Varsh Pratipada, also called Gudi Padwa is celebrated as Hindu New Year in Maharashtra. This auspicious day happens to be the birthday of Dr. K. B. Hedgewar – the founder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).  Dr. Hedgewar was a visionary leader who took up many challenges for uniting the rifted Hindu society which had disintegrated due to caste driven politics. India is invaded by foreigners because of its fragmentation. His method of organizing Hindus and training young people to devote their prime hours and years to motherland has been carried out by some visionary doctors at Hedgewar Hospital, Aurangabad belonging to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Vaidyakiya Pratishthan. The doctors have come together to give maximum efforts of themselves to the society.

Dr. Hedgewar Hospital was established in Aurangabad in 1989. A 10-bed hospital was started in 1989 by Doctors with small borrowings from their families. And then doctors decided to manage their life on minimum income which set an example. And this is the strongest footing of this organization.

Since its inception the hospitals has treated more than 60,00,000 poor patients.  The hospital treats approximately 4 lakh patients annually. Dr. Hedgewar Hospital provides excellent medical services at reasonable cost to the common man. The doctors who serve in this hospital live up the Hippocratic Oath which is one of the oldest binding documents in history, the Oath written by Hippocrates is still held sacred by all physicians. Doctors at Hedgewar Hospital serve patients in an environment of sacrifice with specialized care to poor patients to the best of their capability.

Apart from providing the best healthcare facilities, the hospital is well known for its cleanliness, hygiene, and infection control measures and has also been awarded for the hygienic best practices many times by the government.

This hospital has received amazing response from rural and urban poor because it has been strengthening the beliefs of poor in the medical services. They are cared for in this hospital. The doctors and staff dedicate their efforts to achieve the mission and vision of the hospital. The mission of the hospital is to provide services, medical and social, to common man which will be Excellent, Expanding, and Transparent and with Humanity. The hospital also strives in creating harmonious, strong, self-reliant and nationalistic society through various projects by deriving inspiration from the Sangh.

The hospital transmits a pious and compassionate ambiance. The hospital runs state of the art blood bank, a health project for the slums, rural health project and a project purely for women and child development. Due to rare combination of Quality and affordability of Health care, Ratan Tata, while inaugurating new building in 2001 said “The hospital is well equipped, without showing off its opulence. The Hospital is a project of the people, by the people and for the people. I wonder why we should not achieve similar success in other areas also!”

During Covid19 pandemic Dr Hedgewar Hospital ensured to provide an Intensive Care Unit with fully equipped 22 beds and a dedicated team of cardiologists, anaesthetists, physicians, and intensivists ( doctor who specializes in the care and treatment of patients in intensive care unit) They treated around 800 to 1000 patients who suffered from post-COVID complications.

India needs more skilled healthcare professionals and stronger infrastructure. The constitution of India requires the government to ensure the “right to health” for all. It is mandatory on the part of each state to provide free universal access to health care services; however, health care in India has been underfunded.

Dr Hedgewar Rugnalaya (DHR) is scheduled to set up a hospital in Assam by July 2022 with an investment of Rs 500 crore. Specialties in the hospital will include General Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, ENT, Ophthalmology, Paediatrics, Radiology, Pathology, Intensivists, Dental Care and Dialysis among others.

According to Dr. Anant Pandhare, Medical Director, Hedgewar Hospital, Charitable hospitals can sustain themselves with support from society. He says people who wish to donate or help in setting up a hospital look for a credible organisation and credibility which is established on the values and determined application of those values. With ethical practice, honesty, and integrity, charitable hospitals can come to the fore. In addition to this, for charitable hospitals to be sustainable, there are certain challenges such as forming a dedicated team of doctors including the staff with similar visions and ideas. Mission and vision of an organization is achievable only when the employees also align with it. To control the cost of the services, management has to be vigilant.

And, last but the least, the society at large should come forward in creating and financially supporting such hospitals. In long run, having the power to improve the lives of others is a privilege. Giving reinforces our own personal values and empowers us to do better in life.

 Panchgani is a perfect getaway to recharge your spirit, relax, and feel revived. The air is clean, you can hear the birds chirping, and you can see variety of green shades in the endless grasslands.  Visit Panchgani to reconnect with your loved ones over delicious, healthy snacks and meal. Get relief from stress and boredom.

Beautiful Panchgani was discovered by the British superintendent John Chesson and he was assisted by one Mr. Rustomji Dubhash. The English men were looking out for a summer resort, and they found Panchgani most suitable for the purpose. Pnchgani got its status as a hill station in 1860. John Chesson is credited for doing good work in the hill station; he planted many plant species from the western world in Panchgani; some of the plants like silver oak and poinsettia, which have flourished since then. Mahabaleshwar was the summer resort of choice for the British, but it was uninhabitable during the monsoons. Panchgani was developed as a retirement place for the British because it remained pleasant throughout the year. Panchgani is set in the vicinity of five villages: Dhandeghar, Godavli, Amral, Khingar, and Taighat. Hence the name Panchgani was decided for the hill station. Chesson encouraged various professionals such as tailors, dhobis, butchers, vegetable vendors, building contractors, electricians, carpenters, and hoteliers etc. to settle in Panchgani. He did this to develop the infrastructure of the hill station.

The Krishna River flows below nearby creating the lake of Dhom. The temperature in Panchgani is around 12 degrees during the winter, and sometimes reaches 34 degrees during the summer; however the humidity level is very low. The Monsoon rains hit here hardest and the rainy season spans between June and February, allowing the region three months of relatively dry and sunny spring. The five hills surrounding Panchgani are topped by a volcanic plateau, which is the second highest in Asia after the Tibetan plateau. The tableland is the highest part of the hill station elevated above 4550 feet above sea level covering almost 95 acres. In the months August and September the tableland is covered with lush green emerald carpet of grass. The tableland is raised by pressure between the earth plates. The area has high seismic activity, due to an epicenter near Koynanagar where the Koynanagar Dam and a hydroelectric power plant have been built. Even Koynanagar dam is worth a visit.

Panchgani is a thriving hub of food processing units today. Panchgani is surrounded by vast tracts of arable, agricultural land and is known for its agriculture and agro-business. Panchagani’s proximity to urbanized markets such as Mumbai, Nasik, Nagpur, Aurangabad etc, changing food habits and dependence on ready to eat food, cosmopolitan nature of the city, connectivity to JNPT port has made the processed food cluster of Panchagani very famous. It exports jams, jellies, toffees, pickles, chtanis to many foreign countries. Panchagani cluster is developing very fast and is home to about 3000 plus small and micro entrepreneurs. The cluster produces a range of products comprising semi-processed ready mix products, pickles, jams, jellies, squashes & syrups, Ready to Eat/Ready to Cook products ground & processed spices and papad.

Even today you see a colonial style town in Panchgani. It has many Parsi styles of houses. Go for hiking to the Rajpuri caves or visit Pratapgad fort. It has many handicraft and Kolhapur chappal stalls.  With spectacular valleys, winding river, tall trees, scattered hamlets, greenery and wild flowers Panchgani is indeed the best hill station for a leisure holiday.

I am labeling the Lonar Crater Lake mysterious because even citizens of Maharashtra hardly know of this splendid lake. It’s a saline and alkaline lake located at Lonar in Buldhana district in Maharashtra, India. This lake was created by a meteor impact about 52,000 years ago. Geologists, ecologists, archaeologists, naturalists and astronomers have reported several studies on the various aspects of this Crater Lake ecosystem. Lonar Lake has a mean diameter of 1.2 kilometres (3,900 ft) and is about 137 metres (449 ft) below the crater rim. The lake is 150 meters deep.

For all of its exclusiveness, very few people in Maharashtra have heard of it apart from locals and sporadic trekkers. This is the largest lake on earth created by hyper-velocity impact hollow in basaltic rock. Every year about 30,000 – 1,50,000  meteors plunge towards the Earth; but none of them have managed to create a lake like Lonar. It seems Lonar Lake has prompted NASA scientists and officials from the Geological Survey of India to attempt answers to questions like: 1. Why is the lake alkaline and saline at the same time? 2. How does it support micro-organisms which are rarely found elsewhere on Earth? 3. Why do compasses fail to work in certain parts of the crater? 4. What lurks at the bottom of the lake?

The lake is surrounded by jungle spread with Teak trees. A belt of large trees about a mile broad runs all round the basin; this belt is formed of concentric rings of different species of trees. A ring of date-palms followed by a ring of Tamarind trees, another ring of Babul trees, bounded on the inside by a belt of bare muddy space. This space is several hundred meters yards broad, devoid of any vegetation due to the soda content of the water and covered with a whitish slippery soil. During the rainy season, this soil drains into the lake. The water of the lake contains various salts or sodas, and during dry weather when evaporation reduces the water level when large quantities of soda are collected. Two small streams drain into the lake, and a well of sweet water is located on the southern side, close to the water’s edge. Small and medium sized hills surround the lake.

The Lonar crater was first discovered by British Officer J E. Alexander. The Lonar Lake has sky-blue water surrounded by the vast expanse of emerald green forest.  Forget the scientific angle; this destination also has much to offer the wildlife enthusiasts as it is liberally endowed in both flora and fauna. The crater is home to hundreds of peafowl, chinkara and gazelles, which surf amongst the shrubs and bushes ringing the lake. Other residents include egrets, moor hens, herons, coots, white-necked storks, lapwings, grey wagtails, grebes, black droungos, green bee-eaters, tailorbirds, magpies and robins – as well as numerous species of migratory birds that often visit the place.

I recommend readers to visit this meteoric lake at least once; it’s worth seeing with your eyes how powerful the nature is. Winter is the ideal time to visit Lonar. The climate is pleasurable from November to January. We visited Lonar Crater Lake in January 2015. Craters are a rare phenomenon; you find very few on earth. Besides Lonar it seems there are hardly 10 or 11 crater lakes in world. The best route to reach Lonar is from Aurangabad via Jalna.