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By:

Bhalchandra Chorghade

11 August 2025 at 1:54:18 pm

Healing Beyond the Clinic

Dr Kirti Samudra “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” This thought by Mother Teresa finds reflection in the life of Panvel-based diabetologist Dr Kirti Samudra, who has spent decades caring not only for her family but also thousands of patients who see her as their guide. As we mark International Women’s Day, stories like hers remind us that women of substance often shape society quietly through compassion, resilience and dedication. Doctor, mother, homemaker,...

Healing Beyond the Clinic

Dr Kirti Samudra “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” This thought by Mother Teresa finds reflection in the life of Panvel-based diabetologist Dr Kirti Samudra, who has spent decades caring not only for her family but also thousands of patients who see her as their guide. As we mark International Women’s Day, stories like hers remind us that women of substance often shape society quietly through compassion, resilience and dedication. Doctor, mother, homemaker, mentor and philanthropist — Dr Samudra has balanced many roles with commitment. While she manages a busy medical practice, her deeper calling has always been service. For her, medicine is not merely a profession but a responsibility towards the people who depend on her guidance. Nagpur to Panvel Born and raised in Nagpur, Dr Samudra completed her medical education there before moving to Mumbai in search of better opportunities. The early years were challenging. With determination, she and her husband Girish Samudra, an entrepreneur involved in underwater pipeline projects, chose to build their life in Panvel. At a time when the town was still developing and healthcare awareness was limited, she decided to make it both her workplace and home. What began with modest resources gradually grew into a trusted medical practice built on long-standing relationships with patients. Fighting Diabetes Recognising the growing threat of diabetes, Dr Samudra dedicated her career to treating and educating patients about the disease. Over the years, she has registered nearly 30,000 patients from Panvel and nearby areas. Yet she believes treatment alone is not enough. “Diabetes is a lifelong disease. Medicines are important, but patient education is equally critical. If people understand the condition, they can manage it better and prevent complications,” she says. For more than 27 years, she has organised an Annual Patients’ Education Programme, offering diagnostic tests at concessional rates and sessions on lifestyle management. Family, Practice With her husband frequently travelling for business, much of the responsibility of raising their two children fell on Dr Samudra. Instead of expanding her practice aggressively, she kept it close to home and adjusted her OPD timings around her children’s schedules. “It was not easy,” she recalls, “but I wanted to fulfil my responsibilities as a mother while continuing to serve my patients.” Beyond Medicine Today, Dr Samudra also devotes time to social initiatives through the Bharat Vikas Parishad, where she serves as Regional Head. Her projects include  Plastic Mukta Vasundhara , which promotes reduced use of single-use plastic, and  Sainik Ho Tumchyasathi , an initiative that sends Diwali  faral  (snack hamper) to Indian soldiers posted at the borders. Last year alone, 15,000 boxes were sent to troops. Despite decades of service, she measures success not in wealth but in goodwill. “I may not have earned huge money,” she says, “but I have earned immense love and respect from my patients. That is something I will always be grateful for.”

Enter the Dragon

India and China edge closer as America’s tariffs push Delhi into Beijing’s arms.

For years Washington cast itself as India’s indispensable partner: a counterweight to China, a market for its goods, a guarantor of a “free and open Indo-Pacific.” Now, thanks to Donald Trump’s latest outburst of economic nationalism, America risks squandering that role. With tariffs of up to 50 percent slapped on Indian exports, and further duties threatened in retaliation for Delhi’s oil and arms purchases from Russia, the White House has turned an awkward ally into a bruised one. Into the breach steps China, once India’s fiercest regional rival, now making conciliatory noises about solidarity and shared destiny.


The rhetoric has been striking. Xu Feihong, China’s ambassador in Delhi, recently accused Washington of being a “bully” that long enjoyed the fruits of free trade but now weaponizes tariffs for leverage. He declared that Beijing “firmly stands with India” in resisting unilateral trade restrictions and called for the two Asian giants to become “double engines” of growth. His remarks followed a high-level visit by Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, who urged India to see China as a partner, not a threat. Wang’s talks with S. Jaishankar, the foreign minister, and Ajit Doval, the national security adviser, produced ten points of consensus on border management and even tentative steps towards a framework for settling the boundary dispute.


This sudden thaw is remarkable given the bloody clashes at Galwan in 2020, which froze relations and left Delhi bristling with suspicion of Chinese intent. Since then, the two sides have managed only cautious disengagement, with troops still facing each other at multiple friction points along the Himalayan frontier. The new consensus to create additional general-level mechanisms for the eastern and middle sectors, reopen traditional border trading posts, and form expert groups on delimitation suggests a willingness to compartmentalise the border dispute in the interests of wider cooperation.


America’s tariff tantrums have accelerated this shift. American policymakers, once content to see India soak up Russian barrels to stabilise markets, now bridle at the optics of an ally fuelling Vladimir Putin’s war machine. Negotiations on a trade deal have stalled.


For Beijing, the opportunity is obvious. By siding vocally with India against America’s tariffs, China casts itself as a defender of multilateralism and the WTO, while hoping to loosen Delhi from Washington’s embrace. It offers investment, market access and a vision of an equal and orderly multipolar world.


Chinese companies, bruised by Western decoupling, now want space in India’s market, while Beijing seeks to blunt Delhi’s protectionist instincts against its tech and infrastructure champions.


India, for its part, will be cautious. Memories of Chinese aggression are fresh, and the trust deficit remains wide. Delhi’s strategic elite still views Beijing as the principal long-term challenger in Asia. Yet India has always prized ‘strategic autonomy’ while playing great powers off against each other rather than aligning fully. For PM Modi, cultivating a temporary rapprochement with China not only secures leverage over America but also reassures domestic audiences that India’s foreign policy is not hostage to any single partner. His upcoming visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit will be closely watched for signals of just how far this courtship might go.


The implications extend beyond South Asia. If India and China succeed even modestly in compartmentalising their disputes, they could inject new momentum into regional groupings such as BRICS and the SCO, which both prize as platforms for challenging Western dominance. A functioning ‘dragon–elephant’ partnership would complicate American efforts to stitch together an Indo-Pacific coalition aimed at containing China.


That said, the obstacles are formidable. Border tensions, trade imbalances (India runs a deficit of over $100bn with China), and competing visions of Asia’s security architecture will not vanish. Nor will America easily cede its strategic foothold in Delhi: defence ties, technology transfers, and intelligence cooperation remain deeper with Washington than Beijing can yet offer. The likeliest outcome is not a full-fledged India–China entente but a careful hedging with India drawing closer to China just enough to extract concessions from America, while keeping its options open.

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