When the World Health Organization set out to eradicate smallpox,

enthusiastic young doctors and public health workers

from all over the world showed up and spread out

across the Indian subcontinent.

We had a chance to speak with some of them.

People never believed that the world would be free of smallpox,

especially India, because no reason to believe you could cure it.

This is a terrible disease.

I was struck immediately by the smell.

It was similar to a dead body.

Any outbreak was an emergency.

That itself was motivation for us.

I said, this is a time to serve my India.

We all seemed so confident that we could do it.

That kept all of us in smallpox eradication

working in long hours under rigorous conditions.

It had to be done.

Our duty was to vaccinate each and every person.

By hit and by crook.

By hook or by crook.

Vaccinate everyone.

These smallpox eradication workers had a shared sense of duty

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