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n 2009, when Tata Memorial celebrated the birth centenary of Dr Ernest Borges, his youngest daughter, Renee Maria Borges realised that there was much more to this legendary figure than being her father, a man she knew for just ten years of her life. Since then, she started piecing together the story of her father and now after 13 years, the world can read the wonders of his achievements through her book, ‘In Ernest Quest: EJ Borges, Legendary and Revered Cancer Surgeon’.

A professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Renee used every bit of her spare time to read and research about her father.

“Since I am a professor, I was working on this book in my spare time and that’s why it took so long to get this book done, close to 13 years. I spoke to different people who were alive at that time and who had close association with my father, especially his colleagues and his patients that I knew. My mother, Gracie, was a very private person and didn’t talk about my father. But many years before she passed away in 2004, she had handed over to me a lot of material, especially unpublished material. The material was available with the family archives as well as from the Archdiocese of Bombay as he was the editor of the medical journal, the Catholic Medical Bulletin, which published by the Archdiocese,” says Renee.

Dr Ernest traces his roots to Ucassaim as his father was born there before he moved to Bombay where he worked in the home department in the Bombay Government before Independence. Dr Ernest was born and brought up in Bombay. Gracie was born in Aldona, however, since her father was the Principal and lecturer of English at the Baroda University, she spent most of her childhood in Baroda. She moved to Bombay to study BSc in Botany at St Xaviers’s College, Bombay.

Renee’s siblings include, Anita Maria Borges, a cancer oncopathologist based in Mumbai who earlier worked at the Tata memorial Hospital and is now with the Raheja Hospital and the Centre for Oncopathology in Mumbai. Nina is a financial advisor and into economics. Rita was a teacher and is now more focused on cooking and preserving traditional cuisines and wrote a book on Goan cuisine. Dr Eric is a cardiologist at the Bombay Hospital, Mumbai.

“My father passed away when I was ten years old and I didn’t have many years with him. Working on this book was one way for me to learn about my father. That is why I decided to write the book. People were very enthusiastic when I connected with them even after all these years. They were very happy and willing to share their experience with my father. People’s memories were still very fresh. The doctors and many patients were in touch with us. Some of their children also had great memories. It was a collaboration of different generations,” says Renee.

Though there was no direct Goa connect with the patients for the book, Renee was overwhelmed with the response at the book release in Goa. “After the book release, there were many people who told me how their parents were patients. Though they are not longer with us but their children remembered my father. I got to know about many people who told me about their parents. He had a regular connection with his Goan patients. He would especially visit Dr Pinto Rosario Hospital in Porvorim to examine patients. He was also the Examiner for the MBBS students and would come to Goa to conduct the examinations in Goa Medical College,” she explains.

The book is self published through CinnamonTeal Publishing and features 20 pages of a collection of black and white photographs of Dr Ernest from the family’s personal collection including his photos with eminent personalities. Through 20 chapters, Renee has recorded his life’s journey as a family man, a surgeon and physician, his research papers and studies, his association with Tata Memorial Hospital and even the tributes that poured in after his passing away in 1969 after silently suffering from cancer.

Since 1997, Renee has been a lecturer at the Indian Institute of Science which in a way helped her research and analyse facts and studies for the book. What does she remember about her father, “I called him daddy. The first chapter is about my memories of my father. He was a busy man at work but he would come late from work and we would have dinner together. He was very particular to take one month holiday in a year to take us to different locations. I do remember the holidays as it was an opportunity to interact. He would take care to take us to hill stations like Kashmir and Mahabaleshwar. For the vacations, he was all ours,” reminisces Renee.