By John B Monteiro
Mangalore, May 23: While Narendra Modi is at the centre of national and global focus, waiting to be sworn in as Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014, his surname-sake has been hosted by Mangalore for 60 years. But the story should start at the beginning.
In mid-1955, a Gujarati doctor, working as Chief Physician in Municipal General Hospital in Mahua, Saurashtra, responded to an ad in The Times of India for a doctor to work in “South India”. He was called for an interview, selected and started working in Father Muller Hospital from November 1955. He had never looked back since. It is interesting to note that he gave up a job at a salary o f Rs 700 a month in his native Gujarat to take up one at far away Father Muller at Rs 500.
Dr Vihadlal Virchanddas (V V) Mody was almost a household name in Mangalore for over five decades. (Mody and Modi become the same when written in Gujarati script. Mody is a surname for Parsees also - like Sir Homi Mody, a veteran Tata Director, for whom I wrote a weekly ghost column, in early 1960s, for his son’s, Piloo Mody, pet weekly “March of the Nation” and his other son, Russi Mody of Tata Steel fame died on May 16, 2014). Born in Gujarat on August 28, 1923, Dr Mody earned his MBBS and MD degrees from Grant Medical College, Mumbai, and later added FCPS (Cardiology) from College of Physicians and Surgeons, also in Mumbai.
Dr Mody became for a long time one of the twin medical pillars at Father Muller – the other being Dr P Venkat Rao, the famed surgeon Dr Mody, after retirement was associated with Father Muller as Honorary Senior Physician. He did medical consultancy in the clinic attached to his residential bungalow, close to Fatima Retreat House at Jeppu.
Did Dr Mody have problems adapting from Gujarat to Mangalore? Overall it was smooth sailing except for the initial language barrier. Many of his patients did not know English or Hindi and Dr Mody did not know Konkani, Tulu, Kannada or Malayalam. So, communicating with patients was tricky, sometimes even amusing. He would ask patients if they had vomiting bouts – evoking no response. He had then to demonstrate vomiting with oral noise. Similarly, to get response for a question if the patient had wind passing problem, he had to simulate appropriate noises. After a time Dr Mody was fluent in all local languages. But for these early hiccups, Dr Mody was profuse in acknowledging the nice treatment he received from a succession of Directors and said that people of Mangalore were very nice, helpful and hospitable (See following article).
Dr Mody retired from the hospital on august 27, 1999; but continued to visit the hospital. He died on October 7, 2006.
Dr Mody had no regrets that he came to Mangalore. He said that both his wife and he were comfortable, contented and felt at home in Mangalore. As for Mangaloreans, they should think that the Modys were Gujarat’s gift to the city.
After the death of the doctor couple, their legacy is carried on by their son, Dr Pranav V Mody, BDS; MDS, Consulting Prosthodontist and Professor & Head of the Department of Prosthodontics, KVG Dental College and Hospital, Sullia. Representing the second generation of Modys in Mangalore, he has his residence-cum-clinic (Prerana Speciality Dental Clinic) in the same premises as his late father’s.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is often interred with their bones.
William Shakespeare, English dramatic poet (1564-1616) in Julius Caesar.
It is against this background that I present a short write-up by Dr Mody on himself, who served the city’s sick and faded away from the memory of the current generation. The article, condensed here, was written by Dr Mody in the post-centenary silver jubilee souvenir (2005) of Father Muller Charitable Institutions, edited by Fr Alexander D’Souza, with me as Editorial Associate.
A Life-time of Experience
By Dr V V Mody
For me Father Muller Hospital is a temple and all patients coming there deities because Fr Augustus Muller SJ, the founder, saw God in every human being and served them with all his abilities.
Destiny brought me to Mangalore to join Father Muller Hospital as Chief Physician on November 3, 1955. I read an advertisement for a physician at Father Muller Hospital in August the same year. I applied for the post and got the appointment. However, I could not join immediately as I had to give sufficient notice to the previous institution where I was working, in Mahua, Gujarat, as the Chief Medical Officer.
Men make institutions and institutions make men. This is perfectly true in the case of Father Muller Hospital and myself.
When I joined Father Muller Hospital, the main objective of the hospital was of serving sick people and giving medical aid. Dr P Venkat Rao, FRCS, had joined the hospital as Chief Surgeon two years before I did. The late Fr Marian Fernandes, the then Director of the hospital, was a good administrator – kind, charitable and loving. We worked together as a family till his untimely death due to heart attack.
Though our working hours were 9 AM to 2 PM and 5 PM to 8 PM, we had to attend all emergencies, as and when called. There were hardly any MBBS doctors. Some who came did not continue for more than six months.
My wife, Dr Jasumati, was a paediatrician and was serving at Kasturba Medical College from 1955. She resigned from this job after 10 years of service in the college and joined Father Muller Hospital in 1965 to start the Paediatric Department. She served the hospital as Paediatrician till 1983.
I had a happy and cordial relationship with all the Directors of the hospital, namely, the late Fr Marian Fernandes, the late Fr Jacob Lobo, Fr Bernard Moras (now Archbishop of Bangalore) for two terms, Fr Peter Noronha, Fr Alexander F D’Souza and Fr Baptist Menazes. All were kind and good to me.
I was closely associated with the School of Nursing which was started during the Directorship of Fr Marian Fernandes. I enjoyed teaching in the School of Nursing for 20 years.
During the Directorship of Fr Peter Noronha, Father Muller Hospital celebrated the Centenary. To mark the milestone, Fr Muller Homeopathic Medical College and the College of Nursing were started. This change meant medical care plus teaching.
After 1980, the development of the institution was rapid. Now it is Father Muller Institute of Health Sciences with medical college in modern medicine and other so many colleges, specialities and super-specialities catering to all types of diseases.
I have enjoyed my work in the hospital for 48 years, with healthy relationship with my colleagues, all the members of the staff and the nursing staff.
This institution is a shining example of medical teaching and medical treatment. I wish the institution a bright future and for it to reach still greater heights of medical teaching and care.