This story is from January 28, 2015

BHEL’s good doctor wins Padma award for satire

When noted cardiologist and satirist from Bhopal, Dr Gyan Chaturvedi, walks the red carpet to receive the Padmashree award for Hindi literature, his satire on society will echo louder than the applause at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
BHEL’s good doctor wins Padma award for satire
BHOPAL: When noted cardiologist and satirist from Bhopal, Dr Gyan Chaturvedi, walks the red carpet to receive the Padmashree award for Hindi literature, his satire on society will echo louder than the applause at Rashtrapati Bhawan. BHEL’s good doctor feels the humane pulse through his intricate play of words with simple confession and not wry humour — Unless we are able to laugh at ourselves, we cannot laugh at the world.

His book, Narakyatra is being shot into a film — Har Raasta God Ko Jata. Chaturvedi’s second movie script, Kissa Kutte Ka, was picked up by Jagmohan Mundra, who died before he could complete the film. It now has been revived by director Ketan Mehta.
“I did not have any professional training in Hindi like the way I studied medicine. I studied Hindi only till Class 11. Literature runs in my blood as my grandfather was a poet in the royal courtroom of the maharaja of Orchha”.
“I started writing since I was in Class 6 as a student at a government school in Bhander village in Datia. A local Hindi daily published my poem. I was ecstatic to see my name in print and since then there has no looking back,” said Dr Gyan
In 1971, as a third-year student at Rewa Medical College, his first satirical composition was published in the prestigious Dharmyug magazine. “It was my first big leap into the big league. Dharmyug was a big platform and even my satires on the Emergency with symbolic meanings were also published at a time when freedom of speech was muzzled,” he said.
1979 was a turning point year in his career as a trained medical practitioner with a post-graduate degree. “I was offered a job at government medical college. I loved to teach, but I spurned the offer because I feared as a government servant, my freedom to pen satires against the establishment would be curbed. It was a crucial decision. I realized I could not live without writing. I joined Kasturba Hospital, BHEL, and continued with my writing,” he said.

In 1994, Chaturvedi’s first novel, Narakyatra (Journey Through Hell) catapulted him into the hallowed bracket of noted contemporary satirists, Sharad Joshi and Parsai. “Both these legends have been a big inspiration,” he said. “All creative writers have a Leftist leaning and no genuine writer can be a Rightist. Satire always speaks the voice of oppressed, but I never wrote to settle political scores or set a political agenda.”
Talking about juggling between tough profession of a doctor and writing, he said, “There’s a common thread that links my profession as a doctor with my passion for writing. And that’s sensitivity.”
In 2004, his novel, ‘Baramasi’, helped him to firmly establish himself in the literary world. “I gave a new dimension to satire by shifting from politics to writing on emotional conflicts within four walls of middle class lives in Bundelkhand.
His satire on mythology, Marichika (Mirage), took potshots on the political system in vogue and his short writings on communal riots is replete with incisive humour.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA