BOOK REVIEW
sewing on his pillows at night to master suturing.
After 10 months at Harlem, he rotated through the Francis
Delafield hospital for terminally ill cancer patients. During one of
the patient visits, he met a beautiful nurse by the name of Barbara,
who was Jewish. He found her very kind and compassionate in
patient care, and she instilled the seed of utmost compassion in this
young immigrant physician. They explored the vibrant metropolis
of New York together including visits to the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Central Park and the delights of New York coffee, salted
pretzels, lox and bagels, etc. Going to see the play “Oh! Calcutta” –
an avant-garde sex romp replete with indecency and nudity—was
quite embarassing for him, a conservative Hindu implant from rural
India. On top of that, “Oh! Calcutta” had nothing to do with Calcut-
ta—the Indian city of Mother Teresa—and was in fact a wordplay
on a French phrase, “a quel cul t’as,” loosely translated as “what an
ass you have.” In short, they fell in love and Arun asked her parents
for their daughter’s hand and got permission from his own parents.
Arun and Barbara got married on Nov. 20, 1970.
After finishing his surgery residency in 1972, he pursued the
Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery program at the Rhode Island Hospital
in Providence, R.I., affilitated with Brown University. To learn pedi-
atric cardiac surgery, Arun later with his family moved to London,
England for his residency at the Great Ormond Street Hospital. Fully
board-certifiied in General Surgery and Cardio-thoracic surgery, he
returned to Rhode Island from London in the middle of 1975. He
descibed his experience dealing with hospital intrigue and politics
over the ensuing many years and mentions a few instances of racism
along the way. Overall, Arun enjoyed his thriving practice and the
respect and notoriety that came with it. He and Barbara had health
issues, and eventually the time came when he had to say goodbye
to his life as a practicing cardio-thoracic surgeon.
The book is a page-turner and is beautifully written, expound-
ing on the life of a pioneer surgeon who has seen the evolution of
cardiac surgery from the early days. It is a testament to the inclusive
spirit of American medicine that has been great for immigrant
physicians, with the exception of ugly racist incidents. Immigrant
physicians (perjoratively called FMGs or IMGs) who constitute 25%
of physician population in this country, have been swimming in the
mainstream of American medicine since the late 1960s. Many are
successful physicians with superb communication skills as practi-
tioners, specialists, professors, department chairmen at prestigious
institutions, authors, speakers, researchers, administrators and
entrepreneurs. I came to the US in March 1975 and have had an
exciting, thrilling and fulfilling American experience, somewhat
akin to Dr. Arun K. Singh’s, and am proud to be a naturalized citizen
of this great country.
Dr Seyal. practices cardiovascular medicine at the Seyal Cardiology LLC in Clarks-
ville, Ind.
THE 2020 RICHARD SPEAR, MD, MEMORIAL PHOTO ESSAY CONTEST
2020 GUIDELINES
To enter, you must be a GLMS physician member (practicing or retired), GLMS
in-training member or a University of Louisville medical student.
THEMED ESSAY CONTEST:
All entries must be original, unpublished photos and writing intended
solely for publishing in Louisville Medicine. Essays must be pertinent to the
following theme:
"Empowering Physicians to Inspire"
LENGTH:
300 words
DEADLINE:
Monday, March 2, 2020
PRIZE:
$1,125 for practicing and retired
$1,125 for physicians-in-training
FORMAT:
Please send a high resolution .jpg image (under 10MB) along with your essay
typed into a Word document as attachments. Please make sure to include
your name, entry category, essay title and contact information on your
submission. This will be removed before judging.
SUBMISSION:
Send via email as an attachment to Kathryn Vance at
[email protected].
FEBRUARY 2020
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