Dr.Balakrishna M. Ramaraju : Me Krishna My Smoking Start to Finish January 1955 - November 1970 : I pause , I think , I ponder , I yield to the wish of my nephew and reminisce about how I started smoking my first cigarette and how I ended with my last cigarette . Why now you may ask , I say because I promised my nephew , a nice boy who is at the other end of globe enjoying Arab hospitality while I am on my side of Mother Earth savoring Ame...rican bonhomie with my family all over the world . Here it goes - my first cigarette , I take full responsibility , I can not blame my room mate , it is me who is to be blamed , the buck stops here with me , how I ended the credit goes to my children , about that you have to wait for a while . Now first things first - It was midnight of December 31st 1954 and we just rung in New Year 1955 . For me New Year starts with Sunrise , but I have to go along with the current and should not swim alone . We had a good sumptuous vegetarian feast and waiting for the first moment of January 1st 1955 . I was offered a Goldflake Cigarette , a fashionable one in those days . It was fun . I put it between my lips and my roommate lit my cigarette . I inhaled , coughed , let out smoke through my nostrils and felt an uplifting of my mood ; I must say I enjoyed that First Cigarette . Next morning I had my second goldflake after breakfast , then one after lunch , one more after dinner as new year being a holiday and I was in my hostel . Then onwards I used to lit a cigarette in a movie theatre ( in those days there was no ban on smoking in movie halls ) . The habit caught on and I thought Cigarettes are good for studying well , and for better performance during examination period . I am away from home and no one to say I am doing something wrong . I graduated from 3 cigarettes a day to 20 cigarettes a day by the time I completed my MBBS in June 1957 , MS General Surgery May 1962 , FRCS Edinburgh October 1968 . Me a constant feature with a box of cigarettes , a cigarette lighter , a cigarette between my lips with fire at one end and me the fool at the other end . By 1970 my lips , my fingers were stained cigarette color , my clothes smelling of cigarettes and me A Smoking Chimney . Now how I gave up that wretched habit after an indulgence of more than 15 years . My children , bless them started constantly complaining of smell , my setting a bad example and informing me it is not good and one day early November 1970 I promised them I will soon give up smoking as soon as I return back to Bhaarath ( India ) as I am still in England so far away from Motherland . I landed in by Air India Kanishka in Mumbai ( Bombay ) on 27th November 1970 , and the first thing I did was to light a fresh cigarette ( in those days smoking was not banned on board aircraft ) . As I started smoking my children reminded me of my promise to give up smoking after landing in Bhaarath ( India ) , I thought I should not let them down , felt ashamed at my own failure , so I threw away that last cigarette . Now I need to do something to wean me away from that habit . So I said let us all go to the Buddha's Place of enlightenment Bodh Gaya in Bihar . We all journeyed forth by Train to Bodh Gaya and I approached Buddham SaraNam Gacchaami , sought out the Peepal Tree , sat down under the shade of That Holy RAAVI ( Peepal ) Chettu ( Tree ) and took A Vow Bheeshma Prathijna on That Day Glorious Day 28th Novemebr 1970 not to smoke again . I stuck to that vow , fulfilled the promise I made to my children , Bless Them and Thanks To Them , now it has been 43 years and nearly 3 months that I am rid of my Smoking Habit to which I had been addicted to since 1st January 1955 for more than 15 years until 28th Novemeber 1970 . If not for anything else in my life I am always proud of my own achievement in giving up that addiction and the entire credit I lay down at the door of my children and now it is my nephew who takes the credit for making me recall my achievement - me I hope you do appreciate and give me some credit in my life a small thing may be for you but for me a giant of accomplishment - me AnasooyaAthreyaSeshaAnjaneyakrishna.ANASOOYAATHREYASeshaAnjaneyakrishna doctor balakrishna murthy ramaraju . Mala Singh "excellent writing..... Dr.Balakrishna M. Ramaraju..... Hari Om....." Bhrigu Vamsa Samjaatha Bhaargavasya Vidmahey , Jaamadagneya Dheemahi , Thanno Bhagawaan ParasuRaama Prachodayaath . Best Wishes & Divine Blessings.Bhagawaan ParasuRaam Bless You. AnasooyaAthreyaSeshaAnjaneyakrishna. anasooyaathreya-SeshaAnjaneya

Dr.Balakrishna M. Ramaraju : My Life : July 1954 , my first full day away from home , muggy humid day . Men's hostel on a small hillock . Room mate Nageswararao from Guntur my home town , a smoker and a hypochondriac wakes up with a thermometer in his mouth maintains a temperature chart twice a day a record to tell him whether he is having any remittent , intermittent rise in body temperature or a nocturnal pyrexia and he is the one who introduced me to smoking , more about it at a later date . Today is big day for me D Day , day of orientation . Had a quick breakfast of Idli in the Vegetarian mess and got into college bus to meet the Principal and Heads Of Clinical Departments , The Clinical & ParaClinical Faculty of Andhra Medical College / King George Hospital , Visakhapatnam , henceforth AMC/KGH , Vizag . The Principal's Office is on a small hillock overlooking Bay Of Bengal . Vizag is a city of ups and downs , small hillocks and smaller valleys , lanes and culverts . I loved Vizag - love at first sight , a love lost but more of it later . Let me come to the present , and all third year medicos ( first year clinical students ) from GMC Guntur were presented at the Principal's Office and sticking to protocol we were introduced to The Stalwarts in the following Order - 1. Principal DR G V S Moorthy Prof & HOD Medicine , 2. DR M V Ramanamoorthy Prof & HOD Surgery , 3. DR H M Lazarus Prof & HOD OB-GY , 4. DR D Govindareddy Prof & HOD Pathology , 5. DR D Bhaskarareddy Prof&HOD Forensic Medicine ( Medical Jurisprudence ) , 6 . DR Dakshinamoorthy Prof & HOD Social&Preventive Medicine ( Hygiene ) , 7. DR Sooryaprasadarao Prof&HOD Ophthalmology , 8. DR Alahasingari Prof&HOD Oto Rhino Laryngology ( ENT ), 9.DR Govindarao Prof&HOD Pharmacology , Surgery Faculty DRs Mahankali Krishna Moorthy , B Shanmukheswararao ( Hostel Warden ) , Lingam Sooryanarayana ; Medicine Faculty DRs K Sooryanarayana , NT Subrahmanyam , K Krishnamoorthy ; OB GY Faculty DRs N Subhadradevi , C Savithri , K Prasunamba , A Savithri and others DRs P Narasimharao , Ramalingam , Veerabhadrarao , Lakshmipathy - now today I am what I am and what I have been is all due to the Blessings , Guidance , Teachings of all those stalwarts , most of them no more - I Bend My Head , Touch Their Feet and Pray for Those Departed Souls and For The Health of Those still Gracing Mother Earth . That is how my first day started at AMC/KGH , Vizag and will continue so for the next three years until June 1957 . More of it as time passes on and we all know time and tide wait for none , but in those first few days I felt it was waiting and very slowly moving giving me time to adjust to a new life , an independent life , an adventure in my own life - so be it and if all ye if willing You can sit at side lines and see it as I go through it . ramaraju balakrishna murthy ( moorthy

Valentine

I . February 12—Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday. 16th president of the United States was born in a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor . II . Full Snow Moon—February 14 . Valentine Day started on February 14 in A.D. 269. Birds of same kind set up a nest for life time. III . Rochester , NY , February 15 Susan B. Anthony’s Birthday. Me Krishna gone are the days when I used Brilliantine Childhood wherein I savored my favorite Ovaltine Myself never one for the idea of a Valentine What I cherish now a days is a sweet Clementine Baalakrishna me AnsooyadeviAthrimunison . anasooyaathreya-dr.bala krishna murthy ramaraju

Doctor Balakrishna Visakhapatnam AndhraBhaarath July 1954 - June 1957. February 7, 2014 at 8:07am I am done with Guntur Medical College . My first two years of pre-clinical medical education 1952 -1954 done with and over successfully . I have cleared all my preclinical subjects creditably - Anatomy , Embryology , Histology , Physiology , Biochemistry , Organic Chemistry , Dissections , Tracings of EKG / ECG , Muscle Contraction Curves . In 1954 I am now no longer a teenager . Guntur Medical College / Guntur Government General Hospital is not recognized by Indian Medical Council New Delhi for Clinical Phase of Medical Education . So now I am on way to Andhra Medical College Visakhapatnam then known as Vizag for the next three years of my Clinical Phase of Medical Education from July 1954 to June 1957 . Let me say a few words of Andhra Medical College ( AMC ) , King George Hospital ( KGH ) , Visakhapatnam ( Vizag ) , and Andhra University Waltair ( AU ) . AMC was originally Vizag Medical School offering Licentiate in Medical Practice Diploma ( LMP ) a three year course ( my father was an LMP ) . In early 1930s Vizag Medical School has become Andhra Medical College offering a five year Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery Degree ( MBBS ). KGH is an affiliated teaching hospital manned by Britishers and Indians . Vizag is a Bay of Bengal Coastal City towards North East of Madras Presidency and south of Calcutta ( Kolkata ) . AMC is older than Andhra University being originally affiliated to Madras University , but when in early 1940 when Andhra University was formed comprising of all educational institutions of Andhra Bhaarath Thelugu-speaking area , AMC became affiliated to Andhra University ( AU ) . AU is located in Waltair a beautiful suburb of Vizag , the whole City , perched right on the shores of Bay of Bengal being looked at from Dolphin's Hill and Blessed by Simhaadri Appanna . Now I am going to embark upon my journey to AMC / KGH / AU / Vizag and am very anxious . Let me get over my anxiety - please realize that for the first time I am leaving my birth town Guntur , going to be away from my family , on the way to become my own man away from the disciplinary surveillance of my stern father , so let me take some deep breaths , let me relax , let me overcome my fears , and then I will describe my virgin journey to a place far away , please abide and tarry with me - I will be back and we will journey together from Guntur to Visakhapatnam ..anasooyaathreyabaalakrishnamurthyramaraju