A dentist with a sweet tooth!

Photo credit: Kate Cardoz

Dressed in her pristine white coat, Dr Jayashree Bhandari sits comfortably in the clinic that adjoins her home. Hair neatly clipped behind her ears, maroon bindi affixed on her forehead, she radiates warmth as she unfolds 68 years of struggle, brilliance and independence.

 At the tender age of 10, she experienced discrimination in her traditional Marwadi household, her brother was always loved more. One of the reasons they educated her as a dentist was so that she could teach her brother, who despite being four years older, studied in the same class as her.

Initially her plan was to her pursue MBBS to become a paediatrician - just like her father. At three and a half she couldn’t even pronounce ‘paediatrician’ but when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up her response was “Baby doctor.” However, she missed the MBBS cut- off by one mark and thus stumbled upon dentistry.

 Once married, she was tortured by her in- laws because her parents, despite being wealthy, gave no dowry. In 1988, she shifted with her husband from south Mumbai to Andheri, where they set up their own practice. However, due to professional and personal differences they separated.

 In 1995, she juggled practice and the responsibilities of being a single mother in the unfamiliar locality of Andheri. The residents of her housing society added to her plight, by breaking the window of her clinic 16 times while playing cricket. She had no patients from the building as the members lacked faith in a female doctor.

 However, one evening as she was making Aloo paranthas for her daughter, her bell rang. She opened the door to a man named Pai and his little son who couldn’t eat dinner due to a toothache. Seeing his son relieved after the treatment Dr Bhandari gave him, Pai referred her to his colleagues the next day, on the bus to work. That incident got her several patients from his company, Glaxo.

 She compartmentalises her life to make time for activities she enjoys. She particularly loves making Indian sweets like kheer and halwa and makes them for her grandchildren when they visit her annually in December. Her weakness is Ice cream – her favourite flavours, creamy almond and Spanish saffron.  She confesses she can finish an entire pack in one go.

 Another passion she pursues is dance, by going for Kathak classes twice a week. She says she will practise dentistry and dance till the last of her days. A patient once enquired if she was still working, to which she replied, “If you don’t see me practising that means I have left this planet.”

 She keeps updated by reading dental journals like FAM 10 and the Readers’ Digest for leisure. She believes it is essential to work honestly, with determination and a goal. She doesn’t want to be identified as someone’s mother or wife; the only identity she wants to possess is “Dr Jaya Bhandari.” A reputation that will live on long after she has gone.