July 1957 I am done with Visakhapatnam and back in Guntur - August 1952 - June 1957 I have completed my MBBS and am now A Doctor . I completed the formality of Registering with Andhra Pradesh State Medical Council on July 7 , 1957 which now gave me an authority to practice Medicine and Surgery . I am now 22years , having lost my father and with no capital to set up Private Practice and having acquired a life partner as arranged by my late father , and in need of self support ,I applied for and lucky to be selected as A House Medical Officer , Government General Hospital , Guntur with a pay of Rupees Ninety per month which I began on First of August 1957 and thus became an earning member of the society . I had the good fortune to work under Physician Doctor P Narayanarao MD , Surgeon Doctor M Seetharamaswamy MS , Obstetrician Doctor S Sathyabhamareddy MD DGO for four months each , completing my first year of employment by the end of July 1958 . During that one year I have learned to give Injections IM , IV , SC , Give Blood Transfusion , Draw Blood Samples , Lab work , Set up IV drips , do Lumbar Puncture , Sternal Bone Marrow aspiration , Tapping of pleural effusion and Ascites fluid , Urinary Bladder Catheterization , Surgical Procedures - Hydrocoele and Hernia , Assist Abdominal Surgical procedures , Conducted Baby Deliveries in the maternity ward , Assisted C-Sections and Hysterectomies and in addition attending Emergencies , Accidents , Weekly 24 hour day & night call duties , so on and so forth . I have successfully completed my first year of House Medical Officer by July 1958 and was lucky enough to be selected as A Civil Assistant Surgeon , Employee State Insurance outpatient facility in Guntur with effect from August 18 , 1958 on a starting salary of Rupees Two Hundred per month which in those days I thought was quite a good pay . But I was restless and not content with just being An MBBS . During my one year as House Medical Officer ( August 1957 - July 1958 ) I dreamed about becoming A Surgeon and wanted to do Post Graduation In General Surgery . Thus while working as Civil Assistant Surgeon at Guntur and then In A Primary Health Center and In A Taluqa Hospital all within Guntur District for one year from August 1958 to August 1959 I gained good experience as an independent doctor attending to various medical and surgical conditions , dispensing medicines and being responsible for the welfare of public as well as government employees . I also cared for prisoners , law enforcement officials , and had to attend courts as a part of medico legal obligation . By the end of that fruitful year I could approach my superiors to recommend me for selection to Master Of Surgery Course ( MS post graduate course in General Surgery ) and my application was forwarded , was processed by State Government Directorate Of Medical Education and I was Selected For Two Year MS Degree Course In General Surgery 1959 - 1961 and I was happy and also lucky to be chosen as A Tutor in General Surgery cum A PG student to work under Professor Lingam Suryanarayana MS at AMC / KGH , Vizag back to my alma mater . I am thrilled and I am going to work , earn , and study . There you are friends I am again back in Madras - Howrah Mail on my way to Visakhapatnam in the last week of August 1959 - Please join me on my way as I travel back to my old college after a gap of two years , but this time I have to seek my own accommodation which I am confident I will be able to do . I am always an optimistic guy with a positive attitude and some how feel that everything will work out well and life has been difficult but nice to me even though I had no support from any quarter , but I am proud of myself not arrogant mind you , that I am a self made person and achieved what little I did all by myself with of course God by my side . I will see you in Visakhapatnam AMC / KGH - au revoir . AnasooyaAthreyaSeshaAnjaneyakrishna

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 : Thus began my independence . Unbridled freedom . Hostel life from July 1954 to June 1957 . Benefit and at the same time misuse of liberty . Away from a stern father and free from the confines of an ultra orthodox Braahmin household in Guntur faraway in beach town Visakhapatnam all by myself in Men's Hostel I became slightly wayward . It all started as a fun , I became A SMOKER of Cigarettes . My room mate in the hostel is a hypochondriac and a heavy smoker and addicted to drugs . Lucky for me he did not introduce me to Drugs , but he did introduce me to Smoking . It started on January First 1955 with One Cigarette to ring in the New Year . We had a feast in The Vegetarian Mess and my room mate offered me ONE CIGARETTE , I smoked , spluttered , coughed , and Liked IT . Touch wood No Alcohol indulgence , only smoking . Thus in January 1955 I started smoking one cigarette a day , then two a day , then after Breakfast , Lunch , and Dinner . Thus the habit of Cigarette smoking continued for more than 15 years (1955-1970) reaching A Zenith of Twenty Cigarettes A Day - THEN AFTER A SLAVERY , WHICH STARTED ON JANUARY FIRST 1955 AND LASTED FOR 15 YEARS 10 MONTHS 27 DAYS I GAVE UP SMOKING AS SUDDENLY AS I STARTED AND THAT LAST DAY OF MY LAST CIGARETTE WAS ON 28TH NOVEMBER 1970 IN BODH GAYA , BIHAR - sitting under a Peepal Tree , taking A Vow not to smoke again ( Krishna the smoker from January 01 , 1955 to November 28 ,1970 ) I will come to that at a later date at that time and how it happened . For the present be with me . But I am Happy to say that I did well in All My Clinical Subjects and passed every one of those subjects with good marks nothing to shout about from the house tops but I did well without any failure and completed my M B B S Degree in June 1957 , Andhra Medical College , Andhra University , Visakhapatnam . I could not celebrate because Tragedy struck as I lost my Father during my Final M B B S Examinations . I managed to complete my studies , came back to my Home in Guntur , Home where no more Is my Father . Several things happened during those tumultuous years 1954 - 1957 - I became A Cigarette Smoker , My Room Mate who introduced me to Cigarettes committed suicide . One class mate became mad under the stress of Medical College Graduation . Two class mates dropped out - one became A Medical Drug Company Representative , One just went away . But I did come out in spite of domestic tragedy and now there is no one to take me to task about my smoking . But to my surprise one gentleman came to visit me , he introduced himself as Doctor , a class mate of my late father , interviewed me at length about my studies , my habits , looked at me from various angles , I did not tell him about my smoking , so after a day long inquiry about me , the stranger understood all about me , my studies , my family , and my personality - Can You Guess , I know , That Gentleman came to select me as his prospective son in law , and I believe that my father just before his death has already approved the alliance and rest of my family have already seen the to be bride and my consent is taken for granted and only a formality . Strange you may think I never thought of going against my Father's Wish - so let it be An Arrangement Made By Two Gentlemen and I Bowed To Destiny - Then what happened - please wait . AnasooyaAthreyaSeshaAnjaneyakrishna

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

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