With her own touching note on Facebook about her experience of risking life to save another, Ashwathi became the face of commitment and earnestness for netizens. Where there is a will there is a way -- thus goes a popular adage. And it is passion that fuels our drive to attain the seemingly impossible goal or reach out to an intractable subject like a hostile tribal community in a remote jungle.
For Ashwathi Soman, the young physician who became an internet sensation overnight, her 10-km trek through thick woods and steep rocks to reach out to her patient in one of the remotest tribal colonies of Nilambur called Panappuzha ooru, was driven more by her passion than her professional responsibilities.
By the time Ashwathi and her team reached the ooru after a tedious journey, Ravi, a seemingly 58-year-old man who got one of his right toes cut from a non-septic source, had lost a lot of blood through his wound. The video of Ashwathi's tiresome journey, hanging on ropes and supporting herself on sticks, had been captured by one of her colleagues and shared on social media earlier last week. With her own touching note on Facebook about her experience of risking life to save another, Ashwathi became the face of commitment and earnestness for netizens.
To your surprise, this public medical officer of mobile dispensary, Nilamboor, is much more than a doctor. An actor, writer and radio jockey, this 31-year-old is also a budding filmmaker. Dr. Ashwathi opens up to Onmanorama about the several shades of her passion.
Deep forays
Aswathi's interactions with the tribal communities in Malappuram district commenced as she took charge in Nilambur. “I was working as a medical officer at Palakkad's Kottappuram when I first heard of Malappuram's tribal stretch,” Ashwathi narrates her story, “When I learned that there are hilly villages in remote villages unreachable by modern transportation and telecommunication, I felt fascinated to join the mobile dispensary team over there. But to my dismay, women are seldom deputed to such remote areas. Though I requested some of my seniors for a transfer to Nilambur, I was surprised when I received my next transfer letter to Nilambur, as the head of three nodal medical offices there.”
"We had to climb rocks, slippery slopes and steep hill-sides to reach the settlement,” Ashwathi explains the struggle.Each day at Nilamboor became a new experience to Ashwathi, who enthusiastically travelled over 130 km a day, up and down from her home at Manjeri, to reach her workplace. Like elsewhere, officials kept exact log of the tribal population living in dense forests and seek the help of forest officers and native watchers to get their health updates. Each tribal settlement has 5-20 families living in a locality, with homogeneous lifestyle, dressing, food and defense methods against natural calamities and wild animal attacks. The mobile medical dispensary team could reach out to almost all the colonies except the highest settlement of a primitive tribal clan called Chola Naykar. This colony is over 50 km deep in the forest, from Nilambur town.
“Chola Naykars are hesitant to come down to the mainstream society and interact with us. They choose nature-healing even if they are down with serious ailments or even flu. Last time a medical officer reached their colony was almost a decade ago. To my inspiration, it was a lady doctor as well,” Ashwathi's eyes gleam as she says this.
Aswathi's interactions with the tribal communities in Malappuram district commenced as she took charge in Nilambur. It was on June 18, a Monday, that one of Nilambur's nodal medical offices got an information regarding a middle-aged Chola Naykan suffering from constant bleeding on his right leg. When Ashwathi enquired about the way to reach there, the forest officers apprised her about the social aversions of the clan. She was told that the only way to reach out to the patient was to travel all way up to their colony, with enough equipment to perform a surgery.
“A 10-member team, which included two nursing staff from Malappuram taluk hospital and a couple of forest officers and safety officials, proceeded to the colony. We were accompanied by tribal watchers. We traveled half the way in a car and some of the rest by a jeep. About 10 km from our destination, we saw some huge trees blocking our path. We decided to trek the remaining distance. The natives used axes and ropes to remove huge logs from our way. We had to climb rocks, slippery slopes and steep hill-sides to reach the settlement,” Ashwathi explains the struggle.
By the time Ashwathi and her team reached the ooru after a tedious journey, Ravi, a seemingly 58-year-old man who got one of his right toes cut from a non-septic source, had lost a lot of blood through his wound. As the wound had also developed a serious infection, Ravi couldn't be saved without amputating his toe. “He had a very high diabetes level which restricted me from performing an on-spot surgery,” Ashwathi says, “I gave him a tight bandage to prevent further loss of blood but persuading him to come down to our hospital was the most difficult part.”
Despite her hectic schedule, Ashwathi spreads her wings over multiple realms like cinema, advertising, television anchoring and literature.Ashwathi had to reveal his exact medical condition to him to finally convince him of getting admitted to the hospital. “I told him he would lose his toe today, a leg tomorrow and life the day after. Luckily, that scared him and he got ready to accompany us downhill,” she says.
Ravi's toe has been amputated and he is steadily recovering from the injury at the Malappuram taluk hospital at present.
Media busy bee
Despite her hectic schedule, Ashwathi spreads her wings over multiple realms like cinema, advertising, television anchoring and literature. She has acted in three Malayalam movies -- Spirit, Color Balloon and Paathiraakkalam.
“I worked as a radio jockey during my college days. I have always been a media aspirant. After my graduation, I started doing television shows for almost all the main Malayalam channels. I have always loved to do anchoring and emcees. I still remember how excited I got when I got an invitation to perform one of the lead characters in the 2011 Ranjith movie Indian Rupee. I couldn't take it up as I was doing my house surgency,” she admits.
The young doctor has a couple of movies in her kitty at present. Ashwathi, with her proficiency in handling Malayalam and English, has also authored several health-related articles in leading magazines. Later, she directed a touching short film named Neelambari against female foeticide which gained quite a good number of views. She is also in to ad-film making and scripting. The young doctor has a couple of movies in her kitty at present. Ashwathi, with her proficiency in handling Malayalam and English, has also authored several health-related articles in leading magazines. “It is all about communicating the jargons to common people, in the language they understand. I believe that ones knowledge doesn't turn into wisdom unless one is able to communicate it with common people who are unaware of your concepts,” she says.
Ashwathi also cherishes a long-term dream of directing a mainstream Malayalam movie. “I have way to go before I accomplish it. I frantically collect experiences, memories and concepts, all to fulfill one dream – to direct a good cinema with a strong message,” she reveals.
A curious explorer, Ashwathi also loves traveling, finding societies cast too far from the mainstream, understanding their needs and helping them out with their life. Perhaps this is one passion which brought her to limelight now.
A curious explorer, Ashwathi also loves traveling, finding societies cast too far from the mainstream, understanding their needs and helping them out with their life. A family of doctors...
Ashwathi was born to Dr. Somasundaran, an ENT surgeon and Padmaja, a retired civil supplies officer at Thanneerpanthal, a village in Kozhikode. Her younger sister is also a physician and her brother is pursuing his B.Tech in mechanical engineering at IIT Madras. Ashwathi took her MBBS from Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, with a rank. She had secured one of the two merit seats the institute had offered back in 2005.
She married her campus love Anoop Ravi, who is an ophthalmologist at Malappuram government medical college. The couple has two children, four-year-old Arundhathi and two-and-a-half-year-old Aniruddh.
Commenting on the struggles of raising her children amid her busy professional life, Ashwathi says that her kids are very well accustomed with their way of life. “They watch our busy lives right right from the time they were born. As both of us belong to the same profession, we easily understand our priorities and share our responsibilities accordingly. My mother-in-law Bharathi is also an ophthalmologist. She looks after her grandchildren understanding the serious nature of our profession,” Ashwathi reveals.
Ashwathi married her campus love Anoop Ravi and the couple has two children, four-year-old Arundhathi and two-and-a-half-year-old Aniruddh.Tribal needs
Ashwathi opines that the government should provide them with good quality tools to cut wood, secure them from wild animals and natural calamities, instead of attempting to bring them out to the mainstream society. “Forest is their habitat. They do not need modern man's food and clothing. Instead, they need good quality wood-cutters, mechanical axes and other livelihood tools to live their native life in a better way. They don't need a drastic transformation but accessibility to all modern amenities which can make their life better,” Ashwathi says.
The young physician would head the four nodal medical offices of Nilambur for three years. She yearns for a posting in such remote villages and forest ranges in future too, so that she could carry forward her passions along with her profession. “There is only one life and you should live it in a place which needs you,” she says with a smile.
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