CMC Vellore


		Robin Hardy Online


		Christian Medical College Vellore, India

Reader John Medamana of New Jersey saw our review of Granny Brand and e-mailed a question to Robin regarding it (an interesting point all by itself--see 1 below). John explained that he grew up in Kerala, India, 200 miles west of the Kolli hills where the Brands worked. John said that he had never met the famous Paul Brand (Granny's son), but his aunt, who was educated at Vellore, would have.

Who is your aunt? Robin asked. And what is Vellore?

In reply, John forwarded this excerpt from the 1955 biography of T. Howard Somervell, (who climbed Mt. Everest twice) which says in part:

Vellore is a Christian Medical College, and is out to produce Christian doctors. Most of our students are Christians and have come from Christian families, many of them from Travancore, but others from all over India, and even further afield, from Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon. Others are Hindus and Muslims, though these latter are very few. [See 2 below.] But our desire at Vellore is that the spirit of Jesus Christ should permeate all our work. We must treat people, not merely diseases. We must follow our Master in being always ready to do our best for anyone who requires our help, rich or poor, high or low caste, and it must be our very best, too, for nothing less is worthy of God whose work we believe this work of healing to be. The Christian life of the college, prayers and services in the beautiful and simple domed chapel as well as meetings arranged by the Student Christian Movement or other Christian groups, and Bible classes for all students on Wednesday mornings-all this is of supreme importance. For we want our students to leave the college not only qualified technically as doctors, but ready to go wherever the need is greatest, not where the fees are highest, ready to give themselves to those who need their help in the spirit of Christ the Master of us all.

That will mean in many cases that the doctor produced by Vellore's training will feel he is called to work in a village or country district. For it is in these that the need for doctors is greatest, rather than in the big towns where so many doctors are already in practice, and where fees will be much higher than in the countryside. India's people live in villages and country districts, 83 per cent. of them. Only seventeen out of every hundred are in large towns or industrial areas. And there are more doctors looking after those seventeen in the cities than there are in the countryside where live the eighty-three. So it comes about that, we make a special appeal at Vellore for the countryside.




	Then John let slip the fact that his niece, Sarah, had been accepted to Vellore. Upon Robin's query, he supplied this information: "Sarah joined CMC last month [Aug. 2005]. She joined the medical school for the 5-year course. She was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1987 and moved to Cochin, Kerala, in 1998. CMC Vellore is one of the most prestigious teaching hospitals in India and getting admission there is very difficult. My niece is a bright student. She is a good violin player and she writes poetry. Her background is probably more diverse compared to a girl who grew up entirely in India, and that must have helped her in the selection. She told me that she passed a written exam. They interviewed 40 of the top students for 8 seats that are called "open merit". The interview ran for two days. Vellore admits 60 students every year. The remaining 54 seats are allocated to various sponsorships: churches, regional preferences, and affirmative action for students from disadvantaged castes/classes. Sarah was incredibly fortunate. We all prayed for her as she was going thru the admissions process."


	Regarding his aunt, John passed along this information: "M.T. Saramma was born in 1926. (A note about her name at 3 below.) She decided to become a nurse after high school, so she applied to CMC Vellore and got admission to the nursing school. She worked there as a nurse for about 20 years (1945 - 1966), marrying George Mathew after she quit her nursing career. She lived with her husband in Bangalore, India for about 20 years. They then retired to Kerala and lived in Aluva, Kerala. She passed away in 1993. "Saramma aunty (as we called her) was the first member of our extended family who is known to have traveled outside the tiny state of Kerala. Vellore is in Tamil Nadu, about 400 miles away, where the culture and language are very different (think of the diversity of European states to compare various Indian states). My aunt was clearly blazing a trail in 1945. Soon afterwards, several other family members left Kerala for education and jobs and moved to various other parts of India and around the world. My aunt was certainly the pioneer in the family. Her nursing career in CMC coincided with the time when Dr. Paul Brand and Dr. Somervell worked there."


	RHO wishes to extend our congratulations to Sarah, our prayers for her success, and our commendation to John for being part of such a stellar family.


	1. John's original e-mail had to do with the fact that our review noted Robin's displeasure with the author's casual use of a racial epithet throughout the book. "What word was that?" John asked. Robin replied, "Coolie." Whereupon John replied, "Explaining the word coolie in the Indian context is complex. It is not similar to the N word in America. People still use the word in civilized discourse, as you noticed in the letter you received from India. The word is derogatory and I can't think of a good example to compare in the US context. I would not call anyone coolie where I grew up [in Kerala]. But, I'll use the word to refer to a day-laborer I hire to do odds and ends. I will also use the word to refer to wages paid to a day laborer. Laborers who worked in the paddy fields my family owned were coolies. We paid such laborers prevailing coolie. There are more civilized synonyms. My wife pointed out that coolie may be similar to the word porter; and these days we use the word skycap. Perhaps, over time the word porter will become derogatory. But, I am not a language historian. It is indeed fascinating how everyday words can become derogatory terms over time." [back to text]

		2. John notes: "When Dr. Somervell wrote his memoirs around 1950, India was a segregated society along the lines of caste, religion, and class. CMC was one of two institutions that provided medical training for Christian students. Today CMC combines secular traditions and Christian spirit. CMC admits students regardless of their religious affiliation." [back to text]

3. "A note regarding her name: 'Saramma' is the Kerala Syrian Christian version of 'Sarah.' 'M.T.' stands for 'Medamana Thomman.' 'Medamana' is the family name. 'Thomman' is her father's name, being the Syrian Christian version of 'Thomas' (probably the original form of the name from Israel). Syrian Christians of Kerala trace their origins to the first century when Thomas, disciple of Jesus, is believed to have preached in Malabar (ancient name for Kerala), on the west coast of India. He later became a martyr in Mylapore near Madras (now Chennai) on the east coast. Syrian Christian traditions are very different from western Christian traditions." [back to text]

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