Writing: a Passionate Prescription – Dr. Manisha Saxena

By Dr. Manisha Saxena

Anton Chekhov, the great Russian playwright once famously said, “Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress.”

With the publication of my second book, a high octane crime thriller titled ‘Blue Jeans’, my thoughts wander to all the great doctors, who have penned amazing books, which readers enjoy to date. All these doctor authors are my inspirations and as I take tiny steps into the world of literature, I pray to God to bless me so that I am able to weave stories and keep up their name. 

From writing prescriptions to heal the maladies to writing tales that heal the souls; from wielding the scalpel to cut across tissues or plugging in the stethoscope to hear the beating heart; to using the pen or keyboard to pour out expressions or listen to the symphony of life through naked ears sans the stetho; some doctors do have that knack to swivel smoothly from prescribing medicines to weaving tales.

And believe me whenever the compassionate doctor, who brushes past the corridors of pain and death, takes to writing, the tales, poetry or prose ooze out deepest emotions. It’s not always morbid, but the doctor is wittiest at humour, sharp at bending a thriller, deft enough to weave a science fiction, create drama out of mundane or knit a literary fiction. 

Reading is a necessary prerequisite to writing. Thick volumes of medical books naturally make doctors avid readers, so books never intimidate doctors and the physicians with a flair for reading naturally make good writers. These passion driven writings or prescriptions for that matter have enlightened readers for years. Belonging to the world of both doctors and writers, I have been an ardent admirer of the let’s call ‘penning doctors’ since my early days. Be it the classic writing ‘The Vicar of Wakefield’ of Oliver Goldsmith or the lyrical poetry, ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ by the inimitable John Keats; the short stories of Russian doc Anton Chekhov; detective thrillers of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; the touching volume ‘Of human Bondage’, by Somerset Maugham; among the more classic ones or the later doc writers A. J. Cronin of ‘The Citadel’ fame; Michael Crichton, who earned laurels for ‘Jurassic Park’ or the master of medical thrillers Robin Cook; modern great Khaled Hosseini, who weaves heart rending tales from Afghanistan ;  docs have enriched literature with their quality works. 

So when reading was a passion, writers were naturally always held in awe by me and unwittingly I embarked on this passionate journey of words and emotions although my own profession of paediatrician was replete with emotional tales of a different order. 

My earliest literary pursuits date back to the short story, ‘His Possession‘ published in the silver jubilee edition of the school magazine. Later there were trysts with poetry and articles confined mainly to school and college journals. With the onset of digital boom I started blogging  on @ibncj i. e. Citizen Journalist, CNN IBN. Somewhere though a desire to be a published author sparked and my debut novel ‘Natal Fault’ was born.

Natal Fault is the story of two parallel worlds set in different time spans. The obsession with the difficult times of history during the World War II ; involvement with the miseries of patients of degenerative diseases like dementia, the discrepancies that hit the medical education; the social divide and parallax which segregate humans, many times on basis of their birth; the existence of warring groups, societies even nations which owe their allegiance to different geographies again on basis of their birth; led me to knit a unique tale which binds the two worlds and resonates with Indian society as it spans almost seventy years. And come to think of it, ironically no one ever had any control over his or her own birth. But it is essentially the ‘Natal Fault’ of a child born in an underprivileged society which holds them back from reaching a mark he or she could only dream of. Natal Fault is thus a germinal idea around which the novel revolves in several layers of fiction. 

The socio-political grain of the novel is inspired by the prevailing structure and lives in our own society. Thus the novel is set in the fictional town of ‘Jeerulot’ which is representative of any B class town of our country with its attached morbidities. The name Jeerulot itself was inspired by the existing commonplace names of small hamlets of ‘Haldar’, ‘Haldarva’, ‘Hinglot’, as not a few metropolitan cities but the conglomerate of such towns actually make the Indian nation. 

Soldiers have been vital to a society since time immemorial and their unaccomplished love stories are equally intriguing. So love in times of turbulent wars was something that haunted me perpetually. I had to bring out that emotion and portray that pristine, everlasting love which was above all physical relations. 

Natal Fault is thus a passionate tale which tugs at the sensitive areas of human bonds and social norms. This was my debut attempt at writing a novel so readers might find some omissions but a writer continues to evolve and so shall I. 

In my second novel Blue Jeans, thus I have tried my hands at an entirely different genre and woven a more fast paced detective crime thriller. Mysteries had been my love since childhood. Thus weaving a mysterious plot and carving a thriller was a challenge I adored to accomplish.

Blue Jeans set in Goa, India, explores a hitherto untouched storyline. Blue Jeans is a high octane crime thriller which tears apart the drug underworld as well as sieves through a double murder and family drama in a four hundred year old Portuguese mansion at Goa. The book has been endorsed by leading journalists, Vinita Nangia, executive editor The Times of India and Nona Walia, Journalist and author. Look forward to readers’ love for Blue Jeans .

A doctor desires to save and cure more and more lives while an author enlightens readers with a different philosophy, viewpoint or plot. When the two fuse, it’s surely a passionate prescription for the soul. 

—

Dr. Manisha Saxena is a novelist, paediatrician, YouTube travel blogger, classical singer and person of many talents. After the debut success of Natal Fault, a contemporary fiction with a classic bend, she has penned the bestseller crime suspense thriller titled Blue Jeans. Her poems and articles have been published in The Times of India, Outlook Traveller magazine and Citizen Journalist CNN IBN and an anthology titled Pause and Pen Whispers of the Soul. She has received ‘Women’s Pride Award’ for outstanding performance in the field of literature. Good at public speaking she has delivered book talks at prestigious institutions like IIM Ahmedabad and litfests like Ahmedabad International Literature Festival and Amity International Literature Festival of Amity University, Noida. She is onboard Shethepeopletv for health talks on their YouTube.

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BLUE JEANS

Jean, a beautiful blonde, sets foot in Goa and then mysteriously changes hotels and guises. Susan, a French tourist staying at Jean’s hotel, is found unconscious on the Baga beach. Casa Rio, a 450 year old Portuguese villa, converted into a lively hotel after the last land lady Amelia Rodrigues’ demise, thirteen years ago, suddenly comes into prominence. Who is Jean and what interests her in Goa? Is she an Indian albino or there is a mystery behind her origins? Is Banerjee, the handsome traveller Jean meets at a high end discotheque, trustworthy or a notorious drug peddler?

Enmeshed in intrigues, the plot twists between Susan’s case and Jean’s mission. Set in the gorgeous state of Goa with mesmerizing beaches, magnificent villas and rave parties, Blue Jeans is wrapped in mystery and mystique with a strong and bold storyline.

“A high voltage thriller set in an oceanic paradise, Blue Jeans sends the blood fizzing with its thrilling twists and turns!”

Vinita Dawra Nangia, – Executive Editor, The Times of India

“An intriguing plot, slow-burning mystery with action, energy and gutsy suspense. A must read.”

Nona Walia, Journalist & Author.

BUY HERE

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers