Nidhi's stream of stories : ಕಥೆಗಳ ಹೊಳೆ
My new blog!
A while ago I bought a book, the Kannada rendition of Somadeva's 'Katha Sarit Sagara' by Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar. A renowned author of Kannada novels and stories. A freedom fighter too!
As I browsed through the book, I felt that this could be the first blog ever written! It is fascinating how the stories meander from topic to topic! I am giving this style a try!
I will add new stories as I go on, instead of separate blogs! Gradually it will perhaps become a book and hopefully interesting!
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| Damaging public property to show protest is democracy? |
The area is known as Vaccine Depot in Belagavi. It is situated very close to where my ex-colleague and friend Ramesh Bankapur lives. He walks there with a few friends every morning. He had suggested we walk there at six in the morning! The perfect time to see birds and peacocks. Anyway he was kind enough to adjust to my timings and we took a walk around ten am.
The name intrigued me. There is a nice story about the Vaccine depot. A story we should feel proud! Anyway this is about a vandalized glass house I saw in the Vaccine depot and had posted it's photo in our WhatsApp group. I had asked why anyone would break glass windows in this manner! Bala wondered whether it was the result of the eternal dispute between the two neighboring states.
It is unfortunate that we still practice destructive ways of protesting in our country! While I further research the story of this beautifully located Vaccine Depot, Enjoy the walk with me!
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| Tara and Gita joined us later! |
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| With Ramesh in front of gate which is locked! I did see a couple of kids squeeze through. |
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| I took a few pictures through the locked gate! |
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| It is a mystery why it is shut. The open air museum looks new! |
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| As we enter the walled vaccine depot premises |
It was a miracle that the Vaccine Depot survived, well almost!
I had hoped to check about Vaccine depot easily through
Wikipedia. But drew a blank, however I saw an article in https://allaboutbelgaum.com/about-us/
While
it is about covid 19, it gives us insight about Belagavi and a few of its citizens.
We should be proud of them and bow to them! It truly is Belagavi’s BEST PERSONAL
blog dedicated for the city.
I have not edited this article, also added the comments as they are all relevant. I have not included a few pictures as they are similar. Some buildings are occupied by departments of Health Care etc.,
It is clear there were plans to convert this area into a tourist spot. Also for other activities. Expand it for use of the health department or Develop it into a high-end private apartments! More about the story of Vaccine Depot as I find them!
It is a pity that I did not see statues of the founder of the Vaccine Depot and the scientists who researched and created new vaccines which saved lives. I won't say instead of the politicians, just let us honor other contributors too!
Read on:
Dr. Nitin Khot July 8, 2020
We are in the middle of a health epidemic like the world
has not seen in the last hundred years… exactly.
The previous time when the entire world was hit by a
virus was when it started at Fort Riley in Kansas in USA in 1918, and, by 1920,
it had consumed over 17 million (1.7 crore) lives. There was no vaccine
available then for that virus, which was also believed to be part of the Corona
family of viruses.
There is no vaccine available now for the Covid-19 virus
that has already taken lakhs of lives. India has promised the world that our
country will produce a vaccine against Covid-19 and that it will produce this
vaccine at a low cost and will share this vaccine with the whole world equally.
Vaccines are produced through a very long process of
research and experimentation at vaccine institutes. There are two
pre-requisites for vaccine institutes:
The institute must be located in a place with an equable
climate for all year-round testing. That is why the British located vaccine
institutes in places like Bareilly, Kasauli and Belagavi. The
vaccine institute must be located in a vast green, self-contained space far
away from human inhabitation, so that even if an accidental escape of a virus
or a microbe or a bacterium takes place, it will not infect human beings.
In 1905, the Chief Health and Sanitation Inspector for
Belagavi, Mr. T.W.H. Hutchinson, cordoned off over 200 acres of land, in which
he developed one of India’s finest vaccine institutes.
This Belgaum Vaccine Institute was devoted to the
development of vaccines for several tropical diseases that were killing people
in our country at that time. The worst disease that killed lakhs of children
every year and could be regarded as the worst enemy that India ever faced was …
smallpox (regarded as the curse of the ‘Devi’).
When the W.H.O. decided to galvanize the whole world to
banish this terrible disease from the face of this earth, India entrusted the
lead in vaccine development to Belagavi’s Vaccine Institute.
For several years, a very fine
doctor, Dr. Prasanna Kumar, worked the Institute almost 24 hours a day to
produce a record 47 million doses of smallpox vaccine every year.
This
was heroic work from the health workers and the technicians in Belagavi’s
Vaccine Institute. Finally, in 1977, this dreadful disease was
forever banished from the world and millions
of children have been saved… thanks to heroes of the Belagavi Vaccine Institute.
So, the Vaccine Depot of
Belagavi is therefore the ‘karma Bhoomi’ of the great smallpox virus warriors,
like Dr. Prasanna Kumar and his scientists, technicians and workers.
Finally, the Karnataka State
Government, wisely anticipating that it might well be needed in the future, to
prepare vaccine once again, decided to protect it with a Government Order,
AKUKA 84 CGM, which protects this entire space as a permanent Botanical Garden
and Heritage Park. In preparation of the
Smart City Plan, thousands of stakeholders voted to retain this space as a
‘heritage precinct’, as a tribute to the battles that were fought over here
against terrible diseases that ravaged our country. This was put into the
area-based development plan (ABD) for Belagavi and this unique feature was
highly appreciated by all in New Delhi.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “The
value of water is only appreciated when the well has dried up”. Similarly, the
value of green spaces will only be appreciated when we have destroyed each and
every green space that we have in our cities, and built cement concrete
buildings on them, in the name of “development”.
M. N. Kapadia Very well
explained, Nitin It will be a great pity if the Vaccine Institute campus is snatched away,
Belgaum & we citizens of Belgaum will be the greatest sufferers.
It is not too late for the powers that be to leave the Institute campus alone,
it will be a blessing not just for us the present citizens, but for future
generations as well.
Beautiful description of a place that so meticulously and
selflessly served an entire nation!! Let us hope it will be preserved as it is
and not fall prey to ‘development’! As it is, a ‘glass house’ has already been
built within that is just an eyesore!!
During the late 70’s and early 80’s, Dr prasanna Kumar’s, the
director of the institute. His son was my classmate. I have fond memories of
visiting the institute. There is colonial style bungalow inside ,where Dr
prasanna kumar use to stay. I think it’s in ruins. I feel the govt should
preserve the whole institute as heritage site
Very heartbroken that Dr. Prasanna Kumar passed away yesterday in Bengaluru. I connected with his younger son, Rajesh, who lives in Oregon.
Dr. Prasanna Kumar was a brilliant professional, a paragon of humility, a
source of inspiration and a heart of Gold. People like Dr. Prasanna Kumar are
very rare. I had the privilege to know him and the whole family, during all
their days in Belgaum and subsequently, when they moved to Bengaluru, Davangere
& Portland.
God Bless his Soul. Om Shanti.
Dr. Prasanna Kumar….. A very focused sincere, dedicated & a
very humble gentleman…. The unsung heroes of India……. ,
Sunil N
Javali
Dr Prasanna was said to
be so particular and correct with Government property. It is known that he
never ever used Government vehicle for his personal work. So much so as to not
even take a pencil from his office to home.
A great and dedicated soul who worked for humanity.
Premkumar T V Very sad to hear loss of Dr.Prasanna Kumar ji who was a great person and a sincere professional who worked for humanity. My condolences and may my prayers help to comfort his family members. RIP
In present situations of covid why state government is not taking,
any steps to start the production of covid vaccines , as this institution is meant
for producing vaccines.
Now state government should take interest with the help of central government,
to once again start producing vaccines at Belgaum. So employment will generate
and the area of the vaccine institute will have the same glory as earlier.
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