Reflections

As long ago as 1955, Russell published a book: Man’s Mastery of Malaria reflecting the widespread belief at that time that malaria was on its last legs and mankind would soon be rid of this deadly scourge. Unfortunately, the reports of its demise were hugely exaggerated and over the next few decades, malaria re emerged as a global epidemic and 55 years later, it still kills about 2.7 million people every year. The parasite that causes malaria was discovered in 1880 and Ronald Ross discovered the lifecycle of the parasite working in small laboratory in the present SSKM hospital in Calcutta, and got the first Nobel Prize associated with work done in Calcutta in 1902. However the battle to tame this disease has been fought with varying success over the next century. In the initial phase, the advent of powerful insecticides like DDT eradicated the mosquito from several of its haunts reducing the level of disease considerably. Those were the heady days of the Malaria Eradication Programme w...

It has become quite common nowadays to have foreign surgeons operating on India patients during the course of a short visit or when they come to attend workshops. There are many horror stories about the results of such surgeries, when the surgeon has left and complications take place. It is unfortunate that some hospitals use the reputations of the foreign surgeons to entice patients into being operated, carefully shielding them from knowledge of the possible consequences.This issue has been discussed by one of the experts on the legal aspects of these surgeries and I think it is useful to read what he has to say about it. I am copying this form a Yahoo group communication sent to me, as I feel this is of general interest and needs to be better known. What are the legal aspects of a foreign surgeon coming to India and perform surgery during camps and conferences? QUESTION-- What is the legal status of Foreign surgeon who come for camps and conferences and do surgery here? What will ...

HH Maharaja Shri Sir BHAGWATSINHJI SAGRAMSINHJI Sahib Gondal today is a municipal town in the district of Rajkot in the Indian State of Gujarat. Today it is a relatively small dusty town on the banks of the Godali River, but it was once the capital of the princely state of Gondal. In the mosaic of semi independent states that made up the Kathiawar peninsula, Gondal was one of the first class states. This meant that the ruler was entitled to a 11 gun salute and in those feudal, status conscious times, this meant that the ruler of this state was curt above the rest, though not, of course, of the exalted heights that many others like Hyderabad, or Gwalior could boast. This state was founded by the Jadeja Rajputs in 1634 by Thakore Shri Kambhoji, who probably came to this region from the Sind province. Subsequently several rulers came to the throne some of whom added to the state’s area by conquest and other means. In 1947, the state consisted of about 175 villages and the Thakor was now ...

I am proud to call Raj Basu a friend. There are several people in Siliguri who are remarkable, both in their outlook as well as in the sort of work that they have done. Raj is one of them. He is one of the founders of Help Tourism, a Siliguri creation that has now spread wings and was the driving force behind the creation of village tourism and home stay tourism in India. He has been the architect of several innovative tourism products like the Mango festival. He is well known in tourism circles but in my opinion, he should be much better known still. I have written earlier about one of his creations . It is the turn now to tell you about Raj Basu himself. To do so, I have used an interview format, again for the first time in Reflections. Raj talks about himself, his work and his plans for the future. I only hope that he will be able to complete the revolution that he has started in the tourism scene in North Bengal and NE India. Raj, please tell me something about your ...

Bangalore garbage : picture borrowed from the Hindu website Calcutta is known worldwide as a terrible place. The infrastructure is crumbling, there are no proper roads, and the transport system is in a mess and so on. And how has this impression been carried all over the country and the world? Mainly by the efforts of the Calcutta newspapers, media and the self disparaging denizens of Bengal. I was recently in Bangalore for a short one day visit. I flew in on a Sunday and out at midnight on Monday. I now often have to visit the city mainly for business purposes. I have always been of the opinion that this most favoured of Indian cities (in the media) is actually one of India’s worst. And this visit firmly confirmed these impressions. It was raining heavily as we disembarked at the airport, admittedly a nice place, though not really nice enough to be voted the best in Asia or something as was heavily reported in the newspapers recently. The rain poured down as my car took me towards...

The second and concluding part of Mr Swapan Sen's account of the Teesta floods of 1968 . It was at about 2 AM that we realized that the gauge-stick was no longer visible. The top of the stick had apparently disappeared below the river-water and this meant that the river was flowing over the top of the embankment. The gauge-readers were nowhere in sight. I was worried that the camp of the gauge-readers would be washed away as soon as the embankment was breached. The men in the camp needed to be saved. Mr. Adhikary, got down from the Jeep and went in search of the gauge-readers. The tall figure vanished from the path of the Jeep-headlights as the brave man walked away towards the camp along the embankment. Minutes went by seeming like hours, but he did not come back. At last when I had given up hopes of seeing him alive again, a staggering figure emerged from the darkness. It was Mr. Adhikary. He came up to me, uttered, “I am sorry, Sir, I could not reach th...

The Teesta Barrage Yesterday was the 43rd anniversary of the Teesta flood of 1968 which caused untold devastation and changed the landscape of North Bengal to some extent. In one of my earlier posts ,I had carried a scholarly contribution By Mr Swapan Sen, who was the Assistant Engineer of the Irrigation and Waterways Directorate of the West Bengal Government and was posted in the area at that fateful time. In today's post he recounts the horrors of that day and recreates the memories of many brave men(including, I must add, himself) who fought against the elements, albeit unsuccessfully to save the people of North Bengal from the calamity. Without their efforts, the death toll and the scale of devastation would probably have been much greater than it actually was.While the Teesta is in the news nowadays for political reasons, nobody really remembers those terrible days. This is an important memoir of the floods of 1968. . The Teesta Flood 1968- a real life story ...