Doctors normally use stethoscope to listen to the internal sounds of body organs. Now, some of them have come up with Kathascope, a collection of their short stories that they want others to listen to.
The book has been brought out under the aegis of ‘Second Pen’, an initiative of the Kozhikode branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) that promotes the literary skills of doctors. Twenty-five doctors have contributed stories to the collection.
IMA functionaries pointed out that doctors dabbling in literature in Kerala are rare, like Punathil Kunhabdulla and Khadeeja Mumthas. There are others such as T.L. Johns, K.M. Joseph, and Suvarna Nalappat too. Doctor-cum-writers among the new generation include Suneesh Krishnan, Manoj Vellanad, and Shyam Krishnan. There are many others who are unknown. “Second Pen would be an effort to bring all of them to limelight,” they said.
The first pen is used to prescribe medicines, and the second pen for creative work, that was the idea. It was B. Venugopalan, the current president of the IMA Kozhikode, who came up with the proposal to have this platform during the 90th anniversary celebrations of the branch last year.
The first meeting in December was chaired by M. Muraleedharan, IMA functionary, who regularly writes on health-related issues for newspapers and magazines. There, it was decided to hold meetings on the third Saturday of every month and T.P. Nazar was chosen as its coordinator. Book discussions, and exhibitions are regularly held now.
Kathascope is the first book released by ‘Second Pen’ to encourage more doctors to exhibit their writing skills. Dr. Mumthas has written the preface and Dr. Muraleedharan has given a detailed note on the stories.
Dr. Nazar is the editor. The book cover was designed by artist Madanan. At an event held in Kozhikode on Thursday, award-winning writer K.P. Ramanunni released the title by handing over a copy to Dr. Mumthas.
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