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MARCHING TO GEORGIA FOR MBBS LIKE SUPERSTAR SAI PALLAVI! By Rajan Narayan
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MARCHING TO GEORGIA FOR MBBS LIKE SUPERSTAR SAI PALLAVI! By Rajan Narayan

May 23- May 29, 2026, Stray Thoughts May 22, 2026 , by

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when we discovered that Georgia, which is part of the former Soviet Union, is one of the favorite destinations for students who cannot get admission in medical colleges in India. For a Saturday following the week when we witness the breakdown of the Goa Revolutionary Party. For a Saturday following the week when the Supreme Court ruled that the sanctity of life enjoyed by human beings did not extend to the canine population.

TO GEORGIA, TO GEORGIA
AND a few stray thoughts about our discovery that Georgia, which is part of the former Soviet Union, is a favorite destinations for students who cannot get admission in medical colleges in India. Georgia offers the entire range of medical courses, including MBBS. Though in theory the NEET entrance test is needed, you can get admission even with a NEET percentage of 40% to 50%.
Among all the foreign countries offering the equivalent of MBBS, Georgia is preferred as the medium of instruction is English. The greatest attraction is that the fees for the entire course is just about Rs15 lakh, which is much lower than the fees required at private medical colleges like Manipal Medical College in India. The fees in private medical colleges for the management and the NRI quota could go up to Rs1 crore.
Other countries which are popular with Indian parents and students, who aspire to careers in medicine, are Russia and China. The problem however, is that while the medium of instruction may be English, the language spoken in the hospitals is Mandarin in China and Russian in Russia. So much so, unless you learn the language, you cannot interact with teachers or patients.
I know a few people who have studied in foreign medical colleges. The most prominent is Tamil Nadu superstar Sai Pallavi, who has an MBBS degree from Georgia. In fact, she is fluent in Georgian language and speaks several languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and English. The two daughters of my barber in Caranzalem, Shrinivasalu, both recently passed out of medical colleges in Russia. Junior Henriques, as son of the veteran Calangute doctor Gandhi Henriques, has a medical degree from Romania, the land of Dracula. I met junior Henriques at the Cardiology department of Manipal. I understand that there are 25,000 plus Indian students in foreign universities in Russia, China, Georgia, the Philippines, and Romania.

GRP BREAKS UP
 AND a few stray thoughts on the breakdown of the Goa Revolutionary Party. The Goa Revolutionary Party was founded by Manoj Parab in 2017. It got recognition as a regional political party in 2022. The party focused on Goan identity, local rights and regional issues, emphasis on employment, land protection, migration impact and preserving Goans identity of “asmitai.” It promoted the concept of person of Goan origin (POGO) to connect with people of Goan roots.
The party did well in the last elections in 2022 — winning 9.9% of the total vote share, securing almost one lakh votes. Though it contested 38 of the 40 seats it won only one seat. Vinesh Borkar won the St Andre seat. However, in the 2022 election in many constituencies the RGP came second, displacing the Congress. This led to the charge that it was the B Team of the BJP.
Differences cropped up between the founder Manoj Parab and the St Andre MLA Vinesh Borkar. Manoj, who had projected himself as the chief minister, was not happy with the attention that Borkar was getting. Borkar got the support of all the NGOs when he went on a hunger strike against 39A conversions in the St Andre constituency.
Many Goan industrial houses, like the Dempo’s, also had got land converted in St Andre under section 39A. The Goa government agreed to freeze the conversions under 39A. After the victory of Vinesh Borkar the party got the support of the Goa Foundation. Recently, Justice Ferdino Rebelo also visited St Andre and held a public meeting with Borkar. The Manoj Parab group has started targeting Borkar. Perhaps they cannot stand the attention that Borkar is getting. There seems to be a split in the party. There seems to be a beginning of the end of the party hailed by Dr Oscar Rebello as the only Goan party after the hunger strike of Borkar.

SANCTITY OF LIFE
 AND a few stray thoughts on the Supreme Court rule that the sanctity of life enjoyed by human beings need not extend to the canine population. The SC has ruled that there can be no compromise on human life. Given a choice between human life and the life of a dog, human life is paramount. To quote the SC, “the right to live with dignity and Article 21 of the constitution includes the rights of every citizen to move freely and access public spaces.”
It was not Narendra Modi or the BJP who are threats to the life and liberty of citizens, but stray dogs. The SC has noted that the number of dog bites has increased enormously. Dogs have become a major threat to tourists on the beaches of Goa. Dogs seem to like to bite foreign tourists more than domestic tourists. There have also been many cases of ferocious dog breeds like pitbulls attacking children, even in Goa.
The SC has now directed the Central and State governments to take all legally permissible steps to control the problem. This includes putting dogs involved in biting human beings to sleep through chemical injection. The SC has also ordered the removal of all stray dogs from the beaches, within 500 meters of hospitals, schools, colleges, and playgrounds.
The SC apparently does not believe that dogs are the best friends of human beings. When dog lovers insisted that they bite only when they are ill-treated, the court asked the lawyer if anyone could predict when and why dogs bite human beings?

PETROL/DIESEL HIKE
AND a few stray thoughts on the impact of the Rs4 per liter hike in the price of petrol and diesel. Particularly on delivery workers who are called gig workers. Incidentally, the price of petrol in Panaji and Goa has apparently crossed a Rs100 plus per liter. There are apparently about a lakh gig workers in Goa alone, which is an average of one gig worker for every hundred Goan residents.
Goa’s population has been estimated to be 15 lakhs. Gig workers include all the delivery guys from Amazon, Myntra and the other e-commerce platforms. The lives of gig workers has become even more difficult thanks to the quick delivery platforms like Blinkit and Instamart which have cut down delivery time to 9 minutes and 8 minutes. This means that the gig workers have to keep running the whole day on their bikes to be able to make a minimum of Rs30,000.
The basic income of gig workers is fixed at Rs10,000 by the way of retainer, the rest of the income depends on the number of deliveries they make. It is reported that they get Rs10 per delivery, during peak hours when surge pricing tariff are introduced they get Rs 15. However, the delivery guys have to pay for their own vehicle and for the petrol. If they pay an additional Rs4 per liter for petrol their earning can fall drastically. The increase in petrol prices hits Goans very hard.
This is because there is no decent public transport in Goa. The electric vehicles are far too expensive. It is not widely known that 60% of the cost of petrol is contributed by the State and Central excise duties. The only Goan chief minister who tried to provide relief to two-wheeler riders was the late chief minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar. Parrikar in his budget in 2002 cut down the State excise from 20% to 2% — providing great relief in petrol prices. The Indian Oil Corporation has declared record prices despite the Gulf war. So why is the company increasing the price of petrol and diesel.

DOWRY DEATHS CONTINUE
 AND a last stray thought on dowry death cases which are increasing in the country. Among the recent cases that have been reported are that of Twisha Sharma from Bhopal and Deepika Nagar from Noida. The case of Twisha Sharma, the 33-year-old former model, has gone viral because her mother-in-law Giribala is a retired judge. She likely to be arrested for harassing Twisha. Twisha was found dead in her marital home. Her family alleged prolonged dowry harassment. The judge, mother-in-law, and the lawyer husband, allegedly sabotaged the post-mortem. Twisha’s family has demanded a second post-mortem. The family insists that the police have not produced the belt with which she allegedly hung herself.
In the second case, which is equally tragic, we have a 24-year-old Deepika Nagar. The in-laws claim that the young woman died after falling from the rooftop. The family alleges dowry demands, including cash of Rs50 lakh and one Fortuner car. The postmortem report shows multiple injuries. This includes contusion on her face, thigh, abdomen, chest, and private parts. The postmortem has also shown injuries at knees and the waist. The in-laws claim that Deepika jumped from the terrace. The parents claim her body was thrown down.
Cases have been registered in both cases. In a third case in Karnataka, a 24-year-old young woman allegedly committed suicide after harassment and torture by the in-laws. The National Crime Records Bureau has highlighted a high concentration of dowry-related cases in some places like Bengaluru. Under the current law, dowry is strictly prohibited.

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