I have just turned eighty-two earlier this year. It has been, as a 21st-century geriatrician might say, “a long wait to become very old!”
I was born in Thengale, Kuttoor, Tiruvalla, Kerala, four years before India heard the chimes of Independence, thanks to a non-violent barrister named Gandhi and a certain gentleman called Attlee. I feel proud to say my uncle, Kandathil E. Mammen, was a freedom fighter honoured with the Tamra Patra award for his service to the nation.
As a boy, I dreamed of finding a cure for cancer – the “crab” that claimed the life of my beloved grandmother.
At sixteen, I stood first in a rigorous international entrance assessment to join Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, founded by the visionary Dr. Ida Scudder. Those formative years at Vellore instilled in me a lifelong passion for healing, compassion, and excellence.
Later, my two daughters carried forward that legacy. One served as a lecturer in Immunology at Imperial College London before being headhunted to the United States with a prestigious A1 visa and an enviable salary. The other is a dedicated NHS GP and trainer of future general practitioners.
Military Service
Inspired by Pandit Nehru’s stirring declaration “When a country such as India fights for her freedom, the result cannot be otherwise”. I joined the Indian Army on a five-year Short Service Commission, driven by patriotism and idealism.
During my service, I had the rare opportunity to treat former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for mountain sickness near the India–Tibet border. Later, during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, I was recalled from the Reserve and had the privilege of treating both friend and foe alike on the battlefield, a humbling experience that deepened my respect for humanity beyond national lines.
Afterward, I completed my M.D. in General Medicine at Trivandrum, passing on my first attempt, one of only three among eight to do so.
Journey to Britain
When Professor Webb, our Director at CMC Vellore, retired to become Professor of Paediatrics at Newcastle’s Victoria Infirmary, he offered me a rotating paediatric post. Thus began my journey to Britain – with just four pounds in my pocket, owing to India’s strict foreign exchange rules – and the start of a fifty-year medical career in the UK. A month later, my beautiful wife joined me.
Trials and Triumphs in Britain
The England I arrived in during the 1970s was not always kind. Racism was commonplace, both on and off the streets.
I recall lunching one day in the Consultants’ Dining Room when a senior Caucasian colleague remarked, “Yes, we can still use overseas doctors – just as a pair of hands.”
At another hospital, as a junior doctor, I once called a senior consultant in the middle of the night after diagnosing a newborn with Congenital Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis. He later complained that I had disturbed him unnecessarily – until surgery confirmed my diagnosis. He never apologised. But I learned then that early, accurate diagnosis saves lives, and that principle; my ‘Kai Punyam’.
Professional Journey
Over the years, I worked across Britain – in Aberdeen, Sheffield, Great Ormond Street Hospital, and more – learning from some of the finest minds in medicine, including Professor John Nicholas Walton, Editor of Brain’s Textbook of Neurology, and Professor Donald Barltrop of Westminster Children’s Hospital.
Their mentorship helped me achieve the distinction of becoming a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (FRCPCH). an honour I cherish deeply.
In all, I have visited 98 countries, contributing to humanitarian efforts such as Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children Fund.
A Life of Ideals
In my student days, I was elected Speaker of the CMC Students’ Association, and twice later as its Secretary — early signs of the trust and goodwill of my peers.
Reflections
Loyalty, moral courage, and empathy have been my guiding lights as a doctor and as a human being. I have overcome my childhood fear of heights — earning an A-grade in a 17,000-foot Army Mountaineering Course in the Himalayas.
Having travelled to 98 UN member nations, my next dream is to gallop — not just trot — to the remaining ones on this beautiful blue planet.
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