Laxmi Sehgal

LAKSHMI SAHGAL – A DOCTOR BY PROFESSION , A SOLDIER BY CHOICE

BORN : OCTOBER 24,1914,CHENNAI  Sahgal was born as Lakshmi Swaminathan in Madras Presidency (now known as Tamil Nadu) on 24 October 1914 to S. Swaminathan, a lawyer who practiced criminal law at Madras High Court, and A.V. Ammukutty, better known as Ammu Swaminathan, a social worker and independence activist from the Vadakkath family of Anakkara in Palghat, Kerala.

DIED : JULY 23,2012,KANPUR On 19 Jul 2012, Sehgal suffered a cardiac arrest and died on 23 July 2012 at 11:20 A.M. at the age of 97 at Kanpur. Her body was donated to Kanpur Medical college for medical research. Captain Lakshmi Sehgal International Airport is proposed at Kanpur Dehat district.

Lakshmi Sahgal was a revolutionary of the Indian independence movement, an officer of the Indian National Army, and the Minister of Women's Affairs in the Azad Hind government

Sahgal is commonly referred to in India as "Captain Lakshmi", a reference to her rank when she had been taken prisoner in Burma during the Second World War.

In 1998, Sahgal was awarded the Padma Vibhushan by Indian president K. R. Nnarayana

However passionately Lakshmi had felt about fighting for freedom, she did not respond to Gandhiji's call to students to leave their studies and join the Civil Disobedience Movement. She felt that India would need well-educated and trained professionals once freedom came. She qualified for the MBBS degree in 1938 and obtained her diploma in gynaecology and obstetrics a year later.  She worked as a doctor in the Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital located at Triplicane Chennai.

She married P K N Rao, a pilot with Tata Airlines, while she was still studying for the MBBS degree. Within three months she felt it was a mistake, and returned from Bombay to Madras to continue with her studies. Rao, who didn't forgive her, did not give her a divorce. So, when she fell in love with a classmate at Madras Medical College, unable to...