[Assam] Kanaklata and Assam.org

[chittaranjan pathak]

Mahanta da
  Thanks for your interest and contribution so far. Hope you will take some initiative to fill the gap on biographies front too. Others will surely follow. I am not sure who the owner of the list is as my earlier post elicited no response. Are you one of the custodians? If so ,please let us know how we can all go about filling this gap. May be we can have a time frame and all of us can volunteer few biographies of personalities we feel we are familiar with. 
   
  Regards
   
  Chittaranjan
   
  By the way Mahanta da-these biographies are not about educating “Indians”.  These will be useful for every one and most useful for the Assamese (including us and hopefully/wishfully our children). You also know it Mahanta da-is not it? The educating Indians bit was just out of old habit. You said that Indians are not interested about others, their culture, their history, their language and by and large, Indians are perfectly happy to suck-up to those who they deem are superior and are ever ready to push down on whom they deem inferior.
  Alright-what you are saying may be true for some Indians, but is equally true for most of the Assamese. How many Nolboriya Assamese know about Samson Sing Ingty or Kalicharan Brahma. Bokul Bonor Kavi does not ring a bell in Bijni nowadays nor does Kamala Kanta in Karbi Anglong. And now the situation is such that a Roy boy of Goalpara will idolize as Jatiya Bir Chilarai only leaving Lachit Borphukan to his Upper Assam friends. I feel such a list with life sketches with luminaries of Assam will be a learning, relearning exercise for all of us and to some extent make us all broadminded enough again to feel proud of all these luminaries from Assam forgetting the ethnic divides.
   
  Now tell me, should we not all feel proud this octogenarian Assamese doctor who is still on his mission at the ripe old age of 97. I have been fortunate enough to drink the “pink” concoction administered by this Good Samaritan during  those childhood fever bouts. Here is the life sketch of Dr. Nalini Sarma published  in this Saturday’s Sentinel magazine. 
  Atifa Deshamukhya in an interview with the venerated doctor.
He is 97 years old and still practising as a doctor, bringing succour to patients from far and wide. It is interesting to note that is these days of advanced medical tests and treatment — people still flock to him for clinical diagnoses based on the senses, and in some cases samples of body fluids tested by himself over a microscope. A stethescope and a BP machine are the only adjuncts that distinguish him as a doctor. Therein lies his uniqueness.
“He puts his hand at the pulse point and diagnoses the disease,” said a loyal patient who has been consulting him for over 50 years now. She also recounted a mysterious case about a lady of Uzanbazar who had been diagnosed with cancer by a leading hospital in the city. Just before leaving for Apollo Hospital, Chennai, she visited Dr Nalini Sarma at the behest of some relative. The doctor told her he could cure her in a day. And cure he did. A clinical diagnosis by the gifted doctor established that a purgative would heal her. She had the pill and as if by magic, she was cured instantly. 
When asked to comment on scores of such incidents reported to me, Dr Sarma put it down to originality of approach. In fact the late Dr Bani Kanta Kakati had once defended his system of diagnosis by saying that “Nalini has originality” — during the early part of Sarma's career. It acted as a spur — egging him on to develop this god-gifted trait. Now, at ripe old age he justifies his approach saying that stalwarts in every field are divinely gifted. “If I have been able to do something significant it is also a gift of god”, says he.
Not only education and professional experience, but a host of co-curricular activities and a childhood spent in the close proximity of nature have helped to shape the man as he is today. He learnt French and Korean, took lessons on the piano, learnt martial arts and was actively involved in games and sports. Perhaps that’s why he is healthy in body and mind till date. No specks, no artificial teeth, and still very much on his feet.
Dr Sarma is effusive in his insistence that the very medicines that heal can also kill. It is necessary to exercise utmost caution that medicine itself does not become posion.
“Douse the flame, don’t hit against the smoke” — is a precept followed by Dr Sarma. He is saddened that most doctors treat the symptoms of the disease, rather than address the root problem. He cited many examples to corroborate this. In most cases, it appeared that some primary cause as gas or malfunctioning of the liver was giving rise to complications in people which the front-ranking doctors and hospitals could not handle satisfactorily. But when Dr Sarma targetted the source of the disease, people recovered all too soon. And this is how his fame spread. 
He is happy to be practising at this ripe old age. It’s a learning experience listening to the accounts of the many experiences he has had. Grimacing at one moment, heartily laughing at the other — speaking animatedly in a smattering of Bengali and English intertwined with chaste Assamese,— he made me wonder at this vitality and zest of a nonagenarian.
Born to Harikanta Sarma and Dharmeswar Debi, he suffered various ailments and accidents in the early part of his life. He was sent to the medical college of Bengal, Calcutta to pursue medicine as a career. It was a premier medical college in those days, — drawing patients from eastern Asia, middle-east countries as well as Europe. While a student, he used to frequent the Tropical school of medicine at Calcutta where he acquainted himself with the research work being conducted on various tropical diseases. The neigbouring pathological museum was also a treasure - trove for the young, inquisitive Dr Sarma — who engrossed himself in multi-pronged studies to equip himself for a fritful career. He was a bright student and the professors would often single him out to assist in operations being performed by them. This practical grounding has been so succussful that at this date, when he has long forgotten the theory inscribed in voluminous tomes, he recalls crystal clear the
 hands-on experience which has, as it were, formed an intuitive basis for his diagnosis till today. In those days, a course in medicine know as Bachelor of Medicine included Medical Surgery, Midwifery, Gynaecology, Ear, Nose & Throat, Eye, Skin and Teeth also. It was quite a comprehensive course, which is why Dr Sarma’s patients can consult him on anything and get results. At present he does not practise surgery, which is one of the fall-outs of advancing age. 
The masters under whom he received training were also men of considerable stature. Lt col Green Armytase, professor of midwifery and gynaecology was later made honorary gynaecologist to Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain. Another illustrious professor was Sunil Bose, elder brother of Subhash Chandra Bose, who was the most well-known cardiologist in East India at that time. And Nalini remembers how the former would humbly admit to knowing nothing much about the heart! A precept learnt of Lt col Vere Hodge, profesor of medicine, has remained the buzzword for Dr Sarma — “patient is the best book”. Thus, he has kept up the learning process over the decades, learning from his patients even as he tried to help them with his stock of acquired knowledge.
Dr Nalini Sarma first set up practice at Barpeta. Those were days of conflicting claims of local doctors, homeopaths, Kabiraj, spiritual and indigenous healers. It took time to carve out a niche for himself. But in time he did so — incorporating the best aspects of compettitive fields of medicine, while weeding out people’s superstitious dependance on quack healers of all kinds.
Next followed a stint as in-charge, Assam Civil Hospital. He because known as a strict administrator who would give the British Sahibs a run for their worth. Besides attending to patients and endless post mortems, the load of the World War-II which was then raging — he managed to usher in qualitative changes in the isolation ward of the hospital, lying hitherto neglected.
He helped set up the Indian Medical Association, and involved himself in relief activities and disaster management. He strictly imposed hygiene habits among the abors and was known to resort to spanking of people and patients to get them to behave!
He was also associated as in-charge of the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi TB Hospital and visiting professor at Ayurvedic College.
Owing to some conflict with the powers that be, he resigned from his government job and set up private practice. Patients queue up in unending lines to this day.
He advises a good diet concentrating on milk, butter, fruits, egg and fish, followed by free hand exercises and long walks as the secret of a healthy life. He says that sleeping more than eight hours a day can make the body a hotbed of disease. One should eat in moderation, have regular habits — and be occupied with constructive activity to be of sound health and spirit.
Going by the nonagenarian’s good health, his advice is surely worth taking. He miraculously survived inspite of drowning in the Brahmaputra at one pont of his career. Here's hoping that he remains with us for many many years more in good health and spirits. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

       
---------------------------------
Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo! FareChase.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.assamnet.org/pipermail/assam-assamnet.org/attachments/20070704/08f33f25/attachment.htm>