A glittering star

Sparkling eyes. Smiling countenance. Stunning bedside manners. Stupendous surgical knowledge. Well, these are the things that spontaneously struck me upon seeing Dr Sandhya Ravi, a surgeon, some years ago. I was on tenterhooks as I was getting treated for a tenacious body fissure. As the doctor diligently examined me, she diverted my mind by enquiring the details of my family. I spoke about my son and told her he would soon be a surgeon himself.

Later, after collecting information about curative care, I bounded towards the billing counter to pay for the consultation. Much to my consternation, the girl in charge declined it. “The doctor has exempted you from paying on ethical grounds, saying, ‘Fees can’t be accepted from parents of fellow doctors’!” she said.

I was moved by Dr Sandhya’s magnificent morals, especially in today’s moolah-obsessed times wherein many, marketing their knowledge, have metamorphosed into money-raking machines. Slowly, I started squirrelling snippets of information about this impressive surgeon.

Endowed with enormous cerebral calibre, Dr Sandhya, apparently an alumna of Bangalore Medical College, had strived hard to give significant tweaks to her life as a surgeon. Having embarked on her philanthropic roller-coaster ride, there was no looking back. As part of a benevolent mission, Prameya — a centre furthering illness-free lifestyle — came into being.

The centre’s aim was to disseminate awareness regarding nutritious foods and numerous ways of keeping fit to achieve robust health, and thereby buttressing the physical as well as mental well-being of the body in buffering itself against baleful ailments. Subsequently, ‘Sahai’, another drive, took shape. This was to facilitate women, fettered by a fusillade of inhibitions, to freely open up and discuss their doubts, fears and ailments and get effective treated.

Recently, when I was on a general medical check-up at Sagar Chandramma Hospital, where Dr Sandhya is a visiting doctor, she mentioned her new philanthropic expedition, FENS, to enhance quality of life in people afflicted with cancer, by calming their nerves through unique techniques.

She said, “Many are not aware of the fact that this dreadful ailment, if detected soon, does have a definite solution. After all, by mental resilience many ailments can be miraculously cured. FENS is to make cancer patients functionally, emotionally, nutritionally and spiritually strong”.

Indeed, ‘true happiness lies in making others happy!’ Looking at Dr Sandhya’s radiant, vivacious visage, one can vouch for the veracity in the above premise. Her daughter, Medha, and granddaughter, Tara, too, concur with this! Needless to say, Dr Sandhya herself is a glittering tara (star) in the medical firmament!