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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.”

The Bundeswehr Reawakens

As Trump’s America shuns European entanglements, Germany rearms to stand up to the Russian bear.

Europe’s long holiday from history is over. With Donald Trump making noises about washing his hands off NATO, the transatlantic security architecture that protected the continent for nearly 80 years has begun to fracture since the beginning of the mercurial US President’s second innings. Into this breach Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor, has declared that his country will build “Europe’s strongest conventional army.”


Germany’s decision to rearm carries uncomfortable historical baggage. But history is no longer a reason for paralysis. Rather, it is a reminder of what happens when Europe fails to deter aggression. From Ukraine to the Baltics, the continent faces a grinding war, fraying alliances and the possible return of raw power politics. In that context, Berlin’s shift cannot be interpreted as bellicosity as in the 1930s.


For decades, Germany benefited from the ‘Pax Americana.’ The United States paid for Europe’s security, and Germany, with its skilled workforce and export machine, reaped the peace dividend. Defence budgets shrank. Conscription ended in 2011. The Bundeswehr hollowed out. Military readiness became an afterthought.


The result has been a wealthy, influential Germany that preferred diplomacy to deterrence and whose foreign policy posture was defined more by energy deals with Vladimir Putin’s Russia than by strategic responsibility.


That era is now dead with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Trump’s disdain for NATO has shattered the illusion that America will always show up. This has left Germany to do what many of its neighbours have long demanded: take responsibility for European defence, and pay for it.


Berlin currently spends about $68 billion annually on defence (roughly 2 percent of its GDP), finally meeting NATO’s minimum threshold. Now it aims to go further, investing hundreds of billions in modernising the Bundeswehr with more air defences, tanks, ships, drones and a domestic arms industry capable of supporting Europe’s strategic autonomy.


Europe’s 20th century was defined by German militarism. Yet today’s Germany is embedded in multilateral institutions, governed by constitutional checks and fundamentally committed to democratic norms. It is not tanks but timidity that has defined Berlin’s posture in recent decades.


Moreover, the balance of power has shifted. The United Kingdom, long a military heavyweight, has shrunk its forces. France, though willing, cannot sustain continental deterrence alone. The United States, distracted by China and riven by internal division, is no longer the dependable hegemon of the past. Europe must build its own shield and Germany is the only country with the industrial base, fiscal headroom and political heft to anchor it.


Markets have responded with enthusiasm. Rheinmetall, Germany’s biggest arms manufacturer, has seen its shares soar. Investors see the continent’s security challenges as structural, not cyclical. A long-term rearmament is inevitable.


Merz, often seen as a grey technocrat, has surprised many by grasping the scale of this historical inflection. His recent encounter with President Trump on the eve of the D-Day anniversary where he reminded the American leader that June 6th marked not defeat but liberation was a deft moment of statesmanship. “We know what we owe you,” he told Trump, while arguing that America must not abandon Ukraine. That blend of realism and resolve is precisely what Europe needs.


The Bundeswehr of tomorrow will not resemble the Wehrmacht of the past. It will serve under NATO command, with allies’ consent and democratic oversight. Nor will it be built for conquest. It is not Germany’s will to power that motivates this buildup, but Europe’s will to survive.


Strategic independence is no longer a slogan today. If America’s commitment to the alliance is now conditional, then Europe must learn to defend itself. Germany’s pivot, however belated, is the beginning of that reckoning.


For too long, Europe has asked what Germany might do if it ever remembered its strength. The question now is what Europe would do without it. In a world growing more dangerous by the day, the return of German hard power will have to be perceived as no threat but a lifeline.

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