Shubho Bijoya!
As we gradually cross over from the festivities to usual routine, we can take some time to watch this two-part interview with Ashapurna Devi, conducted in 1989. There is a quintessential old-world charm in the air that is impossible to miss. Her amazing personality is captured nicely in this fascinating conversation. Worth a watch.
The first Dilip Mahalanabis Memorial Oration was delivered by Professor Dr. Richard Cash, distinguished Global Health Scientist of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Kolkata on 31st July 2023. The lecture was organised by Liver Foundation-West Bengal. Professor Dr. Richard Cash spoke on the theme titled “The Development of ORT and Implementation of programs : Taking Science to the people”. Professor Dr. Richard Cash delivered oration lecture in the form of story telling. A documentary film titled “Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis and ORS” made by the Mahalanobis Club was also screened. Here is a a video recording of the proceedings. Links to a couple of newspaper stories on the event are also given below.
https://www.anandabazar.com/west-bengal/kolkata/a-special-writeup-about-dr-dilip-mahalanabis-and-his-initiative-to-cure-people-with-the-help-of-ors/cid/1449020
A qualified engineer from the Nineteenth Century, and the first Bengali to be so, Nilmani Mitra was the man behind many of Kolkata’s heritage buildings. At a time when the colonial builders were busy changing the skyline of the white town of Calcutta, Mr Mitra architected some of the historic buildings in North Kolkata, which competed in their grandeur with the British contemporaries. The following report in The Telegraph last week brought the story to our attention, only to make us realise how little we remember, or even ever heard, of such gifted people and proud moments from our own history. The least we could do is to amplify the message. So here it is:
Since day 1, public health has been one of the topics of high interest here at Mahalanobis Club. Happy to introduce a book, and an author who is rooted in a remote West Bengal village for over two decades, has dived deep into health-related issues of the population and has now presented his findings in an exquisitely written book. The book is well-researched and will help anyone with a scientific temper to gain a fresh insight into her/his own health.
Dr Dilip Mahalanabis was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 2023, posthumously.