Orthopaedic surgeon who had tested positive for Covid-19, died at AMRI Salt Lake on Monday night .... Sir was all warmth, elegance and skill

TT, Calcutta , 29.04.20: Sisir Mondal, the orthopaedic surgeon who had tested positive for Covid-19, died at AMRI Salt Lake on Monday night. He was 69. Rahul Jain, internal medicine expert and Mondal’s colleague at Belle Vue Clinic, reminiscences his Sir.

When someone always starts a conversation with you, you know that the person is amiable, friendly and open. When someone can disarm you with a smile and a gentle nod, you immediately know that you are in the vicinity of a person that you can approach easily.

These were my first thoughts when I first met Sisir Sir in 2005 when I had joined Belle Vue Clinic.

Sisir Sir was a very jolly- natured man. He had a great flair for dressing sharply. He was fond of tweed and houndstooth jackets. He could carryWindsor knotted jacquard silk ties with the same elan as he could a tussar dhuti-panjabi. Sir carefully maintained a very conscious sartorial elegance at all times.

On the professional front, Sir was a calm presence which could ease the frayed nerves of a patient with polytrauma with his mild demeanour and swan-like ease. He was a reputable, kind considerate and busy surgeon who enjoyed the faith of his loyal patients. He was very good with his surgical skills and brought many ailing people on their feet. He was well respected by all his professional colleagues. A religious man, Sir lived a happy and content life which reflected on his visage.

Sir was an avid ‘debater’ in the doctors’ room adjacent to the ICCU on the seventh floor of our hospital “old building”. He would talk on topics as varied as cinema and politics to more mundane things such as norompak sweets, with his colleagues. I recall once how sir rebuked me gently for not eating enough sweets, “mishti khele diabetes hoy na”.

In January last year, Sir had hosted us at Bengal Club. As was his custom, he made sure that he put an extra sweet or two on my dinner plate. Sir was gracious and flamboyant in all he did, whether in his chamber or in his persona. We always received an extra helping of warmth in his presence. Perhaps his contemporaries knew him better than me. I only got to see a small facet of his persona which I have narrated briefly.

Alas, I know I will not see Sir again. The veteran of many a tough battle fought and won in the operation theatre, sir lost his last one battling an invisible enemy. Fate has dealt a cruel blow and snatched a frontline Covid warrior away from us.

I will miss that booming voice and that exuberant smile.

Sir leaves behind a son who is a young and dynamic orthopaedic surgeon, Soham, who has to fill very large boots. Rest in peace Sir. Condolences to the family. Amar pronam neben.