“I am happy to introduce my wife – Dr. Brindha Moorthy, the first woman graduate in the family – from my side as well as her side.
I should thank my father-in-law for having sent his daughter to college- that too a Medical college, in the 1960s when college education for girls was frowned upon in his orthodox family circles. He was blessed with 7 children and one can easily imagine the mental and financial strain he would have undergone in providing good education to all his children.
My wife, his eldest daughter, did her MBBS and came out with flying colours from the Mysore Medical College in 1967 and became the first woman graduate of the family much to the delight of the entire family.
After her internship in GH, Chennai she joined the Railway Hospital as a medical officer. Our marriage was in 1971. I am a Chartered Accountant, eldest son of a family of 6 siblings, and again a first graduate in our family. For my wife, the marriage meant a transfer to a different city as my job was in Coimbatore. Our daughter was born in 1974. Again migration to a neighboring State was necessitated because of a change in my job. Since she could not get a transfer of job to the neighboring State she had to resign her prestigious and lucrative job in Railways and had to take up private practice at Bangalore. Our son was born in 1976.
As there was very little assistance from elderly parents from both the sides in taking care of the small children she had to struggle quite a bit to attend to her household as well as professional work. After a few years there was again a shifting back to Coimbatore as I changed the job once more seeking greener pastures. When the children grew up a bit and started going to school she joined a private hospital where she had to be on duty, at regular intervals, during nights at the hospital. There were days when she would leave to the hospital in the morning and come back home only next day afternoon. Being quite good at work she earned the appreciation of the hospital management as well as patients. The years that followed were years of struggle and consolidation for the family even as she had to play the role of an ideal home maker without any assistance from elders and also fulfill her professional commitments. The assistance from me as the spouse was not much to speak about because of the very demanding work schedule I had in the office and as I had to travel quite a bit on official work.
In retrospect, I should say hats off to her for the time she spent with the children and imbibing in them a sterling character and for fine tuning their growth chart.
The children, being witnesses to the extraordinary efforts put in by their mom to balance the demands of the professional as well as personal life chose a career other than medicine. Our daughter chose my profession and became a Chartered Accountant and our son chose engineering and pursued his MS in USA. Both the children are now married and are well settled at Dubai and USA respectively.
Thus the aspirations of my wife who wanted to give equal importance to both professional as well as family life were fully accomplished.
Being the first woman doctor in the family she has no doubt been a great inspiration as well as a role model to my family as well as her family which now has several men and women doctors and a host of graduates in other disciplines. Besides medical advice she has been of great moral support to a number of family members when such assistance was needed.
The story of her life would be incomplete without mentioning that both of us have now retired from our respective professions and are enjoying our sun-set years with regular trips to various tourist destinations in India and off the shores and periodical visits to our Children’s place to share their joys in seeing their children grow up.
I thank God for giving me a first class first graduate as my life partner and everything else that he has given us with or without my asking for. A photograph of my wife taken recently to commemorate 50 years of her joining the Mysore Medical college showing her as she was then(50 years back) and now is attached herewith giving a vivid picture of what age and experience does to a person.”
Contributor: S. Boovarahamoorthy (spouse)
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