LIFE-ALTERING EXPERIENCE AT ARAVIND EYE HOSPITAL Providence brought me, a Singaporean visiting India in the closing months of 2007, to Aravind Eye Care System and to Dr.R.D.Ravindran - causing an unexpected turn in my life for the better.       Dr.R.D.Ravindran, the Joint-Director and Chief Medical Officer of Aravind Eye Hospital at Pondicherry, India, performed life-altering cataract surgery on both my eyes. He is a man who lives up to the true spirit of Dr. G. Venkataswamy, the founder of Aravind Eye Hospital, giving his best and unsentimental care to his patients.       On my return to Singapore within one month of surgery, Dr.R.D.Ravindran had connected me to Dr. B. Maheshwar, an ophthalmologist trained in Aravind Eye Hospital, now working in Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences Department of Alexandra Hospital at Singapore. As such Dr. Maheshwar knew the operations at Aravind Eye Hospital, there was no need for me to explain my case in detail. Speaking largely in Tamil, Dr. Maheshwar made me feel right at home, as if I was at Aravind Eye Hospital itself. He not only had a high regard and respect for Dr. R. D. Ravindran but also continued the same care that Dr.R.D.Ravindran had given me in Pondicherry.       At one stage, in the absence of Dr. Maheshwar, I met up with Dr. Sachin Mathew George, another ophthalmologist also from Aravind Eye Hospital working in the same Department in Alexandra Hospital. I could only thank my lucky stars. With Dr Sachin’s respect and regard for Dr.R.D.Ravindran I was in the best of hands. I felt as if I was never far away from Pondicherry Aravind Eye Hospital.       For me both Dr. Maheshwar and Dr. Sachin were extensions of Dr.R.D.Ravindran. At Pondicherry Aravind Eye Hospital Dr.R.D.Ravindran, the supporting doctors, the technical specialists, and the sisters were passionate to their work and never, at any time, showed disgust, temper or stress. It was always a case of cheerful countenance. It was truly a people-centred world I saw at Pondicherry Aravind Eye Hospital – true eye care-givers from top to bottom.       It is not that there were no eye hospitals or cataract surgery done in Singapore. My father had IOL implants for both his eyes in 1980. He is now 91 and is able to move about freely and read newspapers without glasses. My mother has done the same for her eye also in Singapore. Nevertheless, the kind approach shown and the human touch by the care-givers at Pondicherry Aravind Eye Hospital largely influenced my decision, cost apart, to have my cataract surgery done there and then. Dr.R.D.Ravindran’s swift and painless operation was another reason why I opted Pondicherry Aravind Hospital for surgery on my second eye as well. The sisters, too, would physically accompany me from one station to the next and would ensure that I was taken care of at every point during the investigation stage. All queries were answered with a smile.       No surgery is without problems. I too had some problems with my eyes on returning to Singapore. Dr.R.D.Ravindran would promptly reply my emails and take time off from his very busy schedule to speak to me overseas enquiring my problems and suggesting solutions. With confidence in Dr.R.D.Ravindran, Dr. Maheshwar and Dr. Sachin, I have come to realize that there is no problem that can’t be solved. With both my eyes in healing stages, I can now drive, move about, work on the computer and to some extent read without prescription glasses. Colors are brighter and richer now than before. The world looks different. In general I see well than before. I must thank Dr.R.D.Ravindran and the Aravind Eye Care System.       Although I have never met and now can never meet Dr.V, I saw his spirit still lives in Pondicherry Aravind Eye Hospital and partly in Singapore Alexandra Eye Hospital. I hope such humane practice would physically spread to Singapore as well. - A patient from Singapore