Prof Upendra Chowdhary

A Village Boy’s Journey

Volume 1: Journey begins from childhood to becoming a surgeon

From a mud-walled village in India to the high-stakes world of neurosurgery across three continents, this is the unforgettable journey of a boy who dared to dream beyond all boundaries.

Spanning over eight decades, A Village Boy’s Journey is a three-volume memoir chronicling the life of a pioneering Indian neurosurgeon. It is a deeply personal, brutally honest, and inspiring account of resilience, innovation, and the enduring power of moral integrity.

Volume I: A Journey Begins – From Childhood to Becoming a Surgeon

This will encompass from 1942, the time of the Quit India movement, to obtaining his master’s degree in surgery at Agra Medical College and the start of his neurosurgical journey as a senior trainee in New Delhi.

Volume II: One mm Between Life and Death – But You Are the Wrong Colour

This volume will encompass his journey from New Delhi to England and then on to practice neurosurgery in Ireland with the traumatic experience of facing well-entrenched racial and ethnic prejudices in getting a permanent position as a consultant neurosurgeon in the UK and Ireland.

Volume III: Journey to Saudi Arabia and the Prodigal’s Return

This encompasses his life and work in Saudi Arabia and then return as a retired consultant neurosurgeon to England in 2007 with a start of and resulting in flourishing neurosurgical medicolegal practice till 2022.