I am a proud Georgian. I get this distinction from being an alumnus of one of the oldest and the very best medical institutions of India King George’s Medical College (KGMC) in Lucknow. When I joined this institution in 1975 I was an impressionable young boy of 17, who was literally pushed out of Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Pune, where I had joined the N batch, and forced to forget about a career in the Army for the time being because I could not be staying in AFMC when KGMC was calling! It was the unanimous opinion of my teachers there that they will be failing in their duties if they did not send me back. My parents were contacted, the Head of the Department of Pathology Brig. Arun Chakraborty was entrusted with the responsibility of convincing them that I can always join the Army after my schooling in KGMC but I cannot miss this opportunity. As many as seven teachers in AFMC were trained in KGMC and they felt that missing out on KGMC was a sacrilege amounting to blasphemy. Today when I look back I bow my head to all those who took that decision, much against my will, because only they knew what I would have missed otherwise. Little did I realize that this was the beginning of my tryst with a string of excellent mentors in life.
I landed in the haloed ambience of KGMC and was swept away by the teaching skills of two outstanding teachers of Anatomy Prof. A.C. Das and Prof. Abdul Haleem. But this was just the beginning as later I realized that almost every department had such gems – Prof. R.M.L. Mehrotra and Prof. K.M. Wahal in Pathology, Prof. K.P. Bhargava in Pharmacology, Prof. M.K. Mehra in Ophthalmology, Prof. D. Kutty in OBG, Prof. N.N. Gupta, Prof. S.N. Chakraborty, Prof. A.R. Sirkar and Prof. M.K. Mitra in Medicine and Prof. P.C. Dubey, Prof. V.S. Dave, Prof. R.N. Sharma, Prof. R.P. Sahi, Prof. N.C. Mishra and Prof. T.C. Goel in Surgery. These people were far more than subject teachers, they were role models and they were inspirations! They were Gurus with a very unique Gurutwakarshan (gravitational pull) and they inspired us to be like them.
Every student has his/her favourite teacher and every teacher has his/her blue eyed student and only destiny unites them. While I was a ‘middle of the class’ average student throughout my MBBS days things changed drastically during my surgical residency. The aura and surgical dexterity of Prof. P.C. Dubey, the communication and teaching skills of Prof. R.P. Sahi, the cool and sagacious temperament of Prof. V.S. Dave, the patience and surgical skills of Prof. R.N. Sharma, the research aptitude of Prof. N.C. Misra and the diligence and documentation skills of Prof. T.C. Goel all added up as a heady cocktail for my young mind and I was convinced that this is where my future lied.
In the Department of Surgery there was a spirit of learning, unleashed through questions, counter-questions, dialogues, conversations and differences. There was a true spirit of scholarly studentship among all - teachers and residents alike. Ward rounds were never about patients and diseases only. There was always food for thought and life and its values were being unfolded in front of our eyes. Imagine a professor of Surgery, more English than the blue blooded one in Oxford reciting Adi Shankaracharya's 'Nirvana Shatakam:
mano buddhi ahankara chittani naaham
na cha shrotravjihve na cha ghraana netre
na cha vyoma bhumir na tejo na vaayuhu
chidananda rupah shivo'ham shivo'ham
and then explaining it with such eloquence as if he was present there in person in Omkareshwar when young Shankara met his Guru Govinda Bhagwatpada and introduced himself.
All these pearls of wisdom kept our eyes open in curiosity and minds daring to travel into yet un-chartered territories. We were encouraged to see beyond the limited realms of caste, creed, religious and linguistic identities and appreciate differences and diversities. This expanded our horizon in the most unimaginable way and many years later when I was doing training and fellowships overseas, I realized the significance of these invaluable ward rounds and how they groomed the young man in me.
Those were pre 24x7 news and pre social media days and books and mentors were responsible for our social and spiritual grooming and not 'I know everything' news anchors and toxic TV channels. We learned the ability to reflect, question, imagine, debate and live with differences and plurality of opinions and views. Our Gurus ensured our 'sarvangeen vikas' or holistic upbringing at a very crucial stage of our life when we were staying away from home in a new world gurukul!.
My teachers tell me that I did exceptionally well in my M.S examinations and my Head of the Department felt that I should go to the United Kingdom and appear in fellowship examinations or better still, choose a super-speciality. The idea of perusing a super-speciality attracted me as I was in awe of Prof. A.K. Wakhlu and his Paediatric Surgery team. Prof. Wahklu was trained in K.E.M. Hosptal in Mumbai. I qualified the entrance examination for M.Ch in Paediatric Surgery in K.E.M. Hospital in Mumbai which was the best Unit in the country and headed by two legendary teachers Prof. R.K. Gandhi and Prof.(Mrs.) S.S. Deshmukh. I thought my life was settled but once again I was thrown out of Maharashtra, this time even more unceremoniously. Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) went on strike against outsiders like us. They felt that while I can continue with the M.Ch, because I have qualified a competitive examination, I should not be eligible for a resident job. I did not have the resources to stay in Bombay (yes, it was Bombay then) without a job and so my brief flirtation with Paediatric Surgery ended there.
After returning to Lucknow I appeared yet again in an entrance examination, this time for M.Ch in Plastic Surgery, but the fact that it was my second choice did not go down well with the then Head of the Department of Plastic Surgery. However I was blessed with the tutelage of two extra-ordinary teachers Prof. S.K. Bhatnagar and Prof. S.D. Pandey. In no time I realized that this is where I belong and this is what I would like to do for the rest of my life.
In Prof. S.D. Pandey, who is one of the very first certified Hand Surgeons of our country, I encountered the dexterity of a wizard and wisdom of a sage. His history taking in rustic and rural dialect of Awadhi was amazing and after the session the patient invariably considered him to be a member of his family. With his eyes closed Prof. Pandey would tell the patient that if God chooses him to be the instrument of help for him, and if He gives him strength to fight the pain barrier and do exercises then he will be able to once again use his hand in 6 months time! His immortal utterance “Ham kewal saadhan matra hain, karta to Ishwar hi hai!” still resonates in my ears and today I know nothing can be closer to truth! Prof. Pandey performed surgery, actively helped in the administration of the department and the college and still had time to spare for his role as the President of Lucknow University Teacher’s Association, a post to which he was elected by a landslide victory.
Prof. S.K. Bhatnagar was a mentor of a different breed. He led by example and every interaction with him was inspirational. We were made to believe that once our mind stretched to a new idea, it would never goes back to its original timid and restricted dimension! He fired in us outrageous ambitions and assured us at every step that success was round the corner. He would often say "you imagine what you desire, you will achieve what you imagine and at last you create what you dare to dream!" He was ready to discuss ideas with anyone – whether the highest ranking professor or a junior medical student – who showed interest. He had helped me in designing and standardizing five new flaps and that alone was a testament to his motto in life that ′Imagination is the beginning of creation! ′ He could not just imagine new and better things; he could become new and better in our eyes every day. A teacher who inspired us to become like him and then take the goalpost a bit farther every day, by setting higher and loftier standards. He gave us the wisdom to use our knowledge progressively, purposefully, productively, positively and profitably for ourselves and for our society.
Mentorship in King George’s Medical College, Lucknow was always of the highest grade. We had mentors who were hard task-masters but would at the same time open many invisible locks in our path of progress. I have, in the past, told you about two of them – Prof. T.C. Goel and Prof. D.K. Chabra in my blogs. You can revisit them by clicking the following hyperlinks:
https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2022/06/my-teacher-prof-tc-goel-living-legend.html
https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2020/06/remembering-prof-d-k-chabra-today.html
I was the first doctor of my family and was a novice in the art of making a career in the elite stream. Very early in my residency days I was told by my thesis guide Prof. K.N. Sinha that as I do not have a godfather only my publications will be my calling cards when I go out in the world. He and Prof. N.C. Mishra made me aware of good and not so good journals, indexed and non-indexed journals and the value of citations. This inspired me into the world of scientific publication and by the time I appeared for my M.S in General Surgery I had six publications and when I applied for M.Ch in Plastic Surgery I had 24 publications including 4 on new flaps, which made to the Year Books of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery. My publications were the only reason I was able to pursue training in 4 continents, all because of the timely mentoring by my teachers.
From my experience in King George’s Medical College I can say with certainty that trainees face numerous challenges during a highly competitive surgical training process. These include a rigorous hospital working schedule, academic compulsions and research pursuits, their own career planning and external issues such as working hour limits and workforce changes. To address such issues and the many other everyday trainee concerns – academic, social, environmental, financial and inter-personal, there is clear need for a more robust system to help equip trainees with the skills necessary to generate solutions to their own problems, pursue their cherished goals and to enhance their own career progression. This is where a mentor comes into their life. For all those who are going to be first generation doctors in their family, the medical college and hospital environment is an alien one and they naturally require some hand-holding. An institution like King George’s Medical College is invaluable at such a juncture to transform the life of the trainees. The only way to thank our mentors would be by trying to be equally good mentors for the next generation of trainees.
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