Prayagraj: Every morning, they slip into white coats, scrub for surgeries, examine anxious patients and make decisions that often determine the course of a life. But once they step out of hospitals and clinics, many doctors in Prayagraj quietly shed their professional identities to embrace passions that have little to do with medicine. Some chase the rising sun on bicycles, some lose themselves in poetry, others wait patiently in forests for the perfect photograph of a rare bird, while some of the city’s busiest physicians find solace in music.On National Doctors ‘ Day, these pursuits offer a glimpse into a side of doctors that patients rarely get to see — a side driven not by prescriptions or operation theatres, but by creativity, endurance, companionship and the simple joy of doing something for oneself.Every weekend, while much of Prayagraj is still asleep, nearly a dozen doctors, most of them in their 50s, gather with their bicycles before setting off on rides covering 40-50 kilometres. The group includes senior physicians such as Dr J.V. Rai, Dr Anil Shukla, Dr Ashutosh Gupta, Dr Atul Dubey, Dr Subodh Jain, Dr Pankaj Kamra, Dr Subash Chandra, Dr Saurabh Gujarati and several others who rarely miss their weekly rendezvous. “Our rides are less about speed and more about companionship. Discussions range from travel and current affairs to family life, with medicine consciously kept off the agenda,” said Dr Kamra.Their biggest annual event comes during the holy month of Shravan, when they undertake a long-distance cycling expedition from Prayagraj to Varanasi, combining endurance with devotion.Inspired by them, a separate group of women doctors, led by Dr Ritu Jain, has also taken to long-distance cycling, regularly undertaking weekend rides and promoting fitness among women in the medical fraternity.For renowned neurosurgeon Dr Prakash Khetan, however, the road to relaxation runs through literature. Dr Khetan is equally passionate about Hindi poetry. Over the years, he has created a vibrant WhatsApp literary forum with nearly 1,000 members, bringing together doctors, senior bureaucrats, judges, academicians, politicians and literary enthusiasts. Every day, members exchange original poems, ghazals and reflections, transforming a digital platform into a thriving literary community. Wildlife photography has similarly become an extension of life for oncologist Dr Arpit Bansal. Long before sunrise on many weekends, he heads into wetlands, forests and birding hotspots carrying cameras instead of medical equipment. His remarkable collection now includes photographs of more than 1,100 bird species, including several rare and elusive birds documented from different parts of the country. Sharing the same passion for photography is orthopaedic surgeon Dr Piyush Mishra, who has developed a keen eye for nature and wildlife through his camera. Music, meanwhile, has become the preferred stress-buster for gastroenterologist Dr SP Mishra and senior paediatrician Dr Ghanshyam Mishra, both known within the city ‘s medical fraternity for their melodious voices. Their love for old Hindi film songs has helped transform informal gatherings into eagerly awaited musical evenings where doctors leave behind the pressures of hospital life and become performers for an evening.
