Speedy Dialogue Series
Episode 11: Dr Subramanium Balachandran
“Sharing my hobbies with my Batchmates”
Speedy: Good morning, Bala. I am so pleased that you accepted my invitation to appear in my Dialogue Series.
Bala: Speedy, I thought it was a great idea. Thank you very much
Speedy: Bala, let us commence with some background information. Believe it or not, 60 years have passed since we entered the Medical Faculty! A lot has happened to all of us since then.
Speedy: But let me focus on you today. I am interested to know how you chose Medicine as a career.
Bala:. Speedy, in fact, I was doing applied math in middle and high school, and my sister, Indrani, was pursuing medicine. However, as the saying goes got to have "My son the Doctor“ in the family, so I had to switch midstream to medicine. Thanks to Rev. Father Margesz, I was able to get my biology squared away.
Speedy: We know your sister Indrani very well. She is a regular at our London mini-reunions. Her daughter Rose is kind enough to provide transport. Being a loving and dutiful daughter, she knows how much these outings matter to her mother.
Bala: My niece Rose is indeed a very special person.
Speedy: Do you get a chance to look at the Blog?
Bala: Yes I do read the Blog, although I must confess, I haven’t posted any comments -something I want to put right with your help Speedy
Speedy: Very happy to help
Bala: Thanks, Speedy.
Speedy: Bala, tell us a bit more about your career choice and how you pursued it.
Bala: Delighted to do so. I read a book written by a British surgeon named George Sava, in which he was describing an appendectomy done through mini incisions. This book gave me the impetus to become a Surgeon. After graduating from Medical School, I immigrated to the US, and I was able to attain my ambition and became a Surgeon.
Speedy: I always say that those who are brave enough to pursue their dreams will succeed.
Bala: Very true, couldn’t agree with you more. There are also those who inspire you. I am sure you would have heard of the world-renown “Father of Cardiovascular Surgery “Dr Michael E. DeBakey
Speedy: Yes, of course, the famous Cardiovascular surgeon of Lebanese origin based in Texas.
Bala: Yes, that is the one. Well, I had the privilege of doing my Vascular Fellowship with Dr De Bakey.
Speedy: Fantastic! I am sure you learnt a lot, and he must have been a great source of inspiration.
Bala: He sure was, most definitely.
Speedy: Is there anything more you want to say about him or talk of any anecdotes involving him?
Bala: Yes, indeed. He was the first to classify Dissecting Aneurysms and treatments. He was able to successfully surgically treat a patient with aortic dissection in 1955. Ironically, he was diagnosed, I believe, with type II Dissecting Aneurysm in 2005 and was successfully operated by his associate Dr Noon and he went on to continue to teach and perform surgery. He died at the age of 98 in July 2008.
Speedy: That was quite a story Bala. You carried on as a vascular surgeon for how long?
Bala: I was in practice for four decades and finally hung up my “Surgical shingle “ in 2012.
Speedy: Have you stopped working completely?
Bala: No, I still do some work. currently, I work in the Emergency Department of an Ambulatory Surgical Center, seeing mostly post-surgical patients. This keeps my Betz cells active.
Speedy: That is of course, an individual choice. If it suits you and you enjoy the work, that’s fine
Bala: I do Speedy. I also feel that I am contributing to society with my skills as a doctor.
Speedy: That’s great Bala.
I must confess that I don’t know much about your family. I am sure readers would like an update.
Bala: Sure thing Speedy. I am married and have three kids, a son Robert, an Attorney, the second, a daughter Maureen, an Educator pursuing her Doctorate in Education and the third, a son Niran, who is a Biomedical Engineer. His latest invention is an oesophageal cooling probe to facilitate cardiac ablative therapies. This is pending FDA approval at this juncture.
Speedy: Clearly a very clever lad. And your wife, is she a doctor too?
Bala: No, Pat is not a doctor. she has a doctorate in Nursing. Pat and I also enjoy our five grandchildren and are waiting on the last one to finish high school in another year and go on to college.
Speedy: Bala, let us talk about your hobbies and interests, shall we?
Bala: Of course, Speedy. In my spare time, which was few and far between while I was in practice, I enjoyed woodworking (self-taught), gardening both flowers and vegetables and the game of Golf. I do try my culinary skills on occasion, but needless to say, Pat beats me hands down!
Speedy: I bet she does! And you are clearly a creative person. Also, it is Lovely to hear that you play golf. I am biased, of course, but anybody who plays golf is a good egg!
Bala: Ha! Ha! I heard that you play a lot of golf. I would love to talk more about it, but I know you want me to talk about my woodwork and carpentry.
Speedy: Indeed I do, if you don’t mind. Tell us about some of the projects you enjoyed most.
Bala: My largest carpentry and woodworking project was the renovation of an attic above a free-standing garage, turning it into an entertainment room with a built-in bar, in the seventies
Speedy: Wow! That must take a lot of skill and time.
Bala: It did, but I thoroughly enjoyed doing it, and it was joyful to see it when I completed it. Gave me a lot of satisfaction
Speedy: I bet it did. You said it was in the seventies. Were all the tools required available at that time?
Bala: Power tools were available, but not anywhere close to today’s standards. The advent of cordless tools has definitely changed carpentry and woodworking as we know it now. In fact, my interest in woodworking started with the arrival of Power tools.
Speedy: Skill and dexterity are important but like in surgery, you need the proper tools. Am I right?
Bala: Absolutely. Imagine trying to place a screw into a hardwood with hand tools! In the mid-nineties, my grandson Mitchell was all into ‘ Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends, and this prompted me to build an HO model train layout depicting ‘ The Island of SODOR’ This was a very trying adventure, but I think it came out OK, and he had a blast running his trains.
Speedy: And what else did you create?
Bala: From there, I moved on to building cabinetry and niceties. I did some oil painting in the seventies but that took the back burner. Besides woodworking and golf, I loved gardening too. Time to indulge in these was a problem when I was working.
Speedy: Now that you work less, are you able to devote more time to these activities?
Bala: Well, yes and no! Since we moved into this house, I lost my 1000 sq foot work shop and now the garage is my temporary workshop.
Speedy: I see. You kindly sent some photos of some of your creations. Please tell us something more about them.
Bala: I shall talk through them with the photos and when I did them
(1) Train layout of Island of Sodor in 1998.
(2) Coffee Tray with inlay 2000.
(3) Cherry Coffee Table with inlay in 2003,
(4) TV Entertainment Center with cherry and maple,
(5) Night Lamp table 2000,
(6) Antique Golf Club (1930s) display cabinet- 2015,
(7) Japanese wine rack 2008.
Speedy: I was really impressed by your work and would love to see them.
The next best thing was to see the photographs. What I saw was the work of a
skilled and creative technician who must have spent a lot of time producing
these.
I am so glad that we are able to share these with our batch colleagues, and may I thank you once again for appearing in my Series and wish you and your family all the best.
Bala: Thank you, Speedy for your kind words and encouragement and for
inviting me for this wonderful conversation which I enjoyed so much.
I admired the Beautiful creative work. Done.and congratulate the author ..Tough time consuming it is rewarding .
ReplyDeleteWish you all the best .
Sura. Fernando
So lovely to see you Sura. Thanks for taking the trouble posting a comment. I think Bala deserves it! I never knew of his talent and when he sent me some photos of his creations, I was very keen to share it with our colleagues. I am sure there are many more with talents we are not aware of and wouldn't it be lovely if we can be made aware of them!
DeleteMahen and Bala
ReplyDeleteWe had a plethora of Balas in our batch identified by appropriate adjectives before their names. The one in the photo we called “Yankee Bala” perhaps for his lovely head of hair shaped like American film stars.
So lovely to hear from Bala about his profession and passions. I do remember with great nostalgia our time together in the faculty as Bala. He was from my end of the alphabet. Bala and I did some clinical appointments together. We often dabbled with table tennis in the Common Room, our refuge from the storms of life then. So very impressed with your carpentry skill, Bala. Well done. Here’s wishing you the very best in the years to come.
My thanks to Mahen for keeping the Blog alive and well. The Blog certainly deserves a person with such dedication and commitment.
Yes Nihal, we had Yankee, Thatta, Con and a few others! They all took it in good spirit too. I met Bala in the UK many years ago with Indrani. It was so good of him to share his work with us. I was blown away by his skill and talent. I hope I can do another Dialogue soon.
DeleteHi Nihal and Sura ( Surangani Jayasuriya ) Thank you for your comments. There is a master carpenter, Norm Abraham is known as The Yankee workshop.I certainly cannot hold a candle to him, but, I do not mind being Yankee Bala the wood worker‼️
ReplyDeleteOh dear . You have chosen to "rename " me as Jayasuriya.
ReplyDelete.let me correct you
I was Surangani Abeysuriya. And i was quite proud and happy with my name !
Pardon for the terrible mistake.
ReplyDeleteHi Bala and Speedy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for a very interesting interview. Made fascinating reading.
Congratulations Bala on your achievements . Being an Anaesthetist I do appreciate your skill and expertise as a Vascular Surgeon. It's demanding work requiring patience and dedication, and obviously you have plenty of that!
I am so impressed by your carpentry skills. Your little grandson is truly blessed to have a grandfather like you spending time an energy to create a unique toy. ! I remember how when our son was born , my husband rushed out and bought a Hornby Train set from Hamleys in London for the baby .. I suspect more for his own entertainment... But they did spend many happy hours playing together once he was older!
It's good to keep the Betz cells active as you say, and it's great that you have found a channel for that as well as engage in creative pastimes.
All the very best to you and your family Bala and wish that you will have many more years of joyful returement
It was so good to see you commenting Suri. I wish more colleagues did so. Your story of Mahendra buying a train set "for the son" is very famiiar. I know another person (in our junior batch) who did so when his wife got pregnant, even before they knew it was going to be a boy!
DeleteOur Batch has so many talented people.I wouldlove to do more interviews. Take care Suri.
Thank you for your kind words. Yes, there is always small boy in every man!
ReplyDeleteThere is a Nepalese born writer called Santosh Kalwar who will agree with you Bala. He said “ In every man, there is a child. In every woman, there is a mother”
ReplyDeleteBala, You wont remember me in Med school , but I thought I’ll make comment anyway. I am very impressed with your beautiful woodwork .
ReplyDeleteApart from the amazing talent ,the patience to produce such intricate work such as the in-lays in the Cherry coffee table and night lamp table are praiseworthy to say the least. The Japanese wine rack is also very clever. Loved the display.
Thank you Mahen and Bala for bringing it to us
Mahen I also like your Nepalese quote- Thank you
Grear to see you comment Rohini. I think we all agree that Bala is very talented and even more important, he has put his talent to good use. Do keep in touch.
DeleteI received this message from Lucky who wanted it posted on the Blog.
ReplyDeleteDear Speedy, I sincerely feel that you have done a wonderful job with the blog. Congratulations!! Please carry on the good work.
Your last episode of Speedy Dialogues with Yankee Bala is wonderful, Can I send this as a comment? Lucky
Rohini, thank you for your comments. You were with my sister Indrani and she made me recognize you when we were in Med School - 60 yrs ago. i wish you and your family all the Best.
ReplyDeleteLucky, it was nice to hear from you. Hope all is well with you and your Family. Thanks again for the years of leadership you have shown in managing the Blog. Take care.
Speedy, Thank you for prodding me into checking out this "Dialogue." I am so glad I did. It was fascinating!
ReplyDeleteBala, I am so impressed with your creations in wood. It must have been difficult finding the time to do this while you were practicing surgery. I am so glad that you didn't hurt your fingers while using power tools. I remember a surgeon who absentmindedly stuck his hand in a snow blower and hurt his fingers. Luckily for him it was not career-ending.
I think it is wonderful that we are sharing these stories of things we do outside our realm of work. Mahen, thank you for keeping us motivated and connected.
Also, like Rohini, I appreciated the quote by the Nepalese writer. So true...
Bala, thanks again for sharing your life experiences. I believe I called you a long time ago to persuade you to come for one of our reunions. I think you were moving houses at the time. All the best, Srianee (Bunter).
Srianee, thanks for your comment. It is indeed a pleasure to share the immense range of talents in our batchmates.
DeleteCOMMENT FROM DHUSHY VEDAVANAM
ReplyDeleteMahendra I have only now looked at the blog.
I must compliment you for your interview with Bala. You are doing a superb job with the blog. It uplifts us all.
Secondly, it was so inspirational to hear all about Bala’s hobbies apart from his surgical skills. He is so talented and lovely to see the woodwork he has turned. Real masterclass.
My congratulations and Best Wishes to him
Srianee, Nice hearing from you. Yes, it was several years ago when we talked. Thank you for your thoughts. Indeed, table saw is a treacherous tool. Over the years I have listened to the Master Woodworkers who say that one should not use power tools when tired, sleepy or under the influence of alcohol. I have followed this advise religiously and ‘ knock on wood’ I still have all my fingers. I am sorry to hear about your friend.
ReplyDeleteI think Speedy is doing a wonderful job with the blog, after having taken over from Lucky, who deserves special recognition for having all of us informed for many years. Take care, Bala
Dhushy, I am humbled by your words. I remember, I used to hang out in the Common room with you late spouse playing carom or table tennis.
Best, Bala