I recently spoke at the 52nd Annual State Conference of the IRIA AP Chapter, held in Hyderabad. It was a memorable trip for several reasons –
It was an exceptionally high quality conference with excellent lectures, and I learnt a lot. It is great to see how the presentations of radiologists from India now equal those of any other country given that now they have the best equipment to work on.
It was one of the best organized conferences I have been to in a while. Everything ran like clockwork thanks to the tireless efforts of Dr Eshwar Chandra the Organizing secretary. His follow through was amazing including sending in advance the floor plan of the conference venue (something I have never before experienced in India!) It was nice to see how the IRIA AP Chapter works in such a closely knit and cohesive manner as a perfect team. This made for a truly spectacular conference.
And probably the most important reason is because of the opportunity I had to interact with the grand old man of Indian radiology, Prof Kakarla Subba Rao. He is a legend in our field and the stories about him are many, including from his days in the US – including how he could make the diagnsosis of a bone tumor from across the room. My professor at Yale used to tell me how he was known as the Saint at Einstein Medical Center because he was always so unflappably calm. He was brought back to run the Nizam’s Institute by the Chief Minister of AP in 1986. Today he is the inspiration, the motivation and the unifying force behind AP Radiology. At 85 years of age, he is ramrod straight and sat from 9 AM to 9PM through every session of the CME program. His passion for teaching is reflected in the lovely KREST auditorium at which the Conference was held. And his newest creation, a school where 1000 students study is what he today describes, with his charming smile, as something that brings him “small satisfaction”. Being around someone like him is like being injected with a dose of adrenaline and serotonin at once – one feels happy and charged with purpose, to continue the traditions set by him.
In keeping with Indian traditions, also, senior radiologists of the state were felicitated in a touching ceremony. To be able to constantly move ahead without losing sight of one’s past is one of the signs of greatness.
My own talks, on CT imaging of chest emergencies and chest trauma respectively were very well received and I enjoyed giving them. It was nice to interact with the other faculty which included Dr Harsh Mahajan and Dr Arvind Chaturvedi from Delhi. And it was a pleasure, as always, to interact with the postgraduates. As my hair turns greyer, I seem to enjoy this more and more