Daily Archives: July 1, 2015

Nonagenarian doctor’s relentless service to patients

At the age of 91, Daram Nagabooshanam, the senior most chest physician of Karimnagar district, hates Sundays and holidays and says, “I feel happy and healthy only if I work and go to my clinic to treat my patients”.

This elderly doctor still arrives sharp at 9 a.m. at his clinic by walking, from his house and treats patients coming from far flung places of Karimnagar, Adilabad, Nizamabad and Medak districts and also adjoining Chhattisgarh State.

He is still continuing his crusade against the Tuberculosis (TB) disease.

Dr. Nagabooshanam, who is popularly called as the TB doctor, is native of Jagtial and completed his medicine from Osmania Medical College in 1952. He also completed his TDD in 1960.

He practiced medicine in the government sector for 13 years till 1964 and later started private practice in Karimnagar town since then. When TB was considered as dreaded disease like cancer, this doctor instilled confidence in people with his proper diagnosis and appropriate prescription.

Varied interests

He was the first person in the district to conduct X ray screening facilities for treatment. Recently, he had won the State government’s “Vayo Shrestha Samman” award for Lifetime Achievement category. He is a multi-faceted genius and a man with varied interests. He has passion for collection of rare artefacts, drift wood, philately, numismatics, crystal stones and ancient historic tools and preserving them in his museum set up in memory of his wife Daram Susheela Memorial Museum in Karimnagar.

He also won accolades for launching campaign against corruption and usage of plastic bags.

This doctor also serves gruel during summer season every year to quench the thirst of people in the town. Dr Nagabooshanam feels proud to serve the needy patients even at this age.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Telangana / by K. M. Dayashankar / Karimnagar – July 01st, 2015

National pledge author gets due credit at last

In a significant move, the Telangana government has finally credited Pydimarri Venkatasubba Rao, the authour of national pledge, for his work by giving his name in text books. The recognition comes 51 years after it was first published in textbooks.

Poets, writers, family members of Venkatasubba Rao hailed the government’s decision for acknowledging his work.

Born on June 10, 1916 at Anneparthy village near Nalgonda town, Rao had flair for writing since his childhood. One of his works appeared in ‘Golkonda Kavulu’ published by noted writer Suravaram Prathap Reddy in 1934, when Venkatasubba Rao was just 18 years-old.

Cultivating patriotism

Later, he joined Treasury Department and worked in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh until he retired in 1971. When he was working in Visakhapatnam in 1960s, India was at war with China in 1962.

With an aim to put the nation together and cultivate patriotism among the younger generation at the crucial juncture, the writer penned ‘National Pledge’ in Telugu which appeared for the first time in textbooks of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in 1964, but the government did not give him credit for reasons unknown. Later, it was translated to English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and many other Indian languages and included in textbooks by many States.

Shockingly, he was not even informed about the inclusion of Pledge in school books. He came to know about inclusion after his retirement when his granddaughter read it aloud.

Speaking to The Hindu , member of Text Book review committee and noted poet from Nalgonda, Venu Sankoju said all the members of the committee had pressed for credit for Venkatasubba Rao and Telangana government accepted it.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Telangana / by T.Karnakar Reddy / Nalgonda – June 30th, 2015