BENGALURU : Dr Ajit Huilgol, chief transplant surgeon at Columbia Asia Hospital, claims he conducted the very first kidney transplant in Karnataka in May of 1983 at Lakeside Hospital, near Ulsoor Lake. Now, the seasoned nephrologist has a new feather to add in his cap — photography.
He began pursuing his passion for photography only around 10 years back and has been gaining international acclaim for his work since. He won two silver awards (YPS Silver and IUP Silver) in from the Youth Photographic Society (YPS) 2018, under the Nature Digital Category this July.
According to the doctor, love and appreciation for nature are innate in all human beings. But it is the growing up years and the conditioning that leads to the dying of this appreciation. “As kids, we are born with an appreciation for nature - it is wired into our DNA. After that, with school, we are taught all kinds of nonsense and it gets buried,” he adds.
He did not take up this passion until he was 40 years old. In his words, “I couldn’t afford a camera till I was 40. Also, I was so busy with work till then. It was only in 2007 that I bought my first digital camera.”Within the first year of pursuing his passion, the doctor’s photograph was selected by the Royal Photographic Society in 2008.
In 2009, he received the runners-up award in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year in the Behaviour of Mammals category. Ever since, the progress, he claims, has been good. Along with continuing his practice, he has also taken his hobby very seriously and keeps travelling to keep his passion alive.