In Vellore, one hundred years and thirty kilometres from Madras, there is a hospital. It is famous all over the world. A doctor from Kerala works there. Her name is Mary Verghese. Everybody likes Dr. Verghese. She is a simple person and full of fun. She spends a lot of time with the sick. All this is wonderful because, you see, Mary's legs are of no use to her. She can't walk.

This is her story.

Mary Verghese was born in Kerala in 1925. Hers was a big family ---- two brothers and four sisters. Her sister got married one after another, but she did not want to marry. She wanted to work and be an engineer but at that time there were no women engineers. So Mary decided to be a doctor.

When Mary was twenty, she went to study medicine at the Christian Medical college at Vellore. One studies for six years before one becomes a doctor and during this time Mary did some not very pleasant tasks. One of them was to take care of lepers.

To know what is leprosy read my next chapter