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 Doctor treating and rehabilitating people, musician giving concerts, musicologist spreading awareness of carnatic music to children, a human being keen on helping people with disabilities – all these encompass Dr. Sunder’s life for he believes ‘Life is to be lived to the full’.
I had a chat with the doctor in his clinic aptly on the eve of ‘World Disability Day’ and he shared his life journey with me for Chennai Chimes in his typically humorous manner.
Dr. Sunder elaborated ‘I was born in Chennai, spent a few years in Mumbai and was back to Chennai to join medical college. I came into medicine because my mother wanted me to be a doctor and I qualified by scoring well. It was in the year 1984 after completing my M.B. B.S and working with patients in the neurology ward that I felt I had to take up physical medicine and work on rehabilitating people. Medical field has made tremendous progress, surgeries are performed and people who don’t need to be hospitalized any longer got discharged, but nothing was done as a follow up. This period, known as Rehabilitation, is the third phase of medical care, first being prevention, the second being curative. It is an old field in medicine but not a very popular one and people were skeptical when I opted to do my PG in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. But I was confident of making a mark for myself and I am happy with the choice I made.’ Dr. Sunder set up his own clinic in the year 1992 and since then he has successfully been working on rehabilitating people. His ‘Prem center’ caters to patients with chronic pain and paralysis.
Music has always been a passion for Dr. Sunder and he was introduced to music also by his mother. He learnt Carnatic music formally in Mumbai and later on pursued it under the tutelage of the great maestro D K Jayaraman. He completed a degree in Music from the Madras University after his MBBS. He still gives concerts and has a set of students who are performing musicians. He believes that audiences for carnatic music have to be created and so, as convenor of the Music forum Chennai, he regularly organizes programs all over Tamilnadu, where children are led through a journey into how to appreciate carnatic music.  
Dr. Sunder has authored a standardized textbook on rehabilitation which is a prescribed text book for students of medicine and para medicine. Apart from all these activities, he is also the driving force of Freedom Trust which helps rural economically backward people with disability to be given appliances like calipers and artificial limbs to enhance mobility and thereby lead a better life.
Speaking on the challenges he has faced, he explained that the phase of his life when he finished his medicine was a tough one. He struggled to get a post graduation seat and to pursue music he commuted great distances everyday by bus. He was married and had to support his family. Ultimately his hard work and passion paid off and today he is one of the most established doctors in Chennai working with a lot of satisfaction.
Dr. Sunder has won many awards for his versatile achievements including ‘The Best doctor Award’ from the Chief Minister of the state of Tamilnadu and ‘Kalaimamani’ as an artiste and several awards for Social Service including ‘The National Award’ in 2009 for his contribution to the society. When I enquired how he managed his time to fit in all his varied activities, he says that his relaxation from work has been music and viceversa. He also has a supportive family and very efficient staff to whom he delegates work. He adds that achieving all this has been in the midst of fun elements for he always played ‘scrabble’ with his children in their younger days, watches movies and goes on holidays as often as possible.
Dr. Sunder dreams of building a world class rehabilitation centre with leading surgeons and physicians from different fields of medicine. ‘I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference’ Dr. Sunder quoted Robert Frost as a sum up to the life he has led so far. Lively in his approach and committed to his work, he is all geared up to fulfill his ambitions, simultaneously enjoying his life and playing a significant role in the lives of people.
Contact
Number 91 44 4331 3333, 99400 22234,
Email
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Website www.freedomtrustchennai.org, www.premergonomics.in
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Very inspiring. Makes us feel how much more we can do.
Good Work Mala.
All the best
Archana