Tributes
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Dr. S.N.Dhar
(April 13, 1937 - December 24, 2008) (Tribute by Dr. K L Chowdhury) It is not easy to pen down a few lines about Dr. Surrendra Nath Dhar (Sardarji to his near ones), in the wake of his sudden, shocking, and unforeseen demise , away from his home in Kashmir, away from his huge circle of friends, relatives, admirers, well wishers and patients, away in an almost alien place overlooking the ocean. The ways of destiny are inscrutable especially how it contrives the end of a life - the time, place and the manner in which it chooses to do it. Death defies human understanding; logic, philosophy, astrology and else fail here. Therefore, let us bow in humility to the cosmic forces that guide human existence, and accept the final verdict with grace. I was privileged to know Dr Dhar on a wider canvas than many others. We were friends, professional colleagues turned relatives through the union of Rajiv, his son, with Leku, my daughter. When I joined Medical College, Srinagar as a faculty and was informed about one Dr. Surrindra Dhar who had returned from AIIMS and was probably the first of a new generation of MDs in medicine and posted as an Assistant Professor, he was a curiosity for me till I met him in person and found a soft spoken, suave, young doctor, with an easy manner and a friendly disposition from the word go .We became friends instantly. There was a lot to share, but not the least the victimization by a discriminatory regime that denied us our due from time to time. When he was denied a Professorship in Medicine some years later and transferred to Chest Disease Hospital, it brought the best out of him. He turned the adversity into an opportunity. The Chest Disease Hospital got an academic look for the first time in its history, as he carried his postgraduates and faculty with him and created a new teaching and research atmosphere there. The rest is history as he recorded his name in the annals of chest disease with the coining of a new disease entity called the Gujjar Lung. I wondered how he found the time for medical research when he had to also carry on the crusade against the injustice met out to him and seek the only civilized way of doing that through the courts of law. For, he was as courageous from inside as he was cool on the exterior and never afraid to fight it out and to speak out, not only for himself but others who he felt were discriminated against. And yet, he was versatile a genial personality, highly communicative and a great conversationalist who had an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes, jokes and puns, with which to hold his audience in thrall. Often he emerged as the centre piece of a group. His sonorous voice helped him in no small measure in mesmerizing others. He liked music and played the tabla. He could have been a great vocalist with that hypnotic voice of his. After our exile from Kashmir, we did not exchange too many phone calls but when we did it extended for half to one hour to catch up with everything under the sun profession, ethics, religion, politics and what have you. He was a political scientist but never allowed himself to be besmirched in the ugly world of politics. I know he was a genuine social activist but got rather disillusioned at the way our community organizations work at cross purposes. It may seem unnecessary to speak about his professional attainments for he was a household name in Kashmir, a physician in demand, and the fact that patients had to wait 3-4 months for an appointment with him speaks volumes about his standing. But all that fame and name did not come easy. He worked assiduously, starting from his Safakadal backyard and building up his reputation by competing with the big names of that age. It was just a matter of time for him to take a quantum jump from Safakadal to Polo View, the Harley Street of Srinagar, to rub shoulders with the legends and to become a living legend himself. The final move to Rajbagh, the Shangrila of his practice, was as fortuitous as it was welcome after his release from captivity for 83 days. He held his patients under a spell through his gentle manners, soft speech, clinical acumen, and his captivating charm. It is the combination of these attributes in practice that go by the single expression in Kashmiri “Shafa”, which he was endowed with in such abundance. But it was not just professional success he wallowed in. He lived a much fuller, richer life with his penchant for outdoor activities, his passion for hiking, his liking for the game of bridge where he took pride in partnering his wonderful spouse, Dr Vimla, and his flair as a cricketer. He always opened the innings on behalf of the staff in Staff versus Students cricket match in the medical college, sporting in his familiar ancient white trouser and blue jacket, possibly of his student days! He was difficult to get out. Well, that brings me to yet another attribute of Dr Dhar. He was as good a writer as he was a speaker. His famous memoir of his captivity is a remarkable book, “83 days The story of a frozen river”, an insightful account as much of the mind of the militants as of the author. It was his unflappable, stable, cool personality that not only won over the brainwashed militants but even changed their mindsets and led to the release. A lesser mortal would have chickened out. For Dr Dhar life was a great celebration. He was a complete person, a man of tastes, an entertainer who threw parties and collected the best people around him, a man without rancor or hatred even for his adversaries, a good friend, and a Family Man. It is that family of his, his intimate core family, and also the bigger , wider family to which we all belong, that will miss him most. But he will live on for ever; his sage like face will always inspire, his gentle humor will entertain, and his compassion and love provide balm to souls. His sonorous voice will resound for ever and remind us of his life a life worthy to emulate in so many ways. |
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This section is devoted to remember those who have left us. An excellent way to pay homage to those who leave us in sorrow is to keep their memories alive for ever. This section of our journal is devoted to remember our near and dear ones after they pass into Eternity.
We request family members and friends to provide us information or update about any such happenings along with the picture of the departed souls at editor_shehjar@earthlink.net |
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