MANDYA: The people of
Hallagere village in
Mandya district have a special reason to rejoice over
Joe Biden’s victory, and the reason is that a
doctor with roots in their hamlet is likely to head one of the teams to tackle
Covid-19 once the
US President-elect is sworn in in January next year.
Dr Vivek Murthy was the surgeon-general during the second
Barack Obama presidency, and the prospect of his heading a key task force under Biden has understandably excited the villagers, who flocking to the doctor’s ancestral house in Hallagere.
Dr Venkatesh, who was Dr Murthy’s father Lakshminarasimha Murthy’s classmate, recalled his time spent with Vivek when he was a boy. “He was an intelligent and soft-spoken child. Lakshminarasimha Murthy made it a point to meet all his friends whenever he came home. We have been seeing the growth of Vivek, and we are proud that he is being considered for one of the top posts in the US more than once,” said Dr Venkatesh, who runs a clinic in Keragodu.
Narasingaiah, a resident of Hallegere and a friend of Lakshminarasimha Murthy, spoke for the entire village when he expressed pride in Vivek’s achievement. “Although Vivek was born and raised in the United Kingdom and
United States of America, Lakshminarasimha Murthy and his family have retained their strong bond with Hallagere, their friends and family. What makes us even more proud is that Lakshminarasimha Murthy has kept the name of our village in his name,” Narasingaiah said.