Kavery Nambisan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Palangala, Kodagu district, India |
| Pen name | Kavery Bhatt |
| Occupation | Surgeon |
| Language | English, Kodava |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Citizenship | Indian |
| Alma mater | St. John's Medical College, Bangalore |
| Notable works | The Story that Must Not Be Told |
| Spouse | Vijay Nambisan [1] |
Kavery Nambisan is an Indian surgeon and novelist. Her career in medicine has been a strong influence in her fiction. [2]
Kavery Nambisan was born in Palangala village in south Kodagu, India, in a politician's family. [3] Her father, C.M. Poonacha, was at one time a Union Railway Minister. [4] She spent her early years in Madikeri. [3] She studied medicine in St. John's Medical College, Bangalore from 1965 [5] and then studied surgery at the University of Liverpool, England, [1] where she obtained the FRCS qualification. [3] She worked as a surgeon in various parts of rural India [1] before moving to Lonavala to start a free medical centre for migrant labourers. [6]
Nambisan works as a surgeon and medical advisor at the Tata Coffee Hospital in Kodagu, Karnataka, [2] and is the Chief Medical Officer for Tata Coffee. [7] She has created several programmes for child immunisation and family planning for the rural communities. She is vocal in her critiques of urban centred health planning. [8]
Nambisan was married to Vijay Nambisan, a journalist and poet. [1] She has a daughter, Chetana, from an earlier marriage to Dr K.R. Bhatt, which lasted eighteen years. [5]
Kavery Nambisan began by writing under her first married name Kavery Bhatt for children's magazines. She wrote stories for the now defunct children's magazine Target . She also contributed to Femina and Eve's Weekly. [1]
Nambisan has authored several novels for adults, each with widely differing themes. [9] Her first book, published under the name Kavery Bhatt, The Truth (almost) About Bharat, is the story of a rebellious young medical student who runs away from medical college, and begins a cross-country road trip on his motorcycle. The book went out of print and was recently re-released.[ citation needed ] Her second novel, The Scent of Pepper (1996) was set in her birthplace, Kodagu and is a portrait of the life and culture of its people, through the eyes of a family from colonial rule to independence. [9] Mango-coloured Fish (1998) concerns a woman whose marriage has been arranged to a man she does not love. [9] On Wings of Butterflies (2002) is set in the women's movement in independent India and narrates the story of a group of women entering politics. [9] The Hills of Angheri (2005) draws from Nambisan's own experiences as a doctor, tracing a young woman's medical career. [10] Her sixth novel, The Story that Must Not Be Told was shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature in 2012, [11] as well as the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2008. [6] [12] Her seventh and most recent novel, A Town Like Ours (2014) is an account of the lives of several people, narrated by a sex worker living in a small town, and engages with themes of identity and industrialisation. [13]
Nambisan's story Dr Sad and the Power Lunch was joint runner-up in the third Outlook-Picador non-fiction contest in 2003. [14] She has also contributed fiction to Indian Literature , the journal published by the Sahitya Akademi (India's National Academy of Letters). [15]
A Luxury Called Health: A Doctor’s Journey Through the Art, the Science and the Trickery of Medicine, her first non-fiction book is based on her experiences as a doctor and honestly discusses the ills of the profession. [16]
She has also contributed some works of criticism, including a piece on 'New Issues in Fiction' [17] to the journal Indian Literature.
Literary Awards and Recognition:
Kavery Nambisan was a Coorg Person of the Year in 2005. [18]