Kshammalab: The Legacy 

Memoir of Dr. Kshama Chatterjee, M.B.B.S., D.G.O.

(RG Kar Medical College, Golden Jubilee Batch – 1966)

("With love like Florence Nigntangle, always busy with patients, in college quadrangle." — RG Kar Alumni Record)

Author: The Founder Director

Dr. Kshama Chatterjee (Goswami) was not born with a silver spoon — she was born with a heart of gold. The daughter of a refugee family that crossed borders during the 1947 Partition, she grew up amidst struggle, displacement, and deprivation. Yet, from the ashes of that turmoil arose a Phoenix unshaken — a young girl who refused to bow before odds and who would one day bring life and hope to countless others. Her father, a medalist himself from Dhaka University, worked in Bangladesh under life-threatening conditions even after India’s independence, struggling to support as his own share of life’s rewards was often taken away by others in their joint family in India. From him, Dr. Goswami inherited not wealth, but integrity, endurance, and the will to rise again.

An alumnus of RG Kar Medical College, then one of India’s finest institutions of its time, she belonged to its Golden Jubilee Batch of 1966 — remembered for brilliance and humanity. In the alumni record beside her name appears a poetic line:

“With love like Florence Nigntangle, always busy with patients, in college quadrangle.”

The word “Nigntangle” — whether a simple spelling error or a playful jest — beautifully captures both sides of her nature. To some, it was surely meant as “Nightingale”, invoking the spirit of Florence Nightingale — tireless, tender, and devoted to care. Yet the subtle pun — “Nigntangle”, perhaps suggesting one not to be tangled with — fits her perfectly too. She was loving but firm, gentle but unyielding when it came to her patients’ well-being.

The “college quadrangle” mentioned was not just a courtyard — it was the living heart of the hospital, where outdoor patients gathered and young doctors learned the rhythm of real medicine. She was always there — amidst the people, listening, helping, healing — even as a student, her compassion already indistinguishable from duty.

As a gynecologist (and general anaesthetist), she dedicated her life to mothers and children. She gave birth to millions — not just by profession, but by presence — helping generations come into this world safely, often without expecting anything in return. Her doors were always open to the poor, the forgotten, the voiceless. For those who could not pay, she charged nothing but a smile. For those who were lost, she offered care that money could never buy.

Yet life was not kind to her in return. Her benevolence was often taken for weakness. She was exploited and cheated — by family, by neighbors, by those who saw her kindness as an opportunity — but she never stopped. Never once did she let bitterness eclipse her duty. She continued to serve, continued to heal, continued to believe that goodness itself is a form of resistance.

In a world where politics and privilege often overshadow merit — where “gold-spooned” and “nepotism-fed” individuals decorate the headlines — she stood as proof that true greatness needs no inheritance. Her life was her credential, her service her legacy.

Today, her memory lives on not only in the hearts of her patients and juniors but also through Kshammalab, named in her honor — a testament to her vision of science guided by compassion.

Dr. Kshama's story is not just of a doctor — it is of a lady who healed a world that often wounded her, who gave everything and asked for nothing, and who remained unstoppable in her pursuit of humanity.

Her name, Kshama, means forgiveness — and perhaps, that is her final lesson to us all 🙏

Thus A Legacy That Became a Laboratory

Kshammalab was founded in her memory — not as a memorial, but as a mission.

It exists to translate her ethics of care into scientific infrastructure.

Its purpose is to democratize structural and computational biology by:

• Developing affordable, indigenous reagents and screens

• Building DIY crystallography incubators

• Enabling heavy GPU computational biology and drug discovery jobs accessible 

• Enabling small laboratories, public institutions and startups to participate in frontier science

• Creating transparent, non-extractive research ecosystems

Kshammalab works to support researchers in the background of centralized scientific and bureaucratic control that concentrates advanced science within elite groups.

We exist to decentralize scientific capability.

Global Engagement from a Small Laboratory

Though small and independent, Kshammalab (through the founder) has been recognized internationally through collaborations and programs including:

• Diamond Light Source (United Kingdom)

• iNEXT Discovery Programme (2024) for Structural Biology (First and last for India from European Union) 

• Inclusion in Hampton Research Worldwide Crystallization Service Providers List (https://hamptonresearch.com/helpful-links.php)

• Selected for neutron diffraction experiments on the WISH facility, a world-leading dedicated neutron macromolecular crystallography diffractometer at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (UK)

• Many more ---

These engagements demonstrate that ethical, values-anchored laboratories can achieve global scientific relevance.

Our Scientific Charter

1. Service before profit
   
   

2. Accessibility before exclusivity
   
   

3. Integrity before recognition
   
   

4. Knowledge before control
   
   

5. Global collaboration with local empowerment
   
   

This Story Does Not End

Dr. Kshama Goswami’s life did not conclude with her years in hospitals.
It continues — quietly, scientifically, ethically — through Kshammalab.

Every incubator built.

Every reagent developed.

Every algorithm deployed.

Every drug discovered.

Every crystal grown.

Every student trained.

This is how service becomes structure.
This is how compassion becomes capability.
This is how a life becomes an institution.

And this is why our mantra is "Research with Care"