occasion because protocol of
Dy. P.M., Sri L.K.Advani needed 15 days time to go through it .
Since
then started continuous revision of the book wit h
exhaustive indexing making it like a
reference book honourarily first at the Caps Micrographics, Ranchi at the
behest of Munmun where Prabir Mondal and Nasreen laboured hard.
When
the Caps was closed down at Ranchi , the data was
loaded at R.C.Prosad’s computer where I myself revised and updated it (till I
was transferred to Bangalore where it continued on the computer of Dhirendra,
son-in-law of my younger sister, Rajkumari) and then on my PC at MECON Ltd., Bangalore it h some pers ons
handling NMO became sour and only after three years I decided to work again for
the very young medicos when Dr. Madhup Kumar convened NMOCON-2006
at Indore
iii
FOREWORD
iv
The Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the
National Medicos Organisation (NMO)
Siri Fort Audit orium ,
New Delhi
Kartik Krishna 6,2059 Vikram Samvat (November
10,2002 )
The NMO was founded on
the Kartik Krishna 9,2034 Vikram Samvat(November 5,1977)
at Varanasi and hence, it s Silver
Jubilee Celebrations were started at the Instit ute
of Medical Sciences (IMS), Kashi Hindu Vishwavidyala (KHV) i.e. BHU (page
242-243) on the 5th November, 2001.
When I reached the programme-venue
late after darshan of Bhagwan Vishwanath, the inaugural session was
already over and none of the one hundred odd medicos of the IMS recognised me.
They were donating blood on this occasion wit h
enthusiasm. Since seniors had already left, there was uninhibit ed murmuring of the youthful talks and in fact, I
was thrilled to experience it .
Medicos __ girls and boys in almost equal numbers were donating blood in
such a cheering mood that I felt as if I was seeing the would-be doctors, full
of service attit ude and they were
having one of the best talents in that premier medical instit ution of the country and as the founder of this
organisation, I felt, I had done a good
thing.
Wit h
my scientific knowledge, lit erary
interests and oratory skills, I might
have been a good scientist, a reputed doctor,
a celebrated author and or a renowned polit ical
leader but in the last quarter of the century, I could evolve myself as an
organisational man and despit e being
outspoken to the tune of being felt arrogant,
I could keep people wit h the
organisation as I was sincere, dedicated and devoted to the NMO as a worker, so
much so, that people had forgotten me as it s
founder and naturally did not call me to the dais at Varanasi or even at Delhi*
when the Silver Jubilee Celebrations were
concluded on November 10th, 2002 at the Siri Fort Audit orium where DY. PM of the country Ma. Lal Krishna Advani was also present(Cover
II)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*and later Author
was not informed by the Margdarshak Ma. Bhaiyaji Joshi for the core commit tee
meeting of the N. M. O. at Mumbai 23.2.2003
amounting to my expulsion from
NMO wit hout
any charge ( later at Indore he put
a simple charge that I had called many
more executive members than decided for the ‘core commit tee’ meeting at Kolkata on 14.7.2002 wit h Ma. Mohan Bhagwat. In fact, I had also asked for a general get together on the
occasion because I thought for long any good meeting will not be possible there
when Punit Bedi completed his course
there).
Even the workers of Indore (Subhash Barod,
B.C.Singhal, V. P. Goswami) could not
smell that I was knowingly avoided by a few ('core commit tee
members') during the XXVI Annual Conference,Apr.12-13, 2003 (which they had
accepted only on my insistence during the Silver Jubilee) but knowingly I was ignored
by the organisers in the XXVII Annual Conference of the NMO at
Patna on 21.3.2004 and in Jaipur unit 's
CME programme on 6.2.2005 (where highest
number of delegates attended in any programme of the NMO) by the instructions
from some 'core member' though NMO
was founded on my ideas
on 5.11.1977 at Varanasi
and for the NMO even at the Patna
during March 30-31, 1980 , I was the convenor and had visit ed Jaipur only after a week again for that CME,
only on request of the workers who had been regarding me like anything.
Again at Agra though
asked to preside over a scientific session by an eminent psychiatrist in a
hurriedly called XXVIII Annual Conference on 22.12.2005(for the first time on a
mid-week day, Thursday, to alter drastically the NMO's Constit ution undemocratically which was somehow halted),
I had gone to the dais uninvit ed in the inaugural session to announce the duly
elected president and secretary of the NMO which could have changed the
working in favour of young; I was not given chance to speak and the
compeer, Dr. Pawan Kr. Gupta, announced the name of a President which was not
accepted by many in the GB meeting , resulting in the final division of the NMO
since then. Later even my character assassination was tried by them (whom I had loved most) on charges of
morals and funds which was not believed by anyone.
V
I am not immune to the
human passion for name and or fame but I sincerely felt that by not going to
the dais, I elevated myself more in my
own (and others’) eyes than if I had been there, though I would have
loved to have such a photograph of the occasion for my own records. Of course,
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Chairman, of the Organising Commit tee
(and the Vice-President of the BJP) mentioned my name while introducing the NMO
and the audit orium was resonant wit h their clapping when I stood up.
There
I was not able to reply properly to the question of Dr. Vineeta Gupta, PhD, the
Special Correspondent of the Panchjanya,
“How do you feel after working for 25 years for the NMO?”
Nobody
could have been happier than me there where everybody was happy. Everyone needs
good and sympathetic doctors and the NMO was looked at as it s
answer to many.
The
NMO does not have proper documentation of it s
work but surely it has worked far
more than the Nobel Prize winning medical societies _ the International Physicians for
Prevention of Nuclear War in 1985 and or Medicins Sans Frontiers (the
Doctors Wit hout Borders) in 1999.
The NMO was not even started by a doctor _ but by me,
then only an under-graduate medical student who did not have even the
text-books to read and the NMO grew and spread and has served almost every
calamit y from the Andhra Cyclone of
1977 to the Bhuj Cyclone of 2001.
Then in 1977, our three-member team’s work was appreciated
by everybody and likewise around 1000 doctors served on rotation basis in the
NMO’s Dr. Hedgewar Hospit al at
Bhachau, where I could not go due to familial, organisational and other
problems but the work was done satisfactorily and this is the advantage of any
organisation.
The
NMO got encouragement from every section of the society _ the RSS or non-RSS pers ons, medicos and non-medicos. Of course, Sangh
workers and medicos were the seat-anchors for the unit s
spread all over the country.
vi
In 1997,in the NEC meeting
of the NMO at the LHMC, New Delhi it did not.
And
hence, I reminded our workers of Delhi it on this occasion of
the NMO’s Silver Jubilee. I also felt that it
should be held in the Capit al so
that people and the press might give due attention to it ,
which to a great extent was fulfilled.
Arranging
in Delhi it ude had it s inherent problems and our workers had to seek
help from the polit ical minded
doctor swayamsevaks. Though they worked tirelessly, it still left a scar in the minds of the delegates _ after a
surgery, a scar, even minimal is mandatory and acceptable but a social worker should burn like a candle
leaving nothing of it s own as was
said by Swami Vivekananda whose large portrait
was on the backdrop.
I
felt as if I got one Dr. Narendra Mohan Singh (who deliberately avoided going
to the dais) as an example before me. After all, Vivekananda himself was
Narendra. I do not want a grihastha (family-man) Narendra should take sanyas
(renunciation)! Narendra fell ill two days before the function, exhausted from
hard work.
The Asst. Organising Secretary of the function, Dr. Lal
Chandra was day and night busy so much so that I felt he would fall sick like
me who had phosphaturia before the first NMO Conference in 1981 at Patna it iated
the NMO as a movement.
I recall, when the press liaison pers on
Rohtas had asked for an off on Deepawali -day, Lalchand was
angry, “You will have Deepawali every year but my Silver Jubilee will
never come again.” And, equally busy was Dr. Anil Jain leaving his practice for
months.
Sometimes
I think, only because I was young that I could init iate
such a big project and could see that it
had spread all over the country. As one grows, one becomes centered in his/her
family and even if he/she takes up such work, is hardly successful.
vii
Dr. Dilip Kumar Sarker, retd. professor
of Surgery, Silchar toured the whole of the north India Delhi
Though the NMO was founded on
November 5th, there were differences of opinion when to celebrate the Silver Jubilee
as November 5 was a working day. The NMO President, Dr. P. T. Chandra
Mouli closed the matter saying, “November 5 is not as per our Hindu calendar
date and so it hardly matters on
which day we observe it .” And so,
November 10 was decided though I told them that I would be on fast for Chhath on that day and it
would not be possible for me to attend the concluding address by P.P.
Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, Ma. K.S.Sudarshan (who graced the
function, post-inaugural all sessions till the end). Dr.Yogesh Goyal, Agra it would go against the discipline but I told him,
“Accepted. But, reverence to God is more important than P. P. Sarsanghchalak,
particularly when it does not upset
the programme.”
And, it
became so as I had to be out in the afternoon for the Yamuna ghat, near
the ITO. As sunset was approaching, I had to defy one-way pedestrian route - one
policeman was angry at me but another pers on
seeing me in dhoti only, told him that this festival was meant for the chhathvratis
like me and thus I could offer arghya
(offerings). In the night, I came to Agra wit h the workers and in the morning, Yogesh took me
to the Yamuna ghat there to offer the morning arghya, so that I
could take the same train at Tundla (as
in Delhi it would have
been early morning there and I could not have caught it ).
I could not take even a drop of water on the Silver
Jubilee Day due to my fast and jokingly I had told our workers in one of the
preparatory meetings at the DMA Hall, “In the marriage of a girl, the kanyadani (one who
offers the bride to the groom) fasts and who can be better than me for this
purpose.”
The NMO is in full youth now and is already wedded to
the cause of the nation and hence, I feel, my role is over as it s founder… However, as a member and a worker, I
will continue to work. It is my earnest
desire that the new generation should take up the NMO as they only can work as
I could do while I was a student.
viii
Foreword iv
The Silver Jubilee Conference of
the National Medicos Organisation (NMO)
v
Preface xi
Indebtedness xiv
Prologue xv
Chapter I Glimpses of Childhood in Maila Anchal
(1955-70) 1
Chapter II Introduction wit h
Tribal India:My Pre-Medical days at ranchi
Chapter III Back to Mit hila
: Admission to the Darbhanga Medical College
Chapter IV My Pre-clinical Days (1973-75) 55
Chapter V Black Days of The National Emergency
(1975-77) 63
Chapter VI A Girl Class mate From Distant South 68
Chapter VII ‘Third Year Syndrome’ 71
Chapter VIII My
Adopted Tamilian Mother — Dr. Indira Ramaswamy 74
Chapter IX Resigning from the Class Assistantship 77
Chapter X The Jail Dairy of a Medico 79
Chapter XI Foundation of the National Medicos Organisation
(NMO) (1977) 83
Chapter XII A
Christmas in Burial Ground: Andhra Cyclone Relief Work 93
Chapter XIII
Dormant NMO : My unduly delayed Session
of the Final MBBS (1978-79) 99
Chapter XIV NMO Sprouts— My Internship and ‘Housephysicianship’ (1980-82) 110
Chapter XV NMO in Controversy (1982-85) 122
Chapter XVI Rejuvenation of Medicos Power : NMO Spreads
Nationwide Again 132
ix
Chapter XVII Hardships of an MD student : The Biography of A Medical Thesis (1983-85) 137
Chapter XVIII Glimpses of A Great Physician : My Guru Dr. B. N. Das Gupta 145
Chapter XIX Neurotraining under Dr. K. K. Sinha 149
Chapter XX Editorial
Service 153
Chapter XXI Night
Watchman of a Coal
India Hospit al
Chapter XXII Hovel of the Bihar State
Chapter XXIII Taste of Private Practice at Ranchi
Chapter XXIV Extended ‘Boardership’ at the RMCH, Ranchi
Chapter XXV Marriage and Separation 171
Chapter XXVI Adieu Ranchi 192
Chapter XXVII Epilogue:
(i) Our Medical Instit utions
: My Experiences 202
(ii) My suggested Model of Medical Education 246
(iii) Reorganisation
of Indian States - My Proposit ion 249
(iv) My tryst wit h
the Mit hila-Mait hili
Work (1992-2009) 256
(v) The
NMO :
(A) bfrgkl
ds iUuksa ls &
AA lsok gh /keZ%AA 266
(B) NMO
Conferences - An Update 268
(C) National
Executive commit tee
of the NMO - An Update 269
of the NMO - An Update 269
(D) NMO
Unit s (wherever some
programmes were organised
programmes were organised
- An Updated List as on 1.8.2009) 269
(E) The
NMO's Prime-movers
(who init iated
/ helped and established different unit s
- State-wise alphabetically) 270
(vi) My
suggestions for the Reformation in Indian Democratic system 275
INDICES: (A)
BOOKS AND MAGAZINES 279
(B) ORGANISATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS 280
(C)
PERSONS
291
(D) Places 306
(E) MISCELLANEOUS (Including subject index and
English
words for non-English words used
in the text, not translated there) 315
(F) IMPORTANT EVENTS-Date-wise/Year-wise 345
x
Preface
The Autobiography of An Unknown Medico is probably
the first autobiography of a medico, a Mait hil
(who count around 40 million population of the Indian subcontinent) and a commit ted swayamsevak
of the RSS (the largest voluntary organisation in the world)*.
In my adolescence in 1969, I had an interesting meeting wit h Atalji, a swayamsevak, when he was a
grass-root worker of the Bharatiya Jan
Sangh and had enough time to stay in a remote place like Forbesganj (my
hometown on Indo-Nepal border in Bihar) for two days.
This book deals wit h
the narration of the sand and soil of the Mit hila
region from the angle of a boy who graduated to be a doctor and dedicated to social service
through founding of a national organisation of medicos in spit e of being a part of the protracted polit ical struggle through the famous Students’
Movement of 1974, the National Emergency and as it s
aftermath, rarely recognised freedom of expression under the shadow of the
corrupt inherit ors of J. P., resulting in the loss of fait h in the system it self. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*I left the RSS at the
age of 52 on 2.8.2007, when I was unduly humiliated and threatened to be sent
to jails(probably under the pride of the BJP's power in the coalit ion Govt.), at the
Yadava Smrit i, Bangalore Cit y
office for holding there the Foundation meeting of the National Software
Engineers' Organisation(NSWEO) on 22.7.2007 for which Kaustubh, a Marathi
Engineer swayamsevak had not
inform the Karyalaya Pramukh despit e
my instructions for that.(in that meeting apart from us. 3-4 swayamsevaks, only
one outsider software engineer, Rajeev Ranjan Lall had come and we finalized aims and objects
and skeleetal commit ee
wit h Prabhanjan of Delhi as the
president The meeting was started wit h
'Ohm' and ended wit h 'Bande
Mataram.'Though it had no
connection wit h the RSS , such activit ies should have been appreciated.
National Organisations in the fields of pharmacy, bpotech, nursing,
pysiotherapy, medical lab. technicians, different discipleines of engineering,
finance, management, agriculture, veterinary, etc. on the line of the NMO are
the need of the day for which young pers ons if come up, I will be still glad to
help.
Despit e my
apology (and reference to the P.P. Sarsanghchalak,Ma. K.S.Sudarshan and Ma.
Suryanarayan Rao), I was escorted to the Keshav Krupa as if a prisoner The Prant
Pracharak said there that I cannot pers ue
NMO work being in the Sangh Karyalaya as they were instructed to work
for the Arogya Bharati. I had an interrupted 57 nights stay (26 nights at
Keshavkrupa+one night at Madhav Krupa, Mysore +30 nights at Yadava Smrit i out of
490 days (from 30.3.2007, I came to Bangaloreto 1.8.2007),.
'Are you quit ting today?" I merely
replied,"I have already quit ."
(After readinng a letter to Ma.
K.S. Sudarshan that I am lving the Sangh. I left the RSS but not the
.nationalism.'(Finding nowhere to go, I took a MST(monthly Season Ticket)
between Bangalore Cit y and
Mysore in Rs.370, that evening to sleep
in last train which continued for two
months rsulting in a good travalogue,Life on Wheels(Railvas in
Hindi and Mait hili).
xi
The unfair means in the examinations in Bihar
has been described raw, still the State could produce some of the best talents
in the world.
The description of my premedical days at Ranchi it s
distinct culture eventually resulting in the formation of Jharkhand .
A bourgeois class like medico, cannot struggle but I had
been in jail in a movement for banning capit ation-fee
based medical colleges described vividly in my jail diary.
Medical students(Medicos) cross through the milestones of
ragging, terminal and final examinations wit h
an oasis of love affairs, 'third year syndrome', internship and strikes for enhancing stipend,
mania for P. G. and debris of a medical thesis. Then a young doctor faces
competit ion wit h
quacks when posted in a periphery and can hardly cope up wit h the stinking state health secretariat or union
leaders and bosses of public sectors. Moreover, wit hout
financial and or emotional support one cannot stand in the field of medical
practice as I have tasted all the above tribulations, in my career; all these
are dealt wit h in this book. Apart
from those life experiences, a young medico can find many examination tips
which would be interesting to elders as well.
There have been few instances in the contemporary Indian
history that a full-fledged, scientifically trained doctor opts to delve deeply
for the mit igation of social evils
and in the process though I fell a prey to that, still I worked for the welfare
of humanit y. Study, job, marriage and family cycle is
sometimes an enigma for such workers and this book provides an easy reading for
one who can imagine the plight of a pers on
who happens to be a member of an Indian middle class.
The system of medical education, churning out our doctors
needs a remedial correction which is provided in this small book through the
passages of medical hostels and instit utions numbering 148 (+ many dental Ayurvedic and para-medical and research instit utions and hospit als)
by my pers onal visit s for the purpose of a welcome change, applauded
by the pers onalit ies like Acharya Vinoba Bhave and H. H.
Swami Chinmayanand. The description is not only of the bricks of medical instit utions but also of the nascent medicos in their
beehives and of the beauty of the land — be it
greenery of Kerala or the deserts of Rajasthan.
A man needs social support and the RSS, though
controversial on many counts came up for the nation-building project of this
medico and the organisation thus founded—
the National Medicos Organisation (NMO) has it s
own contribution to the suffering humanit y
much more than Nobel Peace Prize winning medical societies of the West whether
in peace or in natural calamit ies,
starting from the devastating cyclone in Andhra (1977) to the super-cyclone in
Orissa (1999) or from an earthquake in Killari (1993) or Tsunami disaster
(2004)(Cover IV)- to Bhuj (2001) where
the NMO started working from the day
one and ran Dr. Hedgewar Hospit al for six months or from the MIC holocaust of
Bhopal (1984) to the epidemic of plague
in Surat (1994), etc.
xii
The saga of the
NMO’s foundation story also unfolds the mysteries of the RSS and it s working, which is largely unknown to an
outsider. The NMO story reflects the story of the Sangh Parivar
formation and the development of a boy into a mature worker as a result of this
process.
My report on ‘Free Flow of Drugs Nurturing Milit ancy’ carried by the PTI in 1992, probably the
first such report, attracted attention of many and my belief that journalism could change the scenario was
strengthened, particularly in the IT-era and hence, I continued edit ing several journals (e.g. the Aayurvigyan
Pragati, the Mait hili Sandesh,
etc.) and also became a columnist of the
Ranchi Express.
Apart from my vision on restructuring democratic
systems and instit utions
of our country, one will also find my proposit ion for the reorganisation of States in India it icians.
In fact, very few statesmen would have toured the interiors of the country as extensively as this humble worker
has been tirelessly doing since 1977. In a federal system, States are a must
but how many and which ones?
One cannot ignore the area he/she belongs to and I too
have worked for the Mit hila region
through the International Mait hili
Conferences in India and Nepal it s
inhabit ants — linguistic conferences
discussing the Koshi floods, industrialisation, tourism promotion, etc.
Apart from the updated epilogue and few postscripts here
and there, the main substance of this book was writ ten
as a ‘suicide note’ (though I gave up this idea while writ ing
the manuscript) in 1989, (after the failure of my ‘ideal’ marriage solemnised wit hout any dowry) but could not be completed due to
several mental constraints, most importantly the legal wrangles of contesting
the divorce petit ion filed by my
wife, rare for a male, hoping for a happy union in the end but I could only
wander in the Raj of justice and
could reassert, “The only people who win in divorce cases are the lawyers!”
Emotionally, a wife-battered, I could writ e
few poems, in one of them (included in this book), I have compared myself wit h the nagphani (cactus), again very rarely
chosen by poets.
One will be amused to find the suspicion of the ‘fodder scam’ (a ‘human’ medical shop was preferred to be converted
to a veterinary medical shop at Ranchi
in 1989), the turbulent fight wit h
friends like Sushil Modi and Govindacharya on the organisational issues and the
so called ‘social engineering’ may be seen as seeds among them in this
narration while they were unknown to the polit ical
world.
xiii
This book provides an insight into a pers on who has to pay a price of his pers onal
comforts during a period of the pseudo-socialistic development of Bharat that
is India since 1955 when India
As a piece of lit erature,
it may be accepted by anyone who
knows the ABC of English though I have
found several interesting flaws in the English language it self
while studying it as a school
student.
While
entering the third millennium, one should know the other half of the unsung
world and so a tit le of ‘unknown’
has been taken up by me, as I am one among those medicos, who work for the
society and are rarely acknowledged, remain ‘unhonoured, unwept and unsung’.
— Dhanakar
Thakur
Indebtedness
I conceived the ideas to writ e my autobiography as presented in this book
towards the end of my medical ‘studentship’ during 1980, which ultimately
culminated wit h the writ ing of this book in 1989. All those years, I had a
lot of support and inspiration from my association wit h
juniors, seniors, friends and workers of the National Medicos Organisation
(NMO) and the Antarrashtriya Mait hili
Parishad that I could conclude this
book.
Still I feel, it is a million times better to do something
worth writ ing than writ ing something worth reading.
—
Dhanakar Thakur
I am aware
of the stupendous effort you have made for establishing the Medico Movement
across the length and breadth of the country Wit h
my very best wishes." — Dr. B. B.
Tripathy, Cuttack
Dear
Dr. Thakur,
My vision is nearly gone. I cannot read
mss and writ e about them. Please
forgive me.
(Khushwant Singh)
(due
to long delay in sending the manuscript, i
could not get blessings of Mr. Singh, which he had promised -Dhanakar).
xiv
Prologue
My
34th, Birthday. I went to the blood-bank of the Rajendra
Medical College
Hospit al ,
Ranchi 10.30 a.m. and donated my blood to
celebrate my birthday. Exemplary, although possibly not the only one to do so.
The Blood Bank Officer said that even if we had eight donations a day we could
meet the needs of the population of Ranchi which was about 0.8 million.
I returned wit h
a young medico. I did not go to my clinic nor I expected any patient would be
wait ing where I had been practicing
for 10 months. Practicing wit hout
exploit ation of one’s posit ion in a government hospit al
was difficult in this cit y!
Yet, I had to stay in this cit y because the Central Office of a national
organisation of medicos, the NMO (National Medicos Organisation) was sit uated here. Though, I am the founder of this
organisation, I wished to be known only as it s
Organising Secretary.
I had published a research paper on SLE during my ‘house physicianship’. I was the man behind
the publication of Progress in Clinical Neurosciences 1985 and 1986
volumes having contributions from five continents.
Acharya Vinoba Bhave had appreciated my social
work and had blessed me. I said good-bye to the GOI's undertaking and the Bihar
State Health Services. My elder brother had forsaken me and even my dearest
wife had deserted me,
I am now engaged in writ ing
several books — Internal Medicine in the
Indian Context*, Clinical Methods for Indian Students of Pediatrics, a small
biography of the greatest Indologist Max Muller in Hindi, a book on health
education for common man ¼vkidk LokLF;&vkids gkFk½] a
manual for social workers ¼lkekftd
laxBuksa esa euq"; laxzg ,oa lek;kstu½] a collection of my stories
and poems in Mait hili,**
Hindi*** and English**** and that of compiling Mait hili
and Sanskrit poems and others writ ten by my parents***** and so on.
Even if these are
completed, I shall not be the only pers on
to do so. Should I now take up an autobiography?
*
New Trends in Medicine (a publication of the API, Bihar
) edit ed by Dr. K.K. Sinha and me was released on 18.3.1999.
**
Mait hili-Git a (since 2006 available on web), Jaynagar
san Jayanagar Tak, Kono Shahar Basi
Jao, Hamar Gam Ujadi Gel, Railvas
***Hindi
Tum bolte Ho, Tum Musalman Ho, Railvas
****Absolute,
Life on Wheels, A Car Journey of
2000 Kilometer (since 2006 available on web), Mait hil
Bangalore Saga (since 2006 available on web), Indians as I
found, Coincidences, An Unknown Bangalorean's views-(my unpublished and published letters to the edit ors while I
was at Bangalore)
*****Swajivan
Charit ra (Atmakatha)***(Autobiography of father, since 2006 available on
web).
xv
In his introduction to Scholar Extraordinary (a
biography of Max Mueller), Sir Nirad C. Chaudhuri, says, “Biography (of a pers on) is deserving not only by the strength of his
posit ion and posit ion in his own age, unless in addit ion, he played so important and significant a role in the history that he remains an
element to be reckoned wit h in
understanding the continuing evolution of a particular group of humanit y in general; nor unless his pers onalit y
and activit ies belong to a type
whose presence and functioning is continuous and universal, so that no
outstanding individual of the type ever loses his relevance to all ages."
I
have completed 34 years of life. Christ, Shankaracharya and Vivekananda, by
this age had nearly completed their life mission and shown light to humanit y. No biographer will ever be able to recollect
all they possessed and gifted to the generations.
I
consider myself only an ordinary man and do not claim to be even a billionth of
any such pers onalit ies. I am only a pers on,
not a pers onalit y.
A
paralysed, dysphasic, disabled, semilit erate,
Negro woman of 35, Pauline Wiltshire has produced her autobiography (Living
and winning) to prove to the people that she was not a
fool, and that she could lead a normal life.
Though
I have been working for a particular group (medicos)* most intimately connected
wit h humanit y,
I am aware that I do not crave for a biography. In this autobiography, I try to
tell my story as to how a most common man leading a normal life can contribute
something to the society.
Aldous
Huxley has said that a ‘biography’ is the presentation of pers onal events and ‘history’ of social events, but
most of them have overlapping. Likewise, this autobiography is in the context
of 25 years (1955-1989) of national
history, perceivable from the angle of an ordinary child, boy and pers on who developed into a medico, who has the credit of visit ing
60** medical colleges, out of 106***, in the country (probably a record for a pers on aged 33) like a Yayavar (a wanderer) wit h the aim of national reconstruction.
* and also since 1992,
as an organiser of the Mit hila-Mait hili work.
** And by 12. 12.
2018 visit ed 164 (+ 6 only seen
from the road) medical colleges and also 9 purely PG medical instit utions (+ 2 only seen from the road)in India and also the TUTH (Tribhuvan Universit y Teaching Hospit al),
Kathmandu and the BPKIHS (B.P.Koirala Instit ute
of Health Sciences, Dharan in Nepal it utions.
***228 (206 recognised by the MCI till 24.6.2009 and 22 were permitted for the year 2009-10 to admit
total 26705 MBBS students. Which has increased o 476 colleges with admission strength
of 60680 by Dec. 2018.
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