THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The good thing about leading dermatologist and cosmetologist Dr. Rajesh Nair and his techie wife, Manju Nair, is that they push each other to be go-getters.
And that’s their success mantra for a happy life. The couple has compartmentalized their professional and family life so that they find time for everything unlike other busy couples.
When Dr. Nair went to Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, to pursue his MD in 1993, the year when the college initiated entrance exam, his rank was 70 which was considered to be exceptional then.
But by the time his turn came for counseling, he had only two choices left - general medicine and dermatology. He recalls how silence fell when he chose dermatology.
“I was ridiculed but I was keen to take up dermatology as I knew that was my call. Now, dermatology is the second most sought after course in MD after radio diagnosis”, said Dr. Nair who can be considered as a pioneer in introducing laser beauty treatments.
49-year-old Dr. Nair who runs the Skin Care Med Spa in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam, also travels to Maldives where he is attached to a local hospital there.
He feels that things changed and he could cash in on the fad among Malayalis to look young. Son of late businessman K. Ravindran Nair and homemaker Savithri, Dr. Nair began running his own ‘skin clinic’ more than a decade ago when there were only ‘dental clinics’.
“Since I did my MBBS at Pune, I had been exposed to doctors having clinics apart from hospital practice. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive about having a ‘skin clinic’ in Thiruvananthapuram, but Manju pushed me to start it. It has been an extremely wise decision”, added Dr. Nair, who is an avid gardener.
Dr. Nair’s Skin Care Med Spa is a fellowship training centre for dermatologists and he has trained nearly 40 in the last five years.
Manju(43), who heads the service delivery section at IBS Software Services (P) Ltd at Technopark, too leads a hectic life with lots of travel to US and Canada. Dr. Nair understands how taxing it is to juggle career and take care of their two boys, State level tennis player Varun, first year medical student at KMC, Manipal and Aman, seventh grader at L'ecole Chempaka.
“Till three years ago, my job demanded lots of travel. Now I have cut down due to our children’s education. As an only child, my mother was keen to see me excel in everything ”, said Manju who finds time to learn Hindustani music and Kathak during weekends.
Her parents are retired Government servants, Late R. Sukumaran Nair and additional secretary S. Bhagavathy Amma. Manju though passed out as a civil engineer from College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, and pursued her MTech in ship technology from Cochin University of Science and Technology.
After working under ace architect A. K. Jayachandran, the founding architect of Technopark, she joined as a software engineer with IBS 15 years ago. Though she feared that software engineering would be difficult, her fears were unwarranted.
