Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray- A Jewel of India

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The life and achievements of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray, the architect of modern West Bengal, are not much known to the younger generation. Even some events are not known to most of us. Dr. Asoke Kumar Bagchi. A noted Neurologist, who had personal acquaintance with Dr. Ray, has written this monograph on Dr. Ray based on information gathered through different sources. He has also arranged to provide a few photographs, some of them are rare.

This monograph would help in introducing Dr. Ray as a man, an eminent physician, an architect of modern West Bengal and a visionary to the younger generation.

Dr. Asoke Kumar Bagchi was born in 1925. He matriculated from Gopal Chandra Institution of Pabna; passed MBBS from Calcutta University (Carmichael Medical College) in 1948; passed examination in Master of Neurosurgery from the Post-Graduate Academy of Vienna Medical College in 1954; received Ph.D. in Therapeutic Philosophy from Arizona, USA, D. Litt. (Burdwan), D. Litt. (Alma Ata, Kazakhstan); received Honours in five subjects; received 46 Medals and two scholarships. He was the President of the Neurological Society of India in 1970. He has to his credit more than 250 papers and 50 books in both professional and non-professional fields. Dr. Bagchi had personal acquaintance with Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray.

The life and achievements of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray, the architect of modern West Bengal, are not much known to the younger generation. Dr. Asoke Kumar Bagchi, a noted Neurologist, who had personal acquaintance with Dr. Ray, has written an exhaustive article on Dr. Ray based on information gathered through different sources and this article was further embellished with some rare photographs of Dr. Ray. The present monograph, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray: A Jewel of India, is based on the revised version of that article. We hope this monograph would help in introducing Dr. Ray, as a man, an eminent physician, an architect of modern West Bengal, and a visionary to the younger generation.

My family was associated with Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray for three generations, beginning with my grandfather, Dr. Kalidas Bagchi, LMS & IMS who graduated from Medical College Hospital ten years ahead of Dr. Ray. In his early days he acted as a demonstrator of Surgery when he made a few demonstrations for Dr. Ray and his colleagues. Later grandpa left the Medical College for other fields of work. He was said to be a simple man and used to be deceived by his own relatives of Pabna, our ancestral town. During his last appointment as an IMS Captain during the First World War he lived as an Army Doctor in Mesopotamia, Kut-el-Amara and several other places of Persia. Unluckily during his service while he was returning from Bandar Abbas he died suddenly at Saugar Cantonment Hospital. My grandmother, Sarojini Devi was given a Royal pension of one hundred and thirteen rupees per month till 1962! The sum saved our family from penury.

My father was studying FA in Pabna Edward College with Logic, Civics and History. With the kind assistance of grandfather's friend Col. Suresh Prasad Sarbadhikary, who got him admitted into the newly established Carmichael Medical College in 1916. Of course he had to qualify himself in Physics and Chemistry along with medical studies through private coaching,

**Contents and Sample Pages**