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She blazed a trail in veterinary profession

Country's first woman vet feels blessed to have joined the profession, writes T. Ramavarman

Sakkubai Ramachandran

The 75-year-old Sakkubai Ramachandran has the rare distinction of being the first Indian woman to have joined the veterinary profession, which now attracts many women across the country, particularly in Kerala.

Dr. Sakkubai, born at Gopavasam in Andhra Pradesh on January 12, 1931, is now settled in Bangalore. Though having usual age-related health problems, she brims with confidence, retaining the excitement and adventurism which might have persuaded her in the year immediately after Independence to take up a profession which was till then considered hazardous for women.

``When I joined Madras Veterinary College for my graduation in 1948, there were only two girls in my class. The other girl did not remain in the profession, though she had completed the course with a first class,'' Dr. Sakkubai told The Hindu . She was at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, near Thrissur, to participate in a national seminar on ``Women in veterinary science and animal husbandry.'' ``It was the intense persuasion of the then Principal of the Madras Veterinary College that made me join the course. He told me then that with my association with the Mahila Congress and other social activities, I should be able to become the path-breaker for women in the veterinary profession. And I agreed, though my people put up lot of resistance,'' Dr. Sakkubai told The Hindu . ``My parents' resistance had more to do with a taboo prevailing then against a girl going out for education. But I never regretted [having joined the profession]. In fact, I feel blessed to have become the first women in the country to have joined this wonderful profession,'' she said.

After graduation, she worked as research assistant and virologist at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute at Muktheswar in Uttar Pradesh, till her retirement in 1991. ``In those days, going to Muktheswar, located on the foothills of the Himalayas, was an arduous task. We had to inform the police in advance to accompany us in the journey.'' In between, she took her Master's degree from Madras University in 1961. She was sponsored in 1966 by the Swedish International Development Agency to work for a year in Sweden on cell culture technology. She completed her Ph.D. in veterinary virology from the University of Edinburgh in 1971. On issues of gender discrimination in veterinary profession, Dr. Sakkubai says: ``Multiple forms and levels of discriminations are prevailing in society, and I always used to get disturbed by such injustices. But then you have to device your own strategies to circumvent such discriminations and carry on with your mission.''

``We need not get unduly preoccupied with what others think or speak of you, because you cannot transform yourself as per the wishes of everyone you meet. You will get a sense of satisfaction if you are able to get the feeling that you had elevated yourself each day,'' she said.

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