Mangaliks of Meerut and Lucknow

I have compiled from my own memories and the recollections of family and friends a description of my life in a city in North India. But it is my family - a medical family in a time of change - that is the central character in my history.

My father completed his medical training in 1925. His evolution from a general practitioner in the 1930's to one of the leaders of the medical restructuring that took place in India after its independence from British Rule, in 1947, is central to the narrative. His medical career spanned the introduction of antibiotics, the discovery of the Rh factor, the definition of auto-immune diseases, and the first successful treatment of leukemia. His early recognition by the Rockefeller Foundation put him in the forefront of American involvement in medical services in India.

I have described the reorganization of both the social and the medical worlds that occurred in the 1940's and the 1950's. Mine is a personal story with reflections from a long time ago. I look back to a time that was different, a place that may not exist now. Yet I feel my corner of a large panorama may be of value to readers with an interest in medicine, sociology and history.

Aroop Mangalik
January 1, 2013