Dr. Kotnis

Most Maharashtrians, I am sure, might know who Dr. Kotnis is. He was famous for treating the Chinese soldiers during the 1937-1945 Chinese conflict with Japan. Dwarkanath S Kotnis and four other doctors were sent to China as part of an Indian humanitarian medical mission after China was invaded by Japan. While in China, Dr Kotnis fell in love and married Quo Qinglan - a Chinese nurse who worked with him. Tragically he died in China. Of course this was two decades before Nehru's infamous "Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai."


This is a Chinese stamp commemorating Dr. Kotnis obtained from wikipedia. I couldn't find the Indian one (1993).

As you know Prime Minister Hu Jintao was visiting India and visited Dr. Kotnis's 85 year old sister. I happened to read the article on BBC's website. You can find the article here. In his honour, stamps have been printed bearing his picture in China and there is a memorial to him in the city of Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, while he is relatively unknown in India. Ironic, isn't it?

Among other things:


This is the movie poster of the film

In fact there was a film made to honor Dr. Kotnis by V Shantaram during the 1940s, where he played the main protagonist and his wife Jayashree played the Chinese nurse. How do I know about this film? Well those of you who are from Bombay and were growing up prior to cable might remember that there used to be a sunday movie. This movie was shown one Sunday evening. I especially remember this movie because of the theatrical overacting, typical of India, by the actors. In fact I also remember regaling my sisters with wicked impressions of Jayashree and Shantaram. You can tell, I was always the irreverant one!