63-Year-Old Surgeon Honors Grandma Who Delivered Her Own Baby

When Dr. Nilima Kadambi's grandmother tucked her into bed, she didn't tell fairy tales. Instead, she shared real stories of delivering her own baby in a remote African village and treating epidemic patients across continents.

Now 63, the Mumbai pediatric surgeon has preserved these remarkable memories in a book that honors Dr. Sarladevi Khot, a woman who defied every obstacle life threw her way.

In 1932, Dr. Sarladevi lived in Maswa village, Tanzania, where her husband treated communities battling malaria, kala-azar, and sleeping sickness. When she went into labor 20 days early, he was away supervising patients during a malaria outbreak with no way to reach home.

So she delivered her own baby. She instructed the 16-year-old nanny to boil water and scissors, cut her own umbilical cord, and buried the afterbirth to protect against jungle cats drawn to the smell of blood.

When her husband returned home, he discovered he was now the father of two.

Dr. Sarladevi's journey to medicine was equally extraordinary. Born in 1897 to a farming family in Maharashtra, she was married at nine and widowed at ten during India's devastating cholera pandemic.

Her grandfather had insisted on one condition for the marriage: she could continue her education as long as she wished. That promise changed everything.

She went on to become a doctor in the 1920s, later remarrying her medical school classmate. Together, they served under the British Crown in Tanganyika from 1929 to 1940, becoming the only Indian female doctor in the region.

Why This Inspires

Dr. Nilima represents the fifth generation of doctors in her family. She credits her 4-foot-6-inch grandmother as the towering figure who instilled her love for medicine and humanitarian service.

In 2011, worried these stories would fade away, Nilima wrote "My Ajji and I" to document her grandmother's journey from orphan to pioneering physician. The book captures a living legend whose impact rippled through generations.

Dr. Sarladevi didn't just break barriers for herself. She created a pathway that her family continues to walk today, proving that one person's courage can echo through time.

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