The Surgeon's Knot
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More About This Title The Surgeon's Knot
- English
English
"This is a heartwarming story of a young doctor training to be a surgeon. Forty years ago, despite overcrowded hospitals and a chronic shortage of supplies, young doctors struggled to provide succor to poor patients in large government hospitals as residents still do. A young resident finds himself in situations that test his humanity and ingenuity. Textbooks had exhorted him to try his hardest and that no patient is beyond care. But he realizes that the practice of surgery is vastly different from what the textbooks tell you to do. He understands that patients with incurable diseases in their last moments deserve death with dignity.
During his residency, he encounters a young boy with an incurable cancer, a hemophilic, and a child with opium addiction. Some of the ?frequent fliers? teach valuable lessons in empathy and the need to be nonjudgmental. He meets with a suspected child rapist, a powerful don, and a transgender who willingly donates blood to save a child.
Professor Joshi, Sister Thomas, and Professor Vilas all contribute to his maturing as a surgeon. He is witness to the honesty of nurses and attendants who return a pouch full of uncut diamonds to the owner. The tragic end of Professor Joshi and Sister Thomas is narrated simply without any histrionics. These stories will touch your heart and make you smile.
Many of the experiences narrated in the book will bring a sense of d
During his residency, he encounters a young boy with an incurable cancer, a hemophilic, and a child with opium addiction. Some of the ?frequent fliers? teach valuable lessons in empathy and the need to be nonjudgmental. He meets with a suspected child rapist, a powerful don, and a transgender who willingly donates blood to save a child.
Professor Joshi, Sister Thomas, and Professor Vilas all contribute to his maturing as a surgeon. He is witness to the honesty of nurses and attendants who return a pouch full of uncut diamonds to the owner. The tragic end of Professor Joshi and Sister Thomas is narrated simply without any histrionics. These stories will touch your heart and make you smile.
Many of the experiences narrated in the book will bring a sense of d
- English
English
BOOK REVIEW Kirkus Indie
Shirahatti recounts tales from his career as a Mumbai, India–based surgeon in the mid-1970s in this debut memoir.
When the author showed up on his first day as a surgical house officer at Mumbai’s Sion Hospital, he had no idea what
lay in store for him. The personalities among his colleagues were big and numerous: Dr. Praful “the Prof” Joshi, who
“chew[ed] iron nails and residents for breakfast”; Sister Georgina Thomas, a nurse who loved patients and hated new
residents; the triage-obsessed Dr. Vilas; and the wisecracking resident Prakash. In the surgical ward, members of all
classes of Mumbai society cycled in and out in an endless dance of life of death. The author was forced to shed many
preconceived notions of what it meant to administer aid while simultaneously opening himself up to the rawness of
humanity in its many forms. (The author would quickly be nicknamed “Guru” by his colleagues for his “expert advice.”)
Once, he writes, he was nearly stabbed by a gang member for not administering to a dead man; another time, he sewed
up a suspected rapist, despite the anger of a mob. At one point, he writes, a colleague said that a patient was “waiting for
the train to Guntakal”—a euphemism for being on one’s deathbed (“Who would want to go there?” asked Prakash).
Throughout this memoir, Shirahatti writes in the formal yet easily readable prose of an experienced raconteur, which
highlights the wryness and frequently dark humor of some stories. The lighter moments are offset by moments of
probity, and the sincere affection that Shirahatti has for his colleagues is apparent. At fewer than 150 pages, the book
makes a quick read. This works in its favor, as does its setting—the Mumbai of an earlier era—which will be unfamiliar
to many readers. Although this book is not quite at the level of Richard Hooker (of MASH fame), Shirahatti presents
surgery from an appealingly irreverent point of view that calls to mind larger questions about how significant, solid, or
indispensable any of us really are.
A charming, well-crafted memoir of an Indian doctor.
Shirahatti recounts tales from his career as a Mumbai, India–based surgeon in the mid-1970s in this debut memoir.
When the author showed up on his first day as a surgical house officer at Mumbai’s Sion Hospital, he had no idea what
lay in store for him. The personalities among his colleagues were big and numerous: Dr. Praful “the Prof” Joshi, who
“chew[ed] iron nails and residents for breakfast”; Sister Georgina Thomas, a nurse who loved patients and hated new
residents; the triage-obsessed Dr. Vilas; and the wisecracking resident Prakash. In the surgical ward, members of all
classes of Mumbai society cycled in and out in an endless dance of life of death. The author was forced to shed many
preconceived notions of what it meant to administer aid while simultaneously opening himself up to the rawness of
humanity in its many forms. (The author would quickly be nicknamed “Guru” by his colleagues for his “expert advice.”)
Once, he writes, he was nearly stabbed by a gang member for not administering to a dead man; another time, he sewed
up a suspected rapist, despite the anger of a mob. At one point, he writes, a colleague said that a patient was “waiting for
the train to Guntakal”—a euphemism for being on one’s deathbed (“Who would want to go there?” asked Prakash).
Throughout this memoir, Shirahatti writes in the formal yet easily readable prose of an experienced raconteur, which
highlights the wryness and frequently dark humor of some stories. The lighter moments are offset by moments of
probity, and the sincere affection that Shirahatti has for his colleagues is apparent. At fewer than 150 pages, the book
makes a quick read. This works in its favor, as does its setting—the Mumbai of an earlier era—which will be unfamiliar
to many readers. Although this book is not quite at the level of Richard Hooker (of MASH fame), Shirahatti presents
surgery from an appealingly irreverent point of view that calls to mind larger questions about how significant, solid, or
indispensable any of us really are.
A charming, well-crafted memoir of an Indian doctor.
