Daughter of Mumbai's renowned cancer surgeon Ernest Borges documents his legacy

Sharing a famous and notsocommon surname is great responsibility This writer realised this soon after moving to Mumbai 20 years ago to pursue her higher education On the first day of class at St Xavierrsquos College our English professor while taking the attendance halted briefly when she called out this writerrsquos full name A momentrsquos hesitation was followed by a question in the sheer spirit of enquiry ldquoDear girl are you related to Dr BorgesrdquoItrsquos a question that has continued to chase me all along sometimes with the name lsquoErnestrsquo prefixed for specificity I may have initially refused any allegiance but over time the need to give an appropriate response weighed heavily ldquoNordquo Irsquod say before carefully punctuating it with ldquounfortunatelyrdquoErnest in regalia on receiving the Papal Honour of Privy Chamberlain with Cape and Sword photographed on the steps of his home in Shivaji Park Pics CourtesyBorges Family ArchivesThe late Dr Ernest Joachim Joseph Borgesrsquos legacy is not one that I can claim to own but have nonetheless learnt to value His contribution to the fields of science and medicine are the stuff of legend and lore He was cancer surgeon at a time when radiation therapy and chemotherapy were still at a nascent stage and surgery the only hope for those afflicted by the disease His nerve centre was Parelrsquos Tata Memorial Hospital where he dedicatedly worked as chief surgeon for nearly three decadesmdashhe served as director and superintendent during the last years of his lifemdashlaying the foundation for cancer treatment in the country A 1966 Padma Shri recipient Dr Borgesrsquos selfeffacing nature left him untouched by his own celebrityhood so much so that his feats lay buried mostly in the memories of those who knew him and the rich medical literature he left behind ldquoMy father didnrsquot like to be talked aboutrdquo his youngest daughter and professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru Renee Maria Borges shares when we meet her over a video call ldquoThere were journalists who wanted to write about him but he would extract a promise from them to not be written aboutrdquo He passed away in 1969 fighting the same disease he spent a lifetime treating Perhaps now after all this time Renee feels that her father wouldnrsquot mind his story being toldHer justreleased book In Ernest Quest EJ Borges Legendary and Revered Cancer Surgeon CinnamonTeal Publishing draws from interviews with friends colleagues and family and excerpts from her fatherrsquos writings and talks to paint the story of a medical genius who was also devoted to family and faith ldquoHe died when I was only 10 I had very little time with himrdquo In 2009 when Tata Memorial celebrated his birth centenary with a oneday symposium on Dr Ernest Borges as a mentor Renee came on board to help edit pieces by prominent doctors that would be read out at the event ldquoWhile going through these pieces and of course later attending the symposium it became clear to me that there was a lot that I didnrsquot know about him and the accolades he receivedrdquo His expertise in esophageal cancer surgery when only a few dared to perform it had made him one of the most sought after in Bombay and outside ldquoThe Tata Memorial Hospital had collated a few of his important papers many of which dealt with the esophagus I had missed learning so much about my father and thatrsquos really when the quest beganrdquoCancer seals or stamps released by the Goa Branch of the Indian Cancer Society on September 7 1971 Ernestrsquos birth anniversaryDr Borgesrsquos practice in India was one of pure chance Born in then Bombay 1909 to Cajetan Francis Borges and Inez de Nazareacute Borges first schooled at St Theresarsquos High School in Girgaum and was later educated at St Xavierrsquos High School and College in Dhobi Talao After pursuing his MBBS from Grant Medical College and later an MS degree with distinction from the University of Bombay he left for England to pursue his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons FRCS But he developed bilateral lung effusion or pleurisy as a complication of tuberculosis Though he was treated at the Brompton Chest Hospital in London surgeons in England says 63yearold Renee were prohibited from operating after contracting tuberculosis ldquoHe had to return to India without completing his FRCS degree Back then you could only give patients palliative care by sending them to a hot and dry climate Bombayrsquos weather wasnrsquot suitable for him and so he relocated to Ahmednagar to allow his lungs to healrdquo shares Renee ldquoHe practiced as a civil surgeon at the Bombay Medical Service for several years My father was really enjoying his life there He had set up surgery departments and had his own nursing home But his father Cajetan started getting restive because he felt his son needed to settle down He came across an advertisement for a position in Tata Hospital which had just opened back then His mother Inez was sent to Ahmednagar to convince him to come backrdquoBorges joined Tata and was also sent by the hospital in 1945 to complete his FRCS examinations in England and later to train at the Memorial Hospital New York On his return he married Gracie Soares on April 27 1946 The couple had six children Anita Nina Rita Eric Marie and ReneemdashMarie survived only for a dayThere were of course challenges in piecing together this story considering how much time had passed and how many of Dr Borgesrsquo contemporaries whom Renee would have liked to interview had passed on ldquoI had to travel all the way to Guruvayur to meet the nurse who he worked closely withrdquo What Renee did have and to this day remains a prized possession were Dr Borgesrsquos unpublished handwritten speeches for radio shows and even wedding toasts and prize distribution ceremonies ldquoMy mother had rescued these sheets from my fatherrsquos suit pockets and preserved them carefully He was very meticulous and he would write and rewrite these speeches many many times I have written in the book how I have many versions of the same speechrdquo Renee had collected over hundreds such notes and while she could only publish extracts of a few they did give her ldquoinsight into my fatherrsquos humourrdquo ldquoEverybody whom I interviewed told me about his spontaneous wit and off the cuff quips that hersquod use to relax his patients and even the audiencerdquoRenee Maria BorgesDr Borgesrsquos association with the Catholic Church also ran deep He served as president for three terms at the St Lukersquos Medical Guild an organisation of Catholic medical professionals envisaged by the then Archbishop of Bombay Thomas DrsquoEsterre Roberts ldquoThe guild grappled with pressing medicomoral issues like organ donation and birth control or conscientious objectors because this was the time when India was creating government policies on family planning and sterilisationsrdquo It also published the Catholic Medical Bulletin a quarterly supplement to The Examiner a periodical published by the Archdiocese of Bombay ldquoMy father was one of the founding editorsrdquo And from some of the edits and essays in the bulletin which she was able to procure from the Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture and excerpts of which she was able to publish in her book Renee says it appeared that her father was a ldquovery practicalrdquo man ldquoThe Catholic Church had a strong antipathy towards communism and indeed Ernest in many of his speeches wrote against it But some years ago I found Thomas Mannrsquos The Magic Mountain inscribed to my father by the Communist Party of India I found this marvelousmdashthat someone could hold a notsopositive position on communism and yet be friendly with communistsrdquoRenne also writes fondly about her father as a family man Trips to their ancestral home in Dumpem Ucassaim Goa would see long lines of patients waiting for a consult Their last and most memorable holiday was in Kashmir in 1968 a vacation that Renee writes was ldquoperhaps his way of saying goodbye to his wife Gracierdquo as it brought back happy memories of their honeymoon in a houseboat on the Dal Lake ldquoNobody at the time knew that he was dying of stomach cancerrdquo says Renne It was only during the course of her interviews that she would learn that her father had confided in surgical oncologist Dr Praful Desai and a few friends ldquoPraful had wanted to operate on him immediately but my father stalled it saying he had to go on this holiday with his family He knew that he had about eight months to live but swore Praful to secrecy and told my mother that he had a peptic ulcer He even got a false report to convince her He had two surgeries but didnrsquot recover from the second I consider this a great exhibition of how one can be stoicrdquoTo pick up a copy httpswwwthedogearsbookshopcom