CHICAGO: Though family members deemed it to be a private affair, it was not so as the octogenarian Indian physician Dr Dharam Paul celebrated his 86th birth anniversary and 60th marriage anniversary here. Dr Paul can easily boast of huge circles of friends and well wishers because of his helping nature and social activism. They gathered in numbers at Arya Samaj Center in West Chicago to be part of the celebrations and to wish the couple happy and healthy marriage life.
The event was highlighted with Havan and rituals with mantras recitals followed by Katha about Shri Hanumanji’s importance in Lord Rama’s search for Sati Sita Mata and destroying evil powers and Asuras including Ravan. A scholarly priest Acharya Omprkash Samvedi, originally from India but migrating to Holland, had come for the Havan and had gracefully performed the Yagya. The event concluded after the lunch.
Dr Dhararm Paul got his MBBS degree from Lucknow University in India in early sixties. After marriage to Premlata Paul, he came to Chicago 50 years ago and got MD here after easily sailing thru a few examinations deemed must for getting medical license. He practiced medicine and had his own clinic too on the south side of Chicago.
More importantly, he was actively involved in social affairs and was instrumental in establishing Indian Medical Association three decades ago. IMA, his brain child, has blossomed into a very powerful organization voicing the problems and grievances of Indian and American physicians alike. It has got re-christened as Indian American Medical Association serving even mainstream society through a free clinic on Peterson Avenue.
Madhu Patel
