The ruin that is Dr Radha Gobinda Kar's birthplace in Howrah came alive on Sunday with the visit of his family members and around 100 doctors on his 163rd birthday.
The courtyard of 47 Sastri Narendranath Ganguli Road at Santragachhi was cleared and a pandal erected with a dais and chairs.
Metro had on August 15 highlighted (RG Kar's house lies in neglect) the sorry state of the house where the founder of Asia's first private medical college was born in 1850. The institution is now the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
"We planned to come here and the college authorities decided to observe R.G. Kar's birth anniversary here after reading the report in Metro about the house. I am amazed to see that a house that was built in 1754 still stands," said Umaprasanna Ghosal, the vice-president of the RG Kar Medical College Ex-students Association.
"This celebration of R.G. Kar's birth anniversary in his birthplace is one of the best so far," said Suddhadhan Batabyal, the principal of RG Kar medical college.
The programme was organised with help from local councillor Shyamal Roy and the officer-in-charge of Chatterjeehat police station, Somdeb Bandopadhyay.
A number of proposals sprang up during the celebration. "We want a road in RG Kar's name in this area. A statue of Kar will be installed here and we also want a wax figure of the physician at Mother's Wax Museum in New Town," Ghosal said.
The ex-students have also proposed that Santragachhi station be renamed after RG Kar. "Another important plan is to start a specialised medical centre near the house. The borough office nearby was on the Kar family land. So we can start a centre there by extending a floor.... Also, we want to start an ICU ambulance service between the centre and the (RG Kar) hospital," said Ghosal.
Residents of the area and family members were happy that Kar's roots have finally been recognised. "RG Kar has been an inspiration for many of us who grew up here. I studied medicine from the same college and even worked there for many years," said Santragachhi resident Bholanath Bandopadhyay, a former head of radiology at the medical college.
