Kamala Vishnu Nimbkar (January 5, 1900 – August 29, 1979), born Elizabeth Lundy, was an American-born

occupational therapist Occupational therapists (OTs) are health care professionals specializing in occupational therapy and occupational science. OTs and occupational therapy assistants (OTAs) use evidence-based practice, scientific bases and a Holism, holistic perspec ...

in India.

Early life

Elizabeth Lundy was born in

Mount Holly, New Jersey Mount Holly is a Township (New Jersey), township that is the county seat of Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia, the nation's sixth largest city as of 2020. As ...

the daughter of Joseph Wilmer Lundy and Bessie Morris Roberts Lundy. Her father was a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

businessman.An Inventory of the J. Wilmer Lundy Family Papers, 1781-1964
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. She attended the Quaker

George School George School is a private Quaker (Society of Friends) boarding and day high school located on a rural campus in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania ( Newtown postal address). It has been at that site since its founding in 1893, an ...

, and earned a bachelor's degree in economics at

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

in 1926. She returned to the United States later in her forties, to study occupational therapy at the

Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy The Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy, also known as the Medical Services Building, is an historic school building which is located in the Rittenhouse Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was designed by Georgin ...

Career

Before college, Lundy worked as a secretary on a statistical study of coal miners, for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mines. In India after she married, Nimbkar taught

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

by the Froebel method, and started several schools in that tradition. She is credited as founding the first school for occupational therapy (OT) in India in 1948, when she started the OT department at

KEM Hospital King Edward Memorial Hospital and Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College is a public medical college and hospital, located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded in 1926; it is affiliated with Maharashtra University of Health Science ...

. In 1958 she founded a second school for OT in

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

. She was also founder of the All India Occupational Therapists Association (AIOTA) in 1952, and served as the association's president until 1959. In 1960 she founded the Indian Society for the Rehabilitation of the Handicapped, and was its secretary-general until the 1970s.Sullivan, Timy
"Mrs. Kamala V. Nimbkar: Editor, The Journal of Rehabilitation in Asia"
''Rehabilitation Gazette'' 15(1972): 33. In 1957 she represented India at an international conference on rehabilitation, held in Indonesia. She visited Baltimore therapy programs in 1959. In 1965, she attended a reunion of patients and therapists from the Toomey Pavilion, a respiratory clinic in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, hosted by

Gini Laurie Virginia Grace Wilson "Gini" Laurie (June 10, 1913 – June 28, 1989) was a central figure in the 20th century development, in the United States, of the independent living movement for people with disabilities. It is sometimes said that she was ...

. At a conference in Australia in 1972, she was honored with the

Lasker Award In 1945 Albert Lasker and Mary Woodard Lasker created the Lasker Awards. Every year since then the award has been given to the living person considered to have made the greatest contribution to medical science or who has demonstrated public ser ...

by the International Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled. She edited and published AIOTA's journal, '' Indian Journal of Occupational Therapy'' from 1955, and ''The Journal of Rehabilitation in Asia'' from 1959. She also wrote articles for other scholarly journals. Her book, ''A New Life for the Handicapped: A History of Rehabilitation and Occupational Therapy in India'', was published posthumously in 1980. She talked about her life and work in an oral interview given to University of Cambridge

Personal life

Lundy met her husband Vishnu Nimbkar, an Indian businessman, in New York, converted to

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

, and moved with him to India in 1930. She lived at the

Sabarmati Ashram Sabarmati Ashram is located in the Sabarmati suburb of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, adjoining the Ashram Road, on the banks of the River Sabarmati, from the town hall. This was one of the many residences of Mahatma Gandhi who lived at Sabarmati (Gujar ...

, the residence of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

, for several months upon arrival. She died in 1979, aged 79 years, in India. Some of her letters are in her father's papers at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

. Her son was B. V. Nimbkar, and one of her granddaughters is

Nandini Nimbkar Nandini Nimbkar is an agricultural scientist from India, and currently the president of the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI). She is the daughter of B. V. Nimbkar and granddaughter of Irawati Karve and Kamala Nimbkar. Nimbkar ...

, both noted agricultural scientists. A secular,

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

medium school in

Phaltan Phaltan () is a city, tehsil and municipal council in the Satara district in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Maharashtra. The city is about northeast of the city of Satara (city), Satara and about 110 km from P ...

, Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan, is named after her.

References

External links

"Indian Occupations Captured: A tribute to Mrs Kamala Nimbkar"
''Let's OT'' (July 11, 2011), a blog post about Nimbkar, with photographs. *Th
J. Wilmer Lundy Family Papers
held a
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nimbkar, Kamala 1900 births 1979 deaths Occupational therapists People from Mount Holly, New Jersey Barnard College alumni American Quakers 20th-century Quakers