Woman Who Refused to Flinch

The memoir explores a doctor's life shaped by Partition, prejudice, and persistent reform

- UMYA BHOWMICK

The Woman Who Ran AIIMS, Dr Sneh Bhargava, offers a rare memoir—one where wit and levity flourish in favor of sentimentality, drama in favor of narrative, and anecdote in favor of insight. It chronicles not only her pioneering role as the first woman director of AIIMS but also a life shaped by Partition, police brutality, and persistent reform.

Like the leather-bound volumes of patient files she once scoured as a young radiologist, Bhargava treats her own life as a case file—not to romanticize but to diagnose the inner workings of India's prestigious medical institution, and the social forces that shaped her journey within it.