AKMG Souvenir Editorial -2013

Dear AKMG members,

This souvenir is our annual traditional custom of family chatter served on a friendly platter as we meet, greet and communicate. Through this production we express our various moods, exchange information as it appeals to the writers and expect that it helps all of us to get to know perhaps a little more of each other. This edition is offered with a request to be received with the same sentiments with which it is created, that of friendship and of fondness. It is compiled with a sincere intent to make it attractive, informative, and interesting reading that may be worthy of a second look, even of a place on your shelf. We have tried to include items on a variety of topics from authors with diversity of talents, presenting their messages with their own inimitable skills, in styles and shapes of their unique choices.
     Association of Kerala Medical Graduates is meeting for the thirty-fourth time and celebrating our annual convention this year in Houston. What started out of a longing to meet friends in a lonely land, sharing the language, food, interests, experiences, frustrations and the vague uncertainty about a future focus, gradually evolved through many layers of manifestations and modifications to our present status and stature with perhaps no semblance of ambiguity that initially persuaded us to create such an entity. What used to be a basic theme of eager craving to meet and gratify our thirst of friendship has mostly transformed into many sections with diversity of settings, from joyous celebrations to senile contemplations with shades of variations in between.
     A few of our members have been here for more than half a century and many of us are fast closing in on our heels. The landscape into which we landed and the hardships that the pioneers had endured have gradually yet distinctly changed into fresh challenges and loftier horizons being conquered. What used to be an exclusive and apprehensive club of foreign medical graduates has been gradually and convincingly replaced by the credible, confident, domestic contenders of our roles, our worthy followers, our proud, young and laudable legacy.
     As much as we, as a group has changed, so has our professional setting, meeting with its own transformation. New understanding, novel application and an overwhelming adaptation to technology have, significantly replaced what we learned, the way we learned and how we applied our knowledge a few decades ago. The revolution in turn has succeeded in surpassing human limitations in identifying intricate pathologies and correcting previously impossible situations. And quite ironically, alongside the new inventions and innovative techniques on the leading edge, there is a passionate acceptance and adaptation to age-old Vedic methods of yoga, meditation, Ayurveda, and other ancient modalities by the mainstream of America. As a consequence, squashed between the high- tech technology and the antiquated ancient wisdom, both of which seem to make inroads into our personal confines in dealing with the sick ones, there is a concern that our sensitivities and compassion towards the patients may get compromised. But in reality, as long as the candidates as medical students are chosen for the right reasons, and that they are trained along lines of proper perspectives, we can rest assured that our profession will be guarded and sustained as sacred.
     Glancing back through the paths we have travelled and the pages we have created, this organization of physicians with connections to Kerala have plenty to be proud of and contented from, as we turn our heads and focus on the present and visualize the future. With anticipated and inevitable changes we foresee a glorious prospect that the new generation of AKMG is capable of and be committed to accomplish.
     All of us in the convention committee are proud and privileged to welcome you to our beloved city, famous for its space programs, world- renowned Medical Center and its larger-than-life Texas hospitality. We strive to make your stay comfortable, enjoyable, and memorable. We sincerely hope that you leave totally contented and with pleasant reminiscences of a lifetime.

Author: Dr. Venugopal Menon

Was born and raised in a loving family in pre-independent India, became a doctor, served Indian army, got married, then came over to America with wife and a daughter, established as a successful Allergist, raised a family of three children, was involved in many social establishments, retired, and wrote memoirs, 'My Mother Called Me Unni, A Doctor's Tale of Migration'. View all posts by Dr. Venugopal Menon