Dr. Bagadia, Sir, is No More

With misty eyes, I have to report the sad demise of one at whose feet I learnt the fundamentals of clinical psychiatry, and also what it means to be a caring and compassionate human being.Dr V. N. Bagadia [5.12.1922 - 17.8.2009] was one of the sharpest clinicians in post independence psychiatry in India. His pioneering spirit to make psychiatry recognized as an important medical discipline in the face of denial and neglect by his medical peers was well matched by his infectious zeal and enthusiasm, which could not but rub off on his students and colleagues. That icon of modern psychiatry in India, a benevolent patriarch who did so much for the branch and for all of us who have followed in his wake, and who benefit so immensely from what he bequeathed us so generously -- that giant is no more.