Donor hands keep Donating......

Donor hands keep Donating, Receiver hands keep receiving

Hope one day the Receiver hands become Donor hands!

(Wild translation of a famous poem by Vrinda Karandikar.)

17th January 1988

I had just completed my M.S, General surgery, from the Government Medical College, Nagpur and moved to Mumbai for my super specialty and took up residency at the Asha Parekh Hospital at Santacruz. It was just the third day of my job. I completed my evening rounds, had dinner, went for a post dinner walk on the Juhu beach and returned to my room. As I stepped inside, I received a message from the telephone operator that there was a trunk-call for me from Nagpur and the caller would be calling again in about half an hour. In those days, only very rich people had landline phones and trunk calls were the only way to contact with people in other cities. The STD facilities hadn’t yet started and no one had heard of mobile phones till then!

Exactly in half an hour, the phone call came and it was from our family friend Mr. Bandudada Kale. (He used to work in the telephone department) I was shocked at the news! My brother, who was working in Kolkata, had met with an accident and I was asked to rush to Kolkata immediately!

My father and I were the only two people who were doctors, but he was in Bhusaval. It took 36 hours to reach Kolkata by train; whereas I could reach there very fast by flight from Mumbai.

I called my uncle who was in Mumbai and he found out that the first flight to Kolkata was at six in the morning and would cost 1400 Rs. I had only 250 Rs in my pocket and my uncle had Rs.400! In those days, there were no ATMs, debit-credit cards, and facilities like net banking. What do I do now? I called my friend, Dr. Dhananjay Modak who worked as a resident at the Jaslok Hospital and narrated the whole situation to him. It was close to month-end and he too didn’t have much money. But he said, “You come here, I will arrange fro the money by asking all the resident doctors here.” I caught the 10 PM bus (4 limited) and reached jaslok at 11.30 PM. He had kept Rs.1500 ready for me. I thanked him, got into the last train from Grant Road station at 12.45 AM, alighted at Andheri and went to my uncle’s place. Uncle dropped me at the Santacruz airport at 4 o’clock in the morning. I bought the ticket, completed all the check-in formalities and boarded the Indian Airlines flight. That was my first journey by flight! I just could not enjoy the experience and I was very worried about what had happened. I only knew that he had met with an accident and nothing more!

The flight landed in Kolkata at 8 PM. My brother’s friends from the Kolkata Maharashtra Mitra Mandal had come to pick me up from the airport. They told me that the accident had occurred in the morning the previous day. A bus had passed over his leg and it had got crushed severely. We rushed to the Shishumangal hospital where he was admitted. The rules there were very strict and the visiting hours were only from 4 to 6 in the evening. Nobody was allowed to meet the patients at other times. Despite my telling them several times that I was the patient’s brother and a surgeon myself, I got the same answer… visiting hours only from 4 to 6! After that some senior members of the Maharashtra Mandal used their influence over the Chief of Orthopaedics, Dr. HomChoudhary, and got me permission to meet my brother. He had instructed his assistant to allow me to meet my brother. I finally managed to meet him at 2.30 in the afternoon. They were taking him to the operation theater and I followed him into the theater. They asked me to wait outside and a compounder came to me with the  form for my signature. I jumped out of my seat in horror. It was a form asking my consent for amputating his leg from below the knee! I pleaded with them to let me into the operation theater and allow me to have a look at my brother’s condition before I sign the form. Once I went in, I saw that all the preparations for the amputation were in place. His leg was severely damaged, but I was against amputating the leg without making any attempts to save it. But, if I disapproved of the amputation, I would have to get him discharged against medical advice! I, for once, refused to listen to my brain and followed my heart and signed the discharge papers.

I came out and called my boss Dr. Maganbhai Ostwal in Nagpur. He asked me to get my brother to Nagpur without a moment’s delay.

My brother’s friends booked two tickets for the 8PM flight to Nagpur. We brought my brother to the airport on a stretcher and checked in. We bid farewell to all the teary eyed friends with a heavy heart. At the time of boarding, a new problem cropped up. As per the rules, one needs to buy three tickets for taking a stretcher in a flight, because three seats have to be removed to make place for a stretcher. Now, I had to buy two more tickets. Who had the money for the tickets? The friends had already left. What do I do now? If we missed the flight, we would have to wait till the next morning. What if the injury worsens…? If Gas Gangrene sets in,not only the foot,but his life was in danger! I was restless & clueless

Suddenly, a man about my age came to me and said, “I have heard everything; I too am from Nagpur and travelling by the same flight. I will buy the two tickets for you.” He took our tickets and quickly bought two more tickets. Now we had three for the same row. The attendants were instructed to remove three seats and the flight left on time. There was a short stopover at Bhubaneshwar. I went and met the kind man and thanked him wholeheartedly.I told him I would return the money the next day. He just said, all that can be taken care of later. That was when I got to know that his name was Ashutosh Chitaley and that he was returning to Nagpur with his wife Sucheta.

We landed at Nagpur around 12.30 AM. Oswal Sir was waiting at the exit of the plane with an ambulance. He had to take special permission for that from the Police Commissioner. We reached his nursing home in the Shrivardhan complex in a flash. Within half an hour, he was taken to the operation theater and the Anesthetist Dr. Hemant Sane, Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Satish Kale, Plastic surgeon, Dr.T. S. Row and Dr. Ostwal examined his injury. They removed all the damaged skin, joined all the broken bones with pins. They removed all the crushed bone pieces, cleaned the area and performed skin-grafting. The first steps towards saving his leg had been taken!

He was shifted to a room around 3-3.30 in the morning. I was amazed to see Ashutosh and Sucheta present there, with hot home-cooked food and a flask-full of hot morning tea! The left a card saying, “Please let us know if you need anything.” Since I belonged to Nagpur, several of my close relatives came to meet us during the day. Despite that our food used to come from the Chitaleys! The next day, one of Ashutosh’s assistants came and placed a small color TV in the room!

All the hard work and efforts of the doctors bore fruit and my brother’s leg was saved! We stayed at Dr. Ostwal’s hospital for about one and a half months, but neither he, nor Dr. Kale, Dr. Rao, Dr. Sane charged us a penny. It is indeed rare for a teacher to care so much for his student! Ashutosh kept visiting us regularly and enquiring about our well-being and progress. He too refused to take the money for the flight tickets in spite of all my requests. I returned to Mumbai after things returned to normal. I continued to work at Jaslok hospital for a while and then moved to Bhusaval where I opened my own hospital with my Dad’s help. After that, marriage and children happened and I got busy expanding my hospital. The years just flew past! I spoke to Ashutosh over the phone once in a while; could never manage to meet him in person. Even the calls became infrequent later.

In the meanwhile, a friend of mine from Bhusaval, Shri.Ganesh Wadhvekar( An ardent admirer of Veer Savarkar, and editor of ‘Mrityunjay’ magazine) met Ashutosh at Nagpur. It is needless to say that he received loving hospitality, sound advice, appreciation and help from Ashutosh. When Ashutosh got to know that Ganesh was from Bhusaval, he enquired about me. Ganesh   called me immediately and made me speak with Ashutosh. The second innings of my friendship with Ashutosh had begun!

Ashutosh Chitaley is the Director of the renowned ‘All India Reporter Private limited’ in Nagpur. His grandfather, Shri V.V. Chitaley established the company in 1914. It is one of the foremost companies in the field of publishing legal journals and books.  They have a readership of over three lakhs. They have four other companies in the name of Infotech, Web World, Law Academy and Café. They have around six hundred people working directly and indirectly with them and they have branches in all the major cities in India!

Ashutosh travels extensively on work and has visited almost all the states in India. He has had the good fortune of having the full support and cooperation of his wife Sucheta all through this amazing journey. She is an extraordinary painter and does exquisite embroidery and knitting. Her sense of aesthetics and the way she has decorated her house is just beyond compare!  Every decorative piece in her house is exquisite and placed aptly. Her garden too is extremely beautiful and full of colorful blooms. Not to forget, she is a fantastic cook and an expert and making lemon pickles. The famous Bedekars can learn a tip or two from her!

• Ashutosh and Sucheta have two children, Adwait and Sneha. Adwait is a Chartered Accountant and takes care of the accounts and digital media at All India Reporter. Their daughter Sneha is married and settled in Delhi. She is a B.Tech in Cosmetology and has also done her LLB. Despite that she has decided to be a full-time homemaker. Her husband, Siddhesh Kotwal is a lawyer in the Supreme Court of India. Advait is father to two adorable daughters, Tanvi and Tanaya. Ashutosh and Sucheta’s loving daughter-in–law Madhavi takes utmost care to give them the best cultural upbringing along with all the other family members. The grandchildren lovingly call their grandpa ‘Aajo’ instead of ‘Ajoba’.    

Ashutosh and Sucheta have generously contributed towards the upliftment of a large number of poor and underprivileged people, but they just don’t like to talk about their social work and publicize it. I don’t agree with them in this respect. I believe, such good deeds need to be publicized, not to get appreciation, but to inspire others to do the same. But Ashutosh believes that this is not right and he says he will explain the reasons to me sometime. Obviously, I can’t argue with a person with advocacy running in his veins! I had to shut up!

I am reminded of a couplet from Kabir in this context;

“जो कोई करे सो स्वार्थी, अरस परस गुण देत,
बिन किये करे सो सूरमा, परमार्थ के हेत।

(the one who donates with a desire in mind, is selfish, but one who donates without anything in return is selfless)

It was on the twenty-sixth of January, on  Ashtosh-Sucheta’s sixtieth birthday, that I had the fortune of meeting this extraordinary and exemplary family yet again! It is true that age is just a number and they are an epitome of this fact! Even youngsters in their thirties don’t seem to possess the energy that this couple has.  Despite having achieved so much and having everything possible, they are so humble and down to earth and have not an iota of pride or conceit. On the occassion of their birthday I wish this loving couple, who have endeared one and all with their benevolence, hospitality and large heartedness, a very happy and healthy life!