Tribute to Dr. Kaikoo Kaka, brother of grandpa Jehangir Lalkaka

By his daughter Aban Mukherjee, Mumbai, 22 March 2015, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Bombay Psychiatric Society.

Dr. Ajai Singh, Dr. Heena Merchant-Pandit, distinguished guests and friends,

It is indeed and honor to stand before such an august audience to say a few words about my father, Dr. K A J Lalkaka. I was but a schoolgirl when he died in a car accident in 1969, before I could truly appreciate his greatness. What I would like to share with you is some of my memories and impressions of him.

I can only describe him as a sthitapragnya, wise and tolerant. In his presence one instantly felt calm and cheerful. He had a quiet sense of humour and could diffuse tension and discord by his very presence. I have seen patients, unhappy and anxious, entering his study, only to leave it relaxed and smiling.

Acceptance of Life or prasadbuddhi, came naturally to him. Though steeped in his practice his range of interests was wide. He loved to sit at his writing table, his reading lamp covered by a green shade, reading books on Philosophy, both Indian and Western. It was he who introduced me to the Principal Upanishads and even taught me my first Sanskrit prayer - Tvameva Mata cha Pita vtameva. From him I also learnt about Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. He loved literature and history too and the more than 11 book cupboards in our home always kept me busy on rainy days, playing the game of “discovering” exciting new books. In the last years of his life, when his eyesight was failing, his good friend Prof. Rustom Choksi would invariably drop by early in the morning to read to him, on his way to Bombay House, from his home in Marol.

As a parent he never spoke condescendingly to me but treated me with the same courtesy and respect with which he treated others. All my childish questions would be answered in a thoughtful manner. It is only now that I can truly appreciate his knack of simplifying the most difficult concepts so that even I, a mere child, could understand.

When the informal after dinner sessions that later led to the formation of the Bombay Psychiatric Society began in our home on Nepean Sea Rd., I was just a little girl who was supposed to be fast asleep in bed. But I’m afraid I consistently disobeyed this injunction. The minute everyone was absorbed in erudite discussions I would creep out of bed, and hidden behind the study curtain, peep into the drawing room and avidly listen to all the grown-up conversation. In this manner I picked up a lot of Psychological terms.

One of the highlights of my childhood was to accompany my father to the big hospitals like KEM and Nair. While he was busy, I was allowed to wander freely around the Medical Museum looking at all the pickled specimens with wonder and curiosity.

I would also be taken to Jai Vakil’s school at Sewree where my father lectured to the teachers and my mother Pareen, who had trained under Maria Montessori, taught the Montessori Method. I would spend an enjoyable morning with the children in their classroom. At the age of 5, I accompanied my parents to Baltimore where my father was invited as the guest of the State of Maryland to visit the Mental Hospitals there. Here too I would happily mix with the children in their classrooms.

Later I had the privilege of attending my father’s lecture demonstration sessions on hypnosis to a hall packed with medical students.

By the time I grew up and took a Pre-school Supervisor’s course in Southampton I was absolutely comfortable with the idea of inclusion and integration of children with special needs into the mainstream classroom.

I was very fortunate to work as a pre-school teacher in my own school- The new Era School, with its enlightened approach towards inclusion, and for many years I had the privilege of catering to children with special needs, both mental and physical in my classroom.

I could go on enumerating my father’s many excellent qualities but I feel that the 16’th chapter of the Gita says it all. He was a man of daivisampad and it would have made him immensely happy to know that all that he worked and strived for has come to fruition today.

Thank you.

22 March 2015: Golden jubilee Celebrations of Bombay Psychiatric Society Release of Commemorative Volume of BPS Presidential Addresses and Felicitation of BPS Past Presidents Dr. KAJ Lalkaka and other past presidents to be honoured.

I have been requested to say a few words on my father.

Dr Lalkaka: MBBS 1915

Joined the Indian medical Service in 1917 and rose to the rank of Captain. He was sent to Mesopotamia (Iraq) during World War I.

He was the doyen of Psychiatry in India and trained at the Worcester State Hospital, Worcester, Mass. U.S.A. in 1932.

On his return to India in 1933, being the only practicing psychiatrist at that time, he had the unique distinction of giving lectures to students of all three teaching general Hospitals in Mumbai. Viz. the Grant Medical College, the G. S. Medical College and the Topiwala Medical College.

In 1934 he joined the Society for the Protection of Children in Western India.

In 1948 he became an Honorary lecturer for the teachers' training Course for the Mentally challenged children at the School for Children in Need of Special Care Sewree, Bombay, started by Jai Vakil.

Dr.Lalkaka was responsible for starting the Bombay Psychiatric Group at his residence. These meetings eventually resulted in the formation of the Bombay Psychiatric Society of which he was the first president.

He was also the President of the Bombay Psychological Association and one of its founder members.

He rendered selfless service to the Public Health Dept of the Bombay Municipal Corporation and worked tirelessly to bring about an awareness towards the need to address Mental illness.

In 1956 he had the honour of being invited by the late Dr. Clifton T Perkins, then Commissioner of the State Mental Hospitals, Maryland, USA, to be the guest of the State of Maryland.

He died at the age of 78 in an accident.