Neurology India Medknow Publications on behalf of the Neurological Society of India ISSN: 0028-3886 EISSN: 1998-4022 Vol. 52, Num. 1, 2004, pp. 13-13

Neurology India, Vol. 52, No. 1, January-March, 2004, pp. 13

Editorial

Neurology India salutes its founder editor

Goel A

Department of Neurosurgery, Seth G. S. Medical College and K. E. M. Hospital, Parel, Mumbai - 400012
Correspondence Address:Department of Neurosurgery, Seth G. S. Medical College and K. E. M. Hospital, Parel, Mumbai - 400012 atulgoel62@hotmail.com

Code Number: ni04001

The March 2004 issue of Neurology India is dedicated to the memory of Prof. B. Ramamurthi, who merged with Infinity on December 12, 2003, at Chennai.

It is indeed befitting that the very journal he founded is paying tribute to this venerable neurosurgeon. What was close to Prof. Ramamurthi was his own specialty of neurosurgery, the allied specialty of neurology, and as their necessary bedrock the whole medical fraternity, and the medical establishment. It cannot be overstressed that to the excellence of each of the above, he contributed in generous measure, both by precept and preaching. He had priestly qualities of missionary dedication. While he swung the surgical knife with such ease, he wielded his pen with no less aplomb. The topics he covered embraced wide areas and the text he fashioned became a treat to savor. He had realized that good medical writing in India is scarce. He was proud that he had eased the scarcity by his own prowess. His emphasis on brevity and the originality in his medical writing is worth paying heed to. Arthur Koestler rated humor as an act of creation. From this standpoint, Prof. Ramamurthi remained creative professionally, socially, and even in his writings.

Prof. Ramamurthi has left behind a void hard to fill and an example hard to imitate. He will survive in the hearts of all those who hold neurosurgery and neurology with the respect they deserve.

Neurology India, as Prof. Ramamurthi′s brainchild that he fostered to viability and productivity, expresses its gratitude to him by recognizing his monumental contributions and by inviting fellow physicians to offer their tributes to this great man. If there is one motto that Prof. Ramamurthi manifestly exercised all along, it was intellectual skepticism, the readiness to challenge, the will to instruct and innovate. He seemed to underscore the pledge that ′I am here not to worship what is known but to question it′.

Copyright 2004 - Neurology India