Rajeev K. Gupta, a Parkinson’s patient himself, and an author himself reviews Dr. Prathima's book Insignificant Me. His take - Refreshing, spontaneous and honest, yet disappointing
Endearing Tales
Dr. Prathima, a practicing General Physician and a Dermatologist by profession, has been a thinker and an avid reader. A Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease (YOPD) patient diagnosed about four years ago at a young age of thirty-six, she insists that it is just a coincidence that she started writing after her PD diagnosis and she would have perhaps taken to writing in any case. In her own words, “Weeks of imaginative storytelling to kids. Numerous days of walking and trekking in nature Multiple number of hours on meditation And it takes a minute for everyone to assume that the newfound creativity at storytelling is because of recent diagnosis of neurological disorder.”
Her choice of stories and essays reflects this as she chose only one story about her PD experience. I found this both refreshing and disappointing. Refreshing because her PD experience would have subsumed the other stories and disappointing because being a PD patient myself, I was looking forward to reading about how a person who is both a doctor and a patient, is dealing with it. Expectations!
From her stories and essays, it’s clear that Dr. Prathima is not a person who would live life or write about it to fulfill someone else’s expectations.
The book is a pot-pourri of about twelve stories and essays based on her day-to-day experiences and emotions with topics ranging from gender bias to philosophy and relationships to cars. The author had been honest and courageous to write about her own faults and confusions and about complex relationships such as her relationship with her mother-in-law. In her essay Never Ending Saga, she questions, “Just because I do not share the same religious views and am not a classic early morning diya lighting type, do I not make a good wife?”. She goes on to say,”…….. the mothers-in-law want to exert their power through telepathy and not being able to do so, leave them frustrated.”
The two stories I liked the most are Two Seconds and The Perfect Life. In Two Seconds, she explores the gender bias so deep rooted in our society. Modern societies claim to be free of these biases but continue to reinforce the same through subtle messages either knowingly or sub consciously (does it matter!). In the story, the protagonist, 8-year-old Neha and her 6-yearold brother Aaryan join a swimming coaching. From day 1, everyone, including their coach, expects Aaryan to be a better swimmer. “Aaryan is a fast learner”, the coach declares while Neha is labelled as ‘slow’. Yet she is the one who persists and becomes a champion swimmer. Years later, when Neha is trying to exhort her own daughter not to quit, her daughter retorts,” It is easy for you to say Amma, you were a born natural swimmer.” Only Neha knows that ‘it had taken two years to master those two seconds.’(two seconds being the margin with which she won the swimming championship)
The Perfect Life is the story of a family Vijay, Latha and their kids Vikram and Akanksha. One night, a Goddess comes in their dreams and grants them boons. Greedy as adults are, Vijay and Latha are not content choosing one boon, they want everything the Goddess has to offer. Vijay wants both knowledge and wealth, and Latha wants to be both a successful career woman and a successful home maker. The Goddess grants them their wishes smilingly and knowingly what they were getting themselves into. They get what they asked for but in their quest for taking it all, they had to make lots of sacrifices that made them irritated and unhappy. The kids, on the other hand, innocently ask for whatever is their immediate wish and are happy and content. There is a philosophy of life here.
An endearing simplicity, spontaneity and honesty of the author are so apparent throughout these tales. There are no messages, no prescriptions (one would have thought that being a practicing doctor, the author would be inclined to prescribe fixes ), and no quotable quotes. The author made it clear in the beginning itself that she prefers readers to draw their own impressions and messages from the stories.
A good, light read for all ages, I recommend the book for its entertainment and subtle messages.
Read about Rajeev'Gupta's book: Destination Unknown: My Journey with Parkinson's
