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Chairman's Corner
Chairman's Corner
Missed opportunities of the "Other Kind"
Missed opportunities of the "Other Kind"
Ravi Ramakantan
Ravi Ramakantan
I wonder what people think about, when it is time to retire…I wonder how many would want to continue to work at KEM - looking hopefully for newspaper reports of extension of the retirement age to 60, 62,65.. I know many do, but, I am not one of them. Not because I do not love this place, - how can I not? This IS my home, this has been my home, this has made me what I am, and I simply love it here.
I wonder what people think about, when it is time to retire…I wonder how many would want to continue to work at KEM - looking hopefully for newspaper reports of extension of the retirement age to 60, 62,65.. I know many do, but, I am not one of them. Not because I do not love this place, - how can I not? This IS my home, this has been my home, this has made me what I am, and I simply love it here.
So what is that makes me so determined to move out of KEM at the stroke of 58, no matter what. Obviously, when I join a private hospital and do more of medicine and radiology, I would make more money,. a lot more money.. but had that been my top reason, I should have been out of this place 25 years ago,. Surely money is not all of it…
So what is that makes me so determined to move out of KEM at the stroke of 58, no matter what. Obviously, when I join a private hospital and do more of medicine and radiology, I would make more money,. a lot more money.. but had that been my top reason, I should have been out of this place 25 years ago,. Surely money is not all of it…
The reason has to do with me. Perhaps, as is the case with so many others who have retired and gone away. Some have continued to practice medicine full time… the same way they did in KEM. There have been others who gave up everything to do with medicine and followed a new path. I wonder what is correct.. I wonder if there is a formula here.. something that is “the right thing to do”.
The reason has to do with me. Perhaps, as is the case with so many others who have retired and gone away. Some have continued to practice medicine full time… the same way they did in KEM. There have been others who gave up everything to do with medicine and followed a new path. I wonder what is correct.. I wonder if there is a formula here.. something that is “the right thing to do”.
Surely not. Each one of us is different,each one has to decide for ourselves and follow the path of our calling.
Surely not. Each one of us is different,each one has to decide for ourselves and follow the path of our calling.
You have read in these pages the story of my school reunion a little over two years ago, Since then, some of you have heard me talk animatedly of my school..this.. my school ... that…my school - so much so that the grapevine going around KEM is that if Ravi is not in the campus , he has to have done a “back to school thing”. Though exaggerated, there is some truth in this. Since that reunion, I have come in contact with people from varied walks of life, seen a world beyond medicine - admired intellect. incisiveness and logic in my schoolmates that I have seen, but rarely, in the campus,, felt the warmth of childhood friends and the joy of being a school boy all over again.
You have read in these pages the story of my school reunion a little over two years ago, Since then, some of you have heard me talk animatedly of my school..this.. my school ... that…my school - so much so that the grapevine going around KEM is that if Ravi is not in the campus , he has to have done a “back to school thing”. Though exaggerated, there is some truth in this. Since that reunion, I have come in contact with people from varied walks of life, seen a world beyond medicine - admired intellect. incisiveness and logic in my schoolmates that I have seen, but rarely, in the campus,, felt the warmth of childhood friends and the joy of being a school boy all over again.
Nothing is the same since that time, from foraying into Uapnishads to question “Who am I?” I seem to have gone “soft in the head” . I have seen a world that is very different - young people doing serious stuff for education at a fundamental level, NGOs that do yeomen service in education in all parts of the country, programs that are as rigorous and as vast as the most sophisticated controlled, multi-center clinical trials in Medicine. I have seen great minds and unbelievable commitment in education.. such as for the tribals of Gujarat And each time, I have felt, why so late?...why did I not look at these things, may be five or ten years ago..and, talking to others in the campus, I have realised how, not a small number of senior faculty, is into “one thing or the other”.
Nothing is the same since that time, from foraying into Uapnishads to question “Who am I?” I seem to have gone “soft in the head” . I have seen a world that is very different - young people doing serious stuff for education at a fundamental level, NGOs that do yeomen service in education in all parts of the country, programs that are as rigorous and as vast as the most sophisticated controlled, multi-center clinical trials in Medicine. I have seen great minds and unbelievable commitment in education.. such as for the tribals of Gujarat And each time, I have felt, why so late?...why did I not look at these things, may be five or ten years ago..and, talking to others in the campus, I have realised how, not a small number of senior faculty, is into “one thing or the other”.
But, you are supposed to be doctor and your job is Radiology some would say..and why not practice it longer.. after all 58 is not ‘old”. Perhaps yes. Surely yes.. But, does that have to be Full–full time.. is there not the other path.. where we only slightly move the blinkers and look beyond at what others are doing in fields related or unrelated to us and see how we can come to bear our experience for the progress of each other’s fields.
But, you are supposed to be doctor and your job is Radiology some would say..and why not practice it longer.. after all 58 is not ‘old”. Perhaps yes. Surely yes.. But, does that have to be Full–full time.. is there not the other path.. where we only slightly move the blinkers and look beyond at what others are doing in fields related or unrelated to us and see how we can come to bear our experience for the progress of each other’s fields.
I feel there is great merit in this.. in the cross pollination of people and ideas - of interactions across “cultures”. I am sure more of us doing this will surely enrich each of us and our students and medical education. and of course, the practice of medicine. Beyond medicine and medical teaching there are people and 'people who have ideas and ideas' we can imbibe.. if only we will look around.. before it is too late.
I feel there is great merit in this.. in the cross pollination of people and ideas - of interactions across “cultures”. I am sure more of us doing this will surely enrich each of us and our students and medical education. and of course, the practice of medicine. Beyond medicine and medical teaching there are people and 'people who have ideas and ideas' we can imbibe.. if only we will look around.. before it is too late.
Take the advice of an old man, keep your eyes open for something beyond the four walls of the campus - jump at it at the first opportunity.. and see how the symbiosis of your two worlds benefits all that inhabit it.
Take the advice of an old man, keep your eyes open for something beyond the four walls of the campus - jump at it at the first opportunity.. and see how the symbiosis of your two worlds benefits all that inhabit it.
Do it - before it is too late!! We have but this one life to live.. to learn…to earn and to give.
Do it - before it is too late!! We have but this one life to live.. to learn…to earn and to give.
April 2010
April 2010
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