| |
THE NATION:
VAJPAYEE'S SURGERY
Prime
Ministration
After
physiotherapy, the PM will be raring to go
Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's operation has been successful and the
doctors led by the US-based Chitranjan Ranawat are a relieved lot. But
by no means is their job over. For the past few days, top orthopaedics
from Delhi's Sita Ram Bhartia hospital are being personally trained by
Ranawat for Vajpayee's post-operative physiotherapy sessions. They will,
of course, drive to Race Course Road to provide rehabilitation therapy.
*
 |
| Vajpayee
with Ranawat |
In July 1982,
when Amitabh Bachchan battled for life in Mumbai's Breach Candy hospital
after a grievous injury suffered on a film set, hysterical crowds perched
on trees, nearby buildings and squatted on the roads to pray for the angry
young man's life. Eighteen years on, the hospital's most famous patient
since then, Vajpayee sat before a 21-inch Sony TV set in his room, watching
Bachchan in Kaun Banega Crorepati. That was the night before his operation.
Comparisons between Bachchan and Vajpayee were inevitable. The soft-spoken
prime minister evidently charmed the hospital staff. "He always greets
you with a namaste, is exceedingly polite and is not a demanding patient,"
says Gool Sethna, Breach Candy's nursing director, "just like Amitabh
Bachchan."
*
Get-well-soon
missives, bouquets, greeting cards and even talismans and divine statuettes
poured into the hospital's VIP lounge from all over the country. There
were messages from chief ministers, ambassadors and high commissioners.
Former prime ministers Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Chandra Shekhar do
not see eye to eye politically with Vajpayee, but were courteous enough
to send messages. Even prison bars could not stop some of the prime minister's
wellwishers. Lakki Reddy Krishna Reddy, a member of the BJP's Andhra Pradesh
state committee, sent a brief fax message-from jail.
*
If getting
past the eagle-eyed SPG wasn't hard enough, the scores of wellwishers
had to contend with another barrier at the hospital-Information Technology
Minister Pramod Mahajan. In his role as hospital monitor, Mahajan shooed
away photographers, netas, babus and businessmen. He accosted a photographer
hired by the hospital to shoot pictures of the prime minister recuperating
in his bed and promptly pried the film out of the camera. "Your salary
may be doubled after your job, but I could lose my job," he told
the hapless photographer.
*
Mahajan
wasn't much of a hit with the doctors either. Aware of his penchant for
shooting his mouth off, the doctors at Breach Candy made it clear that
the daily updates on Vajpayee's health to be issued to the press through
the government spokesman would not stray beyond the medical bulletin signed
and issued by the doctors. To ensure this, they even got the bulletin
approved by the patient himself.
*
South Mumbai,
where Breach Candy hospital is located, is the country's smallest and
perhaps the richest parliamentary constituency. It is also a BJP bastion,
with an MP and three MLAs from the party. That perhaps explains why the
scene outside the hospital resembled the venue of a political rally. Posters
featuring a rosy-cheeked Vajpayee jostled for attention outside the hospital
gate. And even as the prime minister was wheeled into the operation theatre
on October 10, BJP leaders Gopinath Munde, Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Raj
Purohit sat cross-legged during a four-hour Maha Chandi yagna performed
at the Mumbadevi temple for Vajpayee's health.
*
The tall,
aristocratic and impeccably attired Dr Ranawat is a man of few words.
He avoids personal questions as deftly as he wields the scalpel. Questions
are met with a terse, "How would that help?" Ditto when asked
about his family. But persistent questioning brought forth a grin and
he complied. He has three sons and a daughter. The eldest, Amar, is also
an orthopaedic surgeon, the second son, Chet, works on Wall Street, the
third, Anil, is in medical school, while daughter Karen goes to college.
-Sandeep
Unnithan
Top
|
|
Relics
of old empires exist everywhere. Why can't the Mani Shankar Aiyars of
India let them be? asks INDIA TODAY Senior Editor Ravi Shankar in
