LONG HEALTHY LIFE THROUGH AWARENESS OF FITNESS, ALERTNESS, DIET AND
MEDICINES
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| DR. P. C. DANDIYA |
BRIEF PROFILE:
Dr. P.C.
Dandiya obtained Ph. D. degree from University of Toronto, after having B.
Pharm and M. Pharm degrees from Banaras Hindu University. He started his
teaching career at S. M. S. Medical College, Jaipur, where he became a full
Professor (and later) Head of the Department of Pharmacology at the age of 35
and trained scores of M.D.’s and 19 Ph. D.’s in Pharmacology. For his
researches in Psycho-neuro-pharmacology, he received numerous awards from Medical
Council of India and Indian Council of Medical Research and was elected the
Fellow of the Indian Academy of Medical Sciences, a rare honour for a
non-medical person. He has been the President of Pharmacy Council of India,
Indian Pharmacology Society and Indian Pharmaceutical Congress and Pro-Vice
Chancellor and even Vice-Chancellor for some time, of Banaras Hindu University.
Professor Dandiya has worked in many countries and has been a Visiting
Professor at the Universities of London, Houston, Hawaii and Copenhagen. He has
also extensively given lectures at a number of Chinese Universities, as a Guest
Professor of Nanjing University. His students and associates, spread all over
the globe, whom he has immensely endeared, have floated an Endowment Trust,
which holds an Oration in his honour every year, besides promoting research
activities in Pharmacy & Pharmacology. He has written many books, his
Family Medicine Book has sold 5 lakh copies in 10 editions, and amongst them is
a beautifully written, highly interesting autobiography, that can be seen at
most book shops in the country. Presently, he is a Distinguished Emeritus
Professor of Pharmacology at SMS Medical College, Jaipur, where he has
completed 68 years of teaching the Medical Students, and now he is teaching the
grand children of those whom he taught more than 50 years back. He is also a
WHO consultant on Rational use of Drugs. He is Patron, BHU Alumni Association,
Jaipur.
INTRODUCTION:
We have
observed that Dr. P C Dandiya delivers lectures to Medical students in SMS
Medical College, Jaipur & also in other Universities, Institutes and
functions. He writes books periodically and gets them published and released in
appropriate functions. He travels a lot by air, train & road. He travels
abroad twice a year every year, to several countries and delivers lectures in
Universities there, besides other normal work. He responds fast, to e mails and
also other matters and takes quick & right decisions. All these activities,
besides the normal daily routine work, definitely require high degree of physical
fitness and mental alertness. The year 2016 having ended and the year 2017
having just started, first of all, we requested Dr. P C Dandiya to sum up what
happened in the bygone year in his life. He responded as follows:
As usual, I made my six weeks
summer trip to Florida and during that period, I gave a talk on “Man, Mind and
Longevity” at the Medical Faculty of Emory University in Atlanta, on
the invitation of Dr. Lucky Jain, Chairman of the Department of Pediatric
Medicine. I gave a similar talk to the physicians of Indian origin at Fort
Lauderdale. On the same trip, I made a
visit to Washington, DC.
This year I
completed 90 years in this world and my family and friends made it an occasion.
Several others came from various parts of the country & abroad, including
Rohit and Babli who came from USA. Dr. Vinod Kalaniji,
Dr. Manoj Tripathi, Dr. Jawahar Bapna, Dr. S.K. Kulkarni, Dr. Gurudas
Khilnani, Nirmal Gurbani and Jassuji made it a great
occasion. Dr. G.N. Singh, Drugs Controller General of India gave the 25th PCD
Oration and Dr. B. Suresh, the President of Pharmacology Council of
India presided. We had a good two day Halla Gulla. Certainly,
I started feeling that I should really pretend to look like an old Foggy.
For many
years, I had been thinking of writing a book on the Pharmacologists’ and in the
month of March 2016, I, with my two colleagues, Dr. S.K. Kulkarni of
Chandigarh and Dr. Gurudas Khilnani from Bhuj, started working on a
new book “The Pharmacologists of India: Their Contribution”. This book was
finally published by Vallabh Prakashan, Delhi and released on November 18th 2016,
at a glittering ceremony held at Delhi Pharmaceutical Science and Research
University and it brought about a great satisfaction to me. In this process, I
got reconnected to more than forty pharmacologists of India, who have
contributed in it.
This year
the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress was hosted by Andhra University,
Vishakhapatnam and it was a great success. They asked me to give a plenary
lecture on “The Evolution of Pharmacology in India: The last 70 years”. It
allowed me to recollect my academic life and access the rise, fall and reversal
of the discipline of pharmacology.
This year Mahamna
Malviya Mission of India celebrated the existence of Banaras Hindu
University, which completed 100 years. Since I feel emotionally attached to the
University and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, I felt extraordinarily happy
in being an integral part of it.
The SMS
Medical College, where I have spent 68 years, celebrated
its existence of seven Decades, in a two day grand celebration, with
The Governor of Rajasthan presiding. The word “Distinguished” was added to my
emeritus status in the college. This they had not done for any other teacher
ever, in 70 years of its existence. Dr. Lucky Jain and Dr. Jagat
Narula were also present besides other luminaries.
Dear
Girija as usual visited me from Las Vegas & brought lots of cheer to
me & my family in Jaipur. My granddaughters, Pia and Sonia continue
working at New York and Kichu continues to be with me and doing her
cosmetic Jewellery with success. Overall, I feel I had a wonderful 2016, and am
now looking forward to the next one, where I might have a greater interaction
with friends like you. Dr. M.R. Jain, Mr. Kewal Khanna, Dr. Parmanand
Bhargava, Dr. S.K. Sharma and Dr. S.K. Dasgupta continue to
invite me for dinners, almost on weekly basis.
Thereafter, with a view to get a
feedback from him on matters connected with health, we arranged an interview and
put some searching questions on the topic "Health, Diet and
Medicines", to which he has given candid replies and provided information
in a creative/purposeful manner for the benefit of everybody. Here go the
questions and the answers:
Q Most of us do have firm belief in the saying
Health is Wealth? How do rate the status of your own health at present?
Health awareness has increased
considerably in the last 15 years but not everyone is doing enough to stay
healthy and undo the natural decline due to aging. I am fully fit and healthy
enough, in spite of my age.
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Q What are your “Mantras” for maintaining
physical fitness of a high order, from the point of view of exercise, yoga and
rest etc.?
I know of no “Mantras” for physical
fitness but I must say that physical exercise is very important and yoga which
is practised by many, is not enough, unless accompanied by structured,
punctilious and meticulous exercise.
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Q How do you keep away from fatigue in your
trips abroad twice a year?
When I travel in India or to abroad I
travel in the best possible mode of transport available and my keen desire to
see my own people in other countries takes away my fatigue (that really does
not occur). On my way back, I am so keen to see my own people here like you, almost
instantaneously and it is so enjoyable that the fatigue has no chance to enter
me.
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Q What are the factors due to which you are
able to maintain good mental alertness?
Mental alertness is directly related
to “positive thinking”. If you think positively about events and about friends
and colleagues, alertness comes automatically in you, you don’t have to work
for it. Yoga freshens us and increases mental and physical alertness. The
company of a friend of the opposite sex or a spouse enhances it.
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Q Kindly narrate briefly, your daily routine
at home, right from getting up in the mornings, up to going for sleep in the
night.
I wake up automatically at about 5 am,
do yoga for about 45 minutes and then drive myself to my walk of 40 minutes
followed by tea, newspapers and telephone with my “choicest people”. I go to
work in my office at the SMS Medical College, Jaipur around 10:30 am returning
at 1:30 pm. After lunch I sleep for an hour and then go into my study i.e. my
workshop where I work until 7 pm and then go for a swim/walk for 40 minutes. I
eat my dinner around four times in a week with friends at their or my own
residence. Rest of the three days, I spend quietly at home and watch the
TV/read classic books of choicest authors and obtain them from the “Crossword”
where I am a regular visitor. Some of the classics written by Charles Dickens,
Thomas Hardy, Nirad Chaudhuri, Leo Tolstoy, E.M. Foster, Emily Bronte (although
she wrote only one book in her life “Wuthering Heights” in 1847), Premchand, I
read and read again after a gaps of 20, 30 or even 40 years. Amongst
contemporary writers I read Salman Rushdie, William Dalrymple and Gurcharan Das
and Shashi Tharoor (a former class fellow of my son, Bikram)
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Q What are the motivating factors due to which
you are engaged in multifarious activities all these years and now?
To begin with my exposure to the
Banaras Hindu University where Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya and Sir S.
Radhakrishnan, who were guiding our destiny, influenced me immensely and
changed me completely. I started aspiring for doing bigger things for the
country. Subsequently, my stay at the University of Toronto for three years was
responsible for motivating me to excel in the subject I was specializing at
that moment. I was lucky that I worked there with Prof. H. Columbine who was
very learned and loved his students immensely. My wife, Chandrakanta was also
responsible for keeping my targets high.
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Q What is your advice to those above 60 years
of age, in health matters?
It is a very good question you have
asked me. Actually, one should start taking care of his/her health sooner than
at 60, but even 60 is not too late. At sixty, most people retire from active
life which is not right. This is the time to make new projects, new ambitions
and work harder and enjoy the fruits of hard work. Greater sociability,
financial stability, pleasant environment, a spouse with a positive mind,
friends who care for you are important at this stage in life. In case of man, a
female company is a must. Most people miss here. At sixty, one must have a
project to do and people who work for the benefit of others, and for other
causes, do extraordinarily well, health-wise.
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Q How would you like to guide the young students in matters of their health in future?
Q How would you like to guide the young students in matters of their health in future?
Games are a must which help to make
mind healthy besides good physique. At this age, you enjoy life much more if
you have done hard work during work time. Any enjoyment without hard work is
ruinous. Work, work and then enjoy. This enjoyment helps you to grow and grow
fast.
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Q It is said that food has a great effect on
health of a person. What are your views on this point? Generally, what are the
items of food on your dining table, at breakfast, lunch and dinner?
Interestingly at my age, I look
forward to each of my three meals and very much so. For breakfast, I eat at
least two seasonal fruits, an egg/germinated moath. For lunch, rice, dal,
vegetable, sugared dahi and a fruit.
Dinner is generally rich with chapati
(wheat, barley, bazra) with
Rajasthani dishes followed by a sweet in good quantity i.e. minimum 125 gms (mishri mawa/barfi/halwa) all season wise.
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Q What is your opinion on use of alcoholic
beverages?
In moderate quantities and only off
and on, a drink does no harm. It can be positively useful for health, if taken
in delightful and enchanting company and in a pleasant environment.
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Q How have you been able to control “anger” in
life?
I don’t remember having shown any
anger anytime except when I was very young. I learnt from others that noble
people don’t get angry. Those who are often angry loose much in life & gain
nothing. One gets angry when one finds faults in others, I don’t find faults in
others. Everybody makes mistakes, why not your own people/friends/relatives/students
& children.
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Q It is said that mind and body are related.
What are your views on this statement?
Yes, mind and body are related and our
mind has a considerable control on our body. Those with the positive mind are
healthier and suffer less from diseases. Deepak Chopra of India is an
International authority on the subject and people are advised to read his
books.
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Q How have you been able to maintain a high
level of memory?
Memory is related to your love for the
matter. The people you love, you remember everything about them. The same thing
is about places, those you are impressed with, you don’t forget them or about
them.
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Q Most of the medicines are said to have side
effects. How has been your personal experience and that of other persons known
to you, about use of allopathic medicines in times of ill health?
Actually, there is no medicine which
does not have a side effect. Some have more, others have very few. The more
potent the medicine, the more side effects it causes. Medicines should always
be taken in the right dose at the right time and one has to be very careful
about taking them empty stomach/after food. Many people don’t observe these
meticulously and suffer from unnecessary harm. Before leaving the place of the doctor/health
personnel, one should fully understand the methodology and the precautions to
be taken.
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Q What are your views about the Ayurveda system
of medicines? Have you made use of such medicines personally and/or recommended
to persons known to you? If yes, what has been the general experience?
India is very rich in herbal medicines,
which have been tested and used for centuries. These have been employed for the
benefit of human beings for a long time. Ayurvedic medicines are mostly herbal
but it does not mean that they are very safe. Some of these are very useful in
gastro-intestinal ailments and also in maintaining a balance state of mind. Unfortunately,
these may not be so useful in very in-depth diseases, especially those due to
microbes. The so-called Ayurvedic tonics advertised so well and recommended by
some, are of no use at all. These have only as much effect as a placebo.
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Q Summarizing, what broad message would you
like to give to our readers/viewers, about matters of health, diet and
medicines?
Ordinarily if parents take interest in
the development of their children, these off springs do well in life. The old
proverb “early to bed, early to rise” is very true. Positivity of mind is the
biggest single feature which helps one in life.
There is
something I would like to add here that one should develop a habit of giving
more and more to others family/friends/students/colleagues. Those whom you give,
may not be able to ever return and give you back, but these weaker people do
send vibrations to you, not necessary directly, which improve our life and our
confidence, to do more and more in life. Most of our people fail to take
advantage of this easy attribute of life.
-------------vijaiksharma
