The Pride of the Pendikars

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