Dr. Ashwini Bhalerao
Ashwini Bhalerao is named after the constellation Ashwini Nakshatra in the zodiac sign Aries. Someone born under this Nakshatra, exhibits independence and a self-motivated spirit, ambition and natural leadership qualities. With a strong sense of purpose, they are usually direct in communication, opting for honesty above all else. Astrology implies a meaningful relationship between celestial and terrestrial events, especially in human affairs. Can one dispute its relevance and accuracy given our Ashwini?
Ashwini is India, imbued with its history of tradition, culture, and family values, fired in a crucible of intelligence and ambition. She describes the world around her in her city of Bombay as “more of chaos, organized chaos, a life of discipline and beliefs”, where abject poverty exists alongside the stupendous mansion of Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man. It is a study of contrasts, where perhaps, not so surprisingly, people are more content by comparison to those in the west as their history going back centuries has taught them to adjust to the vicissitudes of existence.
She speaks with great force about the mosaic that is India; twenty-nine different states, a population four times greater than that of the United States in a smaller land mass. She is however, very clear that as history has shown in the late 1940’s, Indian independence created a county where everyone cohabits, continuing the philosophy of non-violence espoused by Mahatma Gandhi, “we are a peace loving people, we do not seek to war with other countries.”
I asked her metaphorically if she would take my hand and we could fly around the country, where would we go. First, she said, the The Taj Mahal in Agra, the 17th century paean to a love lost in passing. Then to Jaipur to see a land of colours, endless festivals, a reservoir of tastes, smells, art, music and literature where everything is celebrated.
Lastly to Goa, with some of the world’s most beautiful beaches, it is one of the world’s top ten locales for nightlife. This was the first indication, that underneath this Sari draped, soft spoken, elegant woman of erect carriage and bearing, there was something yet unseen.
We talked of her parents, her father an administrator in the Indian government throughout his life, rising higher and higher in the ranks of service to his country. At the age of fifty, he obtained a degree in the law, the aspiration to higher education now obviously genetic. Ashwini described her mom, in the kindest of terms, and yet as a slave driver, driven, imbued with a staggering work ethic. As the first of two children, Ashwini was the “experiment”– pushed to strive endlessly. And here is where the unseen piece of her being came to the fore.
While we were talking, she raised her left arm revealing a tattoo on the inside of her forearm that said, “work harder”, positioned so that with a slight turn of her wrist, she had a perpetual reminder of the ethos of her life.
When she sought her PhD, her advisor, Dr. Ashraf Ayoub, rebuffed the first draft as being, “not good enough”. That was when she got the tattoo, the words the guiding force in all walks of her life. She completed her PhD on Dynamic Navigation for the placement of zygomatic implants, the first such work of its kind. She did indeed, “work harder”.
As was apparent by the International Digital Dentistry Congresses of 2023 and 2024, Ashwini is preternaturally the consummate team builder and leader. She has always been self-employed and for the most part remained outside the realm of academia. Nevertheless, her capacity for consensus led to the creation of the 15-person team she brought in person to Bombay to prepare the logistics for the massive undertaking that saw 5000 attendees at IDDC 1.0. “Madam, the Indian honorific, they said, we will make India proud of this undertaking on behalf of the future of digital dentistry in our country.”
During our discussion, her new puppy came into view….Gundoo, “naughty”. And then it all crystallized. How does she manage in such a quiet, unprepossessing way to bring people into her sphere and enact such wonder.
“Ashwini is India, imbued with its history of tradition, culture, and family values, fired in a crucible of intelligence and ambition.”
She is “naughty” in the most delicious manner, she has a unique captivating insouciance that has a gravitational pull. But it all fits. If one delves deeper into the various meanings of her name you find descriptors such as linked to life, enthusiastic, a passionate personality. Imbued with a rich cultural history and enduring significance
Her interests are simple. She reads voraciously, a gift from her grandmother who forever supplied her with books. She swims to relax, watches movies and crochets, her newest passion, “to keep my hands busy,” she says. Her one regret is the lack of open spaces for walking, but she finds that in airports as she visits her daughters, one working for National Public Radio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the other a biomechanical engineer in Frankfurt, Germany. When I asked if they were married, she sighed, “I would like that”, however, each in turn tells her, “Mother, get off our back”, driven just like “madam”.
Recently she received an award for being an achiever in an NGO honouring people from her caste for their contributions to Marashtra, the state in the west of India where she resides. When asked what she would like to be in five years time, she said, “fitter, prettier, more settled, doing more of what she does”. “Huh?” Again, Ashwini, self-effacing to a fault. This comment was not ego-driven, it was simply a sense of her desire for growth irrespective of any timeline, which she sees as incremental, logical, focused, especially when it comes to herself. If she had a magic wand, then health and science technology in her country would be digitally integrated, a journey for which Ashwini would welcome being at the helm of the ship. Henriette Lerner, you did well for introducing Ashwini to the world of digital dentistry.
Most important of all, Ashwini will be coming to Uganda with the Build Your Smile Dental Foundation in 2025. I can only imagine what her energies will bring to her new project. Namaste dearest Ashwini.
