Medical College Trivandrum, 1992 MBBS batch

Syamlal has finished his DM in Neurology and is now a consultant Neurologist at KIMS in Trivandrum.

Unni has been in the US on a whirlwind speaking tour over the past 2 weeks- having speaking engagements in places like Houston, St.Louis, Philly, Danville and Baltimore tomorrow, before heading back to the UK tomorrow evening. From his busy schedule, he found time to visit Andoop( pronounced anyoop nowadays)...

so i see this patient last week with Behcets - with uveitis and genital ulcers. In my dictation i mentioned that the patient had "circumcised genitalia with a 1X1cm scrotal ulcer". The transcriptionist sends back my letter with the note that the patient had circus sized genitalia.....( and this is a true story, not a readers digest joke)

its been a while since i found something interesting to write, so here is something that has nothing to do with our batch...I've cut and pasted a small part of a preview of a forthcoming mallu movie- Baba Kalyani- starring Mohanlal in a Shaji Kailas movie.. "This movie has two unique things which make it interesting 1. Mohanlal is uniting with Shaji after a gap of 2 years 2. Mohanlal is donning a police role after long time in Malayalam Oh did we say that before? For a viewer, there is nothing new in Shaji Kailas films. It is not even like old wine in new bottle, it is more like drinking the same wine from the same bottle again and again. When Dileep’s chess was released, it promised that Dileep’s character would use his brains for revenge, but in the movie we had to see Dileep beating up Bheeman Raghu. So when a Malayalam police movie promises subtlety, our take is we will wait and see. Shaji Kailas doing subtlety would happen the day when Babu Namboothiri does action m

click on the image for a larger readable version

Thanksgiving thursday is the busiest travel day of the year- with about 50 million people travelling more than 50 miles to visit family and friends, and give thanks for the blessings they have received in the year gone by... While Marilyn & I travelled to philly to spend thanksgiving dinner with my brother, most of our other classmates here also use the chance to visit family. Jk is also travelling to upstate NY this week - but having to withstand rather unexpected unseasonable weather - having to bear the brunt of a huge arctic chill in the entire state of NY ( and not just in terms of the weather)... JK, you are probably better off in the warmth of carolina :P

Remember the social which we termed EUPHORIA ? ( enjoy your programmes happily or relax in the auditorium ?) what kind of a corny name was that !? This was the social where i believe VTP made enough to get a new bike, the social where Manu and Kera were in a contest to see who would buy enough roses to crown themselves rose king, the social where Billy and DeviPrasad danced to Mein Khiladi Tu Anari... BTW, Devi Prasad is now doing his DM in Gastroenterology- Good Job Devi ! Oh and can anyone forget big man VP with his american accent - introducing Manu as Salman Khan and Dixon as Suniel Shetty.. Anyone has any other fond memories of this social ? Please comment....

Guess who I found lurking on Orkut ? Sajeev ! In his own words - " completed residency in internal medicine (from KEM) in 2003 end and since then working as a consultant physician in a multispeciality hospital at mavelikara, a small,sleepy town in south central kerala, and also having own small little practice at my residence here". My fondest memory of Sajeev is him singing Kabhi Kabhi during the social we had during our 3rd(?) year !

Mandan China-il ( actually its chinatown in DC, but thats the closest he is going to get to china)

http://jothydev.net/index.php anoop so kindly forwarded this link - u have to admire jothydevs marketing skills ! check out the interview in indiavision- there is an interview with jothydev- check out what the presenter ( also a doctor) is wearing - am i the only one who finds that choice of wardrobe fascinating ? !

Was in DC the past 5 days to attend the ACR meeting. Jk and Asha were visiting us during this time, so got a chance to take them to a fancy dinner at Mortons steakhouse.

he wasnt allowed inside unfortunately....

JoKer & Asha in front of the Washington Monument

Anju Mariam is faculty in the Anasthesiology department at the Jubilee Mission Medical College in Thrissur. She had completed her PG in Anasthesiology earlier and also has completed her DNB this past June. I continue to be her Uncle.

I spoke to Jayachandran T yesterday- he is on leave from Medical College, where he was a lecturer in Medicine, and has been working at the SGPGI Lucknow in their Cardiology department. He informs me that Jaison is working as a Surgeon at the Railway Hospital in Perambur, while Muralikrishnan continues to work as a Physician at the Palakkad Railway Hospital. Harilal meanwhile, has joined the Nuclear Medicine department at our Medical College..

There is a keralamela scheduled in DC this weekend; here is a snippet from the FAQ section. If u think i am making this up- check out www.keralamela.com Q: I am a Malayalee and my wife is an American. She is wondering whether she will be able to see a live elephant at Kerala Mela with all the ornaments like we saw once at Thrissur Pooram? A: Unfortunately the laws do not allow for us to bring a live elephant from Kerala at this time. We are planning to have some thing close though. I am sure if she enjoyed Thrissur Pooram during your visit to India, she will definitely love what we are setting up at the Kerala Mela. Q: I have tasted ‘puttu & pappadam' from a ‘Thattukada' when I visited Kerala with my parents many years ago. Are you planning to have such a ‘Thattukada' at Kerala Mela. A: Yes we do. One of the booths that we will have is in fact a fully functional ‘Thattukada' and you will be able to get everything that you can get from a ‘Thattukada' in Kerala.

Its a strange world where its easier to download and watch 'classmates' off the internet, than buying a ticket to watch it in the theater because its still running housefull....

Jk recently went to Houston to take the Clinical exam and had the "privilege" to visit Baylors official Mallu Bouncer. Rumor has it that his wife is still in shock: She had begun to think that this guy who only wears Jets Tshirts/caps had become americanized enough to present before her parents, but when he had a small spiritual ( as in alcoholic spirit) session with JK, all his pent up malluness came out. No wonder he decided to move as far away from Civilization(NY) as possible and settle in Texas....

There is a Cardiothoracic surgeon in Amrita Institute in Kochi - with this name. I guess our Man is pretty busy and happy here !

Sona Abraham (95 batch), her husband George and her brother Sunil visited us this past weekend. Sona completed her residency last year from Mercy and is doing her fellowship in Endocrinology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

  

Working so hard in chettiar's kitchen and having to listen to the boss's tirades sure does make one hungry....

devouring his first meal of the day after a hard days work...note that although he works as someone's milkman, his tastes are pretty expensive- sushi nonetheless, and that too with chopstix. vanchiyoor junctionil, rams restaurantil ninnu meals ready adichittu, embakkam vittu nadanavan ippol brooks brothers inte cashmere blazerum ittu japanese bhakshanam mondhunu...manushyan purogamikyunathe !!!

jk has got a new job in north carolina...since he has vast experience in this from kerala, they gave him the job without any background checks...

Bijesh is doing his McH in Neurosurgery from Vellore and Tinku Jose is also doing his McH in neurosurgery, but at our medical college. (courtesy JK)

JK and his wife Asha came over to the US on Oct 2nd. they are currently enjoying the hospitality of pradeep in north carolina. They should be attending interviews before returning back to india in early january..

SCAI.org - Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions SCAI, Cordis Announce 2006 Fellowship Awardees SCAI (Society for cardiovascular angiography and interventions) and Cordis, a Johnson & Johnson company, together honored two interventionalists-in-training at the Society’s 29th Annual Scientific Sessions in Chicago. As the recipients of the 2006 SCAI/Cordis Fellowship Program for Interventional Cardiology, Saar Danon, M.D., and Priya Velappan, M.D., will each receive a $25,000 grant to support their research in the year ahead. The two interventional cardiologists-in-training should be very proud of this accomplishment, said Frank J. Hildner, M.D., FSCAI, who chairs the SCAI committee that evaluates the submissions and selects the grant recipients. “The competition was fierce this year,” said Dr. Hildner. “We had a record number of well-qualified applicants and research proposals of the highest quality. The committee agonized over its decision. We wished we could h

Leema and her husband Manoj became proud parents of a baby Boy on October 3rd.

Ben, who is currently a second year resident in internal medicine has been accepted into the Hematology-Oncology fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin, starting July 07.

Arshad & Shanaz welcomed their baby daughter on Aug 8th. Arshad is doing his DM in Cardiology in Mumbai.

Winchester DE, Jacob A, Murphy T. Omalizumab for Asthma N Engl J Med 2006 355: 1281-1282

OOOh....achanum makanum matching matching...oru kochumakante kuravu maathram olluu....

Anoop visited Ranjith Narayan in trivandrum recently. Ranjith is an orthopedic surgeon at the SK Hospital..

Anil AM ( note the red kurta since his uncle is now a big minister in the govt) had recently been to kerala. news has it that many of our classmates were having free lunches at the cliff house on his behalf. this is a picture that he uploaded to the yahoo group, which i have taken the freedom to cut and paste. Anil is a consultant anasthetist in UK, sunil R is a consultant anasthetist ( a very "bold and respected" anasthesiologist per arshad )in trivandrum, Riaz is a consultant pediatrician, shibu Y a consultant internist in kollam, and Biju mohan is apparently the biggest radiologist in the entire kollam district.

JK has got 99 for his USMLE Step 1 and 98 on his step 2 ! When I spoke to him last week, he was humility exemplified. he wanted to thank all those who pushed him - including his tuition teachers....

Harun Thomas has been working in the UK since 2004. He is an SHO in surgery. His Wife, Smitha is also a doctor, and they have a 3 year old daughter Riya. He tells me that Ajith Oommen is working with him in the Medicine department.

  Guess his private practice was so profitable he decided to expand... 

  Our college has a new maingate ! 

  Leema, who works as a consultant opthalmologist at the Mulamoottil eye hospital at kozhenchery was on maternity leave when I visited her.. 

  Susan completed her MD in pharmacology last month and resumed duty at the Cochin cooperative college where she is a lecturer in pharmacology. Her husband Sudeep is an engineer and they have 2 kids- Ansu and Sachin. They are settled in ernakulam. 

  Prasanth is currently doing his MD in pharmacology at our medical college, where he is also a lecturer ( looks like he and susan mani are going to give each other a run for their money to become a future HOD pharmacology of TMC :P ) Prasanth's wife- Maya is finishing up her MD in Ob/Gyn. They have a handsome 2yr old -HariGovind. Dr.Murukesan is retired from the Govt.service and is working at PRS hospital, while Dr.Retnavally is working at the Karakonnam medical college. Dr.Murukesan was all excited about an upcoming reunion of their batchmates in the UK in september... 

  JK, after completing a stint as a surgeon at Cosmo hospital, found time from his busy Exam preparations to visit me in trivandrum. 

Benny who has an extremely busy practice in trivandrum, found time to vacation in Dubai...he gave me an update on the trivandrumites, and sent a few pics....

Sunil R is a consultant anasthesiologist at Cosmo hospital, while Syamlal has just completed his DM in Neurology, and Sudhir is working in the Health Services.

Deepak is working as a consultant Anasthesiologist at the RCC

Our dear Benny emailed me..he is a busy Assistant professor in community medicine at the Sree Gokulam Medical College. He has done his MD in Community medicine as well as a DPH. He is extremely busy with his Private Practice and I hear that it is so difficult to get an appointment to see him that sometimes the wait is at least 3 hours. He is happily married with 2 sons- Vaibhav and Vaishnav.