Very often I’m asked, ‘what has made you so successful?’, ‘what’s your mantra for excelling?’, ‘why did you opt for cardiac surgery?’. The truth is that I just did what I had to with single-minded focus.
As a student, I had an almost photographic memory. When I would read something, I’d put all my thinking and senses into it. When a related question appeared in the exam, I would pretty much write from what I’d absorbed. So much so, if the flow of words stopped as I struggled for a particular word, I’d sit back and recollect the page and the flow would resume! Needless to say, this was highly appreciated by my teachers and examiners, who got a veritable oral textbook rendition.
As I progressed to my final year of MBBS, I started spending more time studying with the post-grad students, who also happened to be specializing in cardiology. This not just sharpened my interest in the field, but also expanded my knowledge by leaps and bounds. For the Final oral exams, the internal examiner was a cardiologist, the highly venerated Sujoy B. Roy. He became so impressed by my aptitude that he virtually adopted me. For him I became both a son and a worthy mentee to shepherd into the world of cardiology.
Cardiology intrigued me from the time my neighbor’s daughter back home in Rajamundry was diagnosed with mitral stenosis, a narrowing of the heart’s mitral valve. They ran from pillar to post for treatment, and had to be eventually taken to Vellore, a very distant proposition back then. I would constantly think about this, and the idea of taking on an area that was so hard to treat started taking root.
Once I got deeper into cardiology, I began to realize that clinical treatment was very limited in most conditions and surgery was often the only permanent solution. But I’m running ahead; I first had to deal with my MBBS Finals, about which I wrote to my father that I may not fail but would just do averagely well!
(continues tomorrow)
As told to Priya Sarkar (wife)