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Hridayasth
Dr. NITU MANDKE was a world renowned Heart Surgeon who was a pioneer in bringing Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery (MICAS) to India and thus reducing cost of Heart Surgeries in India drastically. In a short span of 20 years Dr. Nitu Mandke completed over 12000 successful heart surgeries giving life an hope to thousands of families. Hailing from humble beginnings, Dr. Mandke showed his brilliance in sports, business and art from a very early age. After gaining higher education and experience from World's best Heart surgeons in UK and USA at the time, he returned in his homeland India to serve his countrymen and the Nation. He was instrumental in setting up many of the protocols in Hospitals that are still followed to this day. He was also responsible for establishing Cardiac Surgery teams in various hospitals across Maharashtra and Gujarat in India as well as Internationally in Nairobi, Kenya and Dubai, UAE. Dr. NITU MANDKE could operate on elderly as well as infants with equal ease and soon acquired the name 'Miracle Mandke' from relatives of his patients. He was especially kind to his patients and their relatives and he treated 1/3rd of his patients free of charge. He dreamed of building Asia's largest super-speciality heart hospital in Mumbai and had completed building the structure of his 18 storied hospital before his sudden and untimely demise in May of 2003 due to a massive heart attack. He was only 55 years of age. His life partner and Cardiac Anaesthetist, Dr. ALKA MANDKE, took charge soon after to settle his medical team in various hospitals in the country as well as seeing her beloved and magnanimous husband's dream hospital project to fruition. The hospital stands tall today in the form of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (KDAH) and has been awarded as one of the best hospitals in the country. On his first death anniversary Dr. ALKA MANDKE published the original Marathi book "Hridayasth" to bring forth their story of love, romance, struggle and success. Subsequently, the book was translated and published in Gujarati, Hindi and English. The title Hridayasth, roughly translated, means somebody who lives in people's hearts. Over the past two decades this book has inspired thousands of people across the globe.
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Doppelgänger:Short Stories
Set in urban, middle class India, these 18 stories, defying easy categorization, are a true miscellany, reflecting the uncertain, illogical and vibrant nature of our times. Here boundaries between the real and the phantasmal blur: malls become haunted places, airports and golf clubs are the crossroads where past and present selves meet and greet. Chronicling the isolation, insecurities,hidden angst, subtle passion and secret longings that underlie ordinary lives and relationships, these stories weaves in themes as diverse as memory and the emotional residue it produces, the elusiveness of identity, the rigours of role play, the convolutions of a double life, the complexity of shadow wives. By turns sweet, sad, poignant, funny and mysterious, they draw us into their separate and compact worlds and linger with us awhile.