top of page

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.”

Royal Illusion

The monarchy’s brief return to Nepalese political discourse signals popular despair but not a real alternative.

A whiff of nostalgia lingers in Kathmandu’s polluted spring air these days. Last week, a few thousand supporters of the pro-monarchist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) rallied near the high-security precincts housing Nepal’s Parliament and Prime Minister’s residence. Waving placards demanding the reinstatement of the monarchy and the re-establishment of Nepal as a Hindu state, they cried slogans denouncing republicanism. Led by the RPP chairman Rajendra Lingden and other senior leaders, they clashed symbolically with an overwhelming police presence.


Since 2008, when Nepal’s 240-year-old monarchy was abolished after a bloody civil war and a popular uprising, the country has been a secular, federal republic in name but a dysfunctional democracy in practice. In the seventeen years since, Nepal has cycled through 14 governments, each more transient and ineffective than the last. No prime minister has completed a full term. The present government, led by Khadga Prasad Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), fares no better. Rampant corruption, cronyism and maladministration have fuelled widespread disenchantment, providing fertile ground for nostalgia for an imagined golden past.


This frustration is what the monarchy’s supporters now seek to exploit. But the crowds gathering under the banner of former King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev are less monarchist than they are anti-system. Independent observers confirm that many protestors are not ardent royalists but angry citizens disillusioned with the fractious politics of the Nepali Congress, the UML, and the Maoist Centre - all of whom have taken turns misgoverning Nepal. Their demands for a return to monarchy reflect a desperate yearning for stability rather than a reasoned endorsement of authoritarian nostalgia.


Gyanendra himself is an unlikely saviour. As king, he was no defender of democracy. In 2005 he dismissed the elected government, imposed emergency rule, jailed political opponents and sought to reimpose direct monarchical rule only to be toppled by a united front of democratic forces and Maoist rebels in 2006. That moment, celebrated as the Jana Andolan (People’s Movement), was not merely a rejection of one ruler but of an entire system of feudal autocracy. It is bitterly ironic that Gyanendra now styles himself as the saviour of the nation’s democratic aspirations.


The pro-monarchy movement today is weak, fragmented and tainted. The royalist camp’s political base is narrow, composed largely of conservative elites opposed to federalism and ethnic inclusion. Even the broader Nepalese intelligentsia remains sceptical.


The 2015 Constitution enshrined Nepal as a sovereign, secular, inclusive, democratic, socialism-oriented federal democratic republican state - a vision still far from being realised, but one that cannot be easily undone. Any serious attempt to reinstate the monarchy would require dismantling Nepal’s hard-won federal structure, rolling back protections for minorities like the Madhesis and Janajatis, and reversing advances in gender representation. That would not restore stability; it would spark new unrest.


There are some in our country who look upon the Nepalese monarchy fondly, mistakenly viewing it as a bulwark of Hindu tradition and a strategic counterweight to Chinese influence. Such romanticism is misplaced. Historically, the Nepalese palace cultivated anti-Indian sentiment to shore up its own legitimacy. Gyanendra’s policy of ‘equidistance’ from India and China was never more than a fig leaf for an opportunistic, isolationist nationalism that alienated New Delhi without strengthening Kathmandu’s hand.


Moreover, Nepal’s problems today stem not from secularism or federalism, but from the failures of governance. Restoring a Hindu monarchy would magnify these failures, undermining the fragile pluralism that holds Nepal together. It would disenfranchise historically marginalised communities, invite authoritarianism back through the palace gates and tilt Nepal closer to Beijing, not further from it.


The monarchy’s fleeting return to the headlines may satisfy the bruised egos of royalists and stir the dreams of disillusioned citizens. But it offers no real future for Nepal. Stability will not come from reviving a failed institution but from strengthening the republican experiment: reforming institutions, delivering governance and rebuilding public trust. Only then can Nepal move beyond the ghosts of its feudal past.

Comments

bottom of page