Savyasaachi

When I was in twelfth grade, I had a career epiphany: I decided to pursue MBBS and then become a professional writer - a novelist, a freelancer, a medical journalist, anything!

My mother, a doctor herself, looked ready to flatten my head with the frying pan she was holding at the time when I let her in on my brilliant plan.

"Why not just take up B.A. in Literature and go from there?"

I couldn't. It wasn't that I thought Medicine was not enough, or that just literature was beneath me; I had fallen so deep for those seemingly detached fields, I just had to have both.

Raised in a fledgling city, I had little access to libraries or book shops. My sisters and I grew up imitating whatever book we would have read, the language shaping our stories than vice versa. What started out as a silly hobby soon turned into a therapeutic device, as writing helped me find the voice that evaded me when I spoke.

Meanwhile, my family consisted of two doctors, a dentist and a pharmacist under one roof which, despite sounding like the setup for a bad joke, was all the inspiration I needed to cement my chosen path. As practicality took over, my fantasy of being an author slowly took the back seat.

But it never went away.

It is no Hippocratic Oath, but almost every medical student subconsciously vows to leave everything at the door in their quest to become a doctor, seldom recovering them. But why should they? Not only do great doctors flourish in their practice while engaging in different pursuits, the list of those who prosper in both medicine and other interests is delightfully enormous.

One such double-life, the ‘Physician-writer’, is no recent concept. It is a designation as ancient as Greek mythology itself – Apollo was God of Medicine and Poetry.

Leading the pack of non-omnipotent physician writers of our times is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: his famous protagonist, Sherlock Holmes, was inspired by his mentor in medical school, Dr. Joseph Bell whose astute observations were reportedly just like the detective’s style of gathering information in one glance. Initially a practicing physician, the Scottish mastermind later quit his medical practice to devote himself to writing.

Russian author Anton Chekhov, one of the greatest short story writers ever, was also a successful doctor almost the entirety of his literary career. In his words, "Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress.”

Sir Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. and William Carlos Williams captivated readers through their poems; Michael Crichton and Robin Cook via their expertly crafted thrillers. Even Khaled Hosseini, the author of the emotionally-draining ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ and ‘the Kite Runner’ was a doctor at the peak of his success.

As you browse the non-fiction section too, there is no dearth of best-selling surgeons and physicians – Ben Carson, Oliver Sacks, Abraham Verghese, Atul Gawande, Sandeep Jauhar – the list is colossal and expanding, the matter ranging from inspirational to challenging.

Indeed, it should come as no surprise that the science of healing is so intricately knotted with the power of words. Doctors are repeated witnesses to the miracles of life; they are constantly forced to face moral dilemmas and mental drills; they listen earnestly to all their patients’ tales; and they always have a story to tell.

What is more fascinating is the effect writing seems to have on medicine. As a student, aside from RGUHS’ exam sheets, it has helped me deal with a lot of stress, both academic and spiritual. It has let me introspect on my growing insensitivity to others’ pain and grief; and on several occasions, it might have prevented me from getting too smug in my white coat. And I strongly believe that it will only guide me to be better at my dream – be it to mend my own wounds, soothe the suffering of others or to dive into the depths of humanity.

On that note, you can build a bridge between almost any passion and medicine – be it art, music, sport, anything at all. These ‘extra’ activities form a much bigger part of us than we realize. Take a sabbatical during college if you must, but ensure you go back.

At the end of the day, when your spouse, Medicine, is too much to handle, you can always run to your best friend for comfort.