The river Saraswati was one of the great rivers of India,
though many call it a myth sure evidence is being unearthed today that it was
and it still does exist.
During the Vedic times thousands of years back along
the banks of this great river lived a group of Brahmans called Gowda Saraswat Brahmins
they were so called because they lived along the banks of the Saraswati
river or because they followed their saint sage Saraswat. With time Saraswati
river dried up or disappeared into the bowels of the earth and the Gowda
Sarsawats migrated to the west coast some went up to Punjab some to Kashmir
some to to Dwaraka in Gujarat but those who went to the west coast reached
Gomantak today's Goa and settled there as a vibrant community not limited to
priesthood but into enterprise and trade, Exodus started during Aladin Khiljis
rule in 1294 and later in 1506 during Portuguese reign due to religious
persecution.
They migrated down the west coast some settling in south kanara
some going by boat to Cochin and even down south up to Trivandrum,
wherever
they went and settled down they adapted to the place but at same time preserved
their individuality in their customs and traditions their skills and vibrancy
contributed to the region and soon they became dominant players in the region.
I give this introduction of GSB before I write about Dr
Ramesh Shenoy of Cochin a radiologist by profession, a multitasker by skills to
give an idea of his antecedent history no wonder he is doing what he is!
Born in 1963 to Sri. Sreenivasa Shenoy and Smt. Priyamvadha
of the GSB community in Cochin the family was well known as the Pendikars.
Pendi
(Konkani) or pindi (Malayalam) is the waste bit left after pressing out oil
from an oil cake and as the family was initially involved in oil business they
came to be called as the Pendikars,
The business was started by Sri. Yogya
shenoy son of Sri. Janardana Shenoy Sr
at Broadway Ernakulam in a site taken on lease from TD temple,
Sri Janardana
shenoy had migrated from Vypeen a nearby island to Ernakulam in the 17th
century .
The family still holds religious icons and heirlooms for the past two
centuries in great reverence .
The Sankarasserri madom is the ancestral house or Tharavadu of the family in the Chitoor Road.
His grandfather, father and his
paternal uncle were all Ernakulam Thirumala Devaswom temple Adikharis
yearsin
Over
the years St Alberts School in Ernakulam has produced many worthies of the city
it was here that Ramesh too did his school studies. He went on to do his MBBS
and later Diploma in Medical radiology from Kasturba medical college
Manipal Karnataka
A radiologist is trained to look at screens and decipher and
is a vital part of diagnostics in Modern Medicine,but Ramesh did not stop
looking at his computer monitors when he was doing an Ultrasonagram & Xray
, the computer attracted Ramesh like a magnet and he used to twiddle with it
even in the days of the proverbial floppies which many youngsters wouldn't even
have seen leave alone to have worked with them but to Ramesh the 1.2 MB plastic
covered floppies were an irresistible attraction, he learned by experimenting
with them.
Ramesh was also an ace organiser quietly doing his work in
the background and never eager to be in the limelight but his talents were
noticed by keen observers like the ace Nephrologist of the city
Dr Georgy K Ninan who
was a pioneer in Renal transplants in Kerala Dr Georgy requested Ramesh to take
up the post of general secretary of SORT Cochin (Society for Organ Retrieval
and Transplantation). In 2002 SORT was a
fledgling organisation in 2002 with a meagre bank balance of Rs 1000. Ramesh
ran helter and skelter he produced greeting cards for the New Year with SORT
messages and by selling them slowly increased the balance.
By 2004 the first transplants had begun and then there was
no looking back for SORT with its committed committee members and Ramesh
putting his weight into the nitty gritty of running an organisations all this
for a good cause which he believed in, of course Ramesh never hesitated a
second before he pledged his organs to be donated after death as an example for
others.
Ramesh is also actively involved in Stem cell donation group
in Kerala. Being an Executive member of the Indian Medical Association Cochin
since 2001. He was an organizing committee member of the I M A State conference
in 2010 & I M A state office bearer since 2014. He was Qualified Private
Medical Practitioners Association (QPMPA) Journal Secretary cum Treasurer for
over two years. Also was part of the Care and Share organization (USA) Kerala
Chapter.
He was also active in the Radiology association (IRIA) being
an executive member of the IRIA Kochi Chapter since 2009, was organizing
committee member of IRIA State conference in 2012 held at Cochin and recently
in 2015 was Treasurer at the IRIA National conference held at Cochin
Ramesh had also played a big part in making the Cochin I.M.A
a pioneer in using newer technologies.
He initially started using emails for event announcements later starting an I M
A Yahoo group. Colorful brochures gave way to newsletters sent by email later by using SMS/Whatsapp.
Once social sites started becoming popular he started
Facebook and Whatsapp IMA groups
He also made I M A software Applications using Team App software, any member could download
this from the web and it has a lot of I M A links, details of past present and
future events, archives of newsletters
and photo gallery .
Ramesh went on to make websites for I M A Cochin and later I
M A state branch, SORT,Cochin Clinical Society etc
He introduced public health awareness by SMS associating
with Telecom Company. The IMA drug bank was looking for a suitable place to be
in and Ramesh with the help of his community and the GSS Sanghamam found a
place in central Ernakulam with air conditioned comfort. He created websites
for several other social organisations too
and one for his own Pendikar family
Ramesh was instrumental in forming Pendikar Kudumba sangamam
and a family tree was created with exhaustive inputs,
I asked Ramesh how he went about doing this the hard way
said he, I visited each and every member possible to collect details which I
then painstakingly added to the tree and
the site
Which led to family meets over the years
A family meet which got rare media reports a meet where more
than 200 members attended! Tracing their lineage back to the 17th century!!
Ramesh family ventures too are into several branches helping the public in many ways .
Also an executive member of Gowda Saraswatha Seva Sangham for last 12 years.
Ramesh is also part of R.S. Shenoy school of hockey and is chairman of all health activity
He works as a freelance Radiologist in several hospitals in
Cochin and divides his busy schedule with great finesse
Ramesh is happily married to Pathologist Dr Shankari R Shenoy and has one son Vishwas
studying for plus two. Ramesh goes about quietly continuing his profession and
at same time contributing to his colleagues his family and the society at
large. Once an I M A President described him as a silent killer who though in
the back ground does the real work, this silent killer is sure a pride for the
Pendikars
