జ్యోతి, పి.Dr. Jas Kohli is a Plastic Surgeon by profession. His life experiences as a plastic surgeon, added to a fictional story make this book an interesting read. Before him we had Maxwell Maltz an American cosmetic surgeon who has written a few self help books. Then there is Dr. Kim You-myung a Korean Plastic Surgeon who is into fiction writing. There is Manish K. Batra another cosmetic surgeon’ who co-authored a fictional novel ANIMAL with Keith R. A. De Candido. So Jas Kohli is not the only Plastic Surgeon who is into fictional writing. This sounds very interesting. It’s like getting all the needed information on medical technology through the horse’s mouth. With this book he tries to bring the concept of Plastic Surgery into the common man’s world in India. Jas Kohli author’s this book based on his experiences with patients and the myths and facts of cosmetic surgery which sometimes confuse the common man.
Jas Kohli tells the story of Dr Dhruv who gets into Plastic Surgery after Medicine. His journey begins as a student under strict teachers who drill him with the mastery of surgery. The author gives a detailed description of the training experience, and then he takes us into the professional journey of Dr. Dhruv who finally settles in Bombay as a plastic surgeon for celebrities and film stars. When he becomes the Chief of a reputed hospital, he treats a lot of beautiful men and women who are into the show business. Many models and artists come to him, for treatment. At first they are hesitant to let the world know about the surgeries. But as time passes we find a lot of change in the glamour world where people are open about the surgeries and also discuss them among themselves.
After a couple of years of practice. we find common people approaching Dhruv for cosmetic surgery. The author describes about the rigorous working hours the surgeons have to put up with, their pressure, competition in their fields, the amount of patience they display while dealing with their patients and the doctor-patient relationship which sometimes is a blessing and a curse too. We also hear about a case of death on the operation table due to anesthesia reaction. Then we find a few cases where the patients need to undergo correcting operations when things go wrong after the first time. The progress in the field of Cosmetic Surgery surprises us. Nothing seems impossible under the scalpel of a doctor.
We also find patients having multiple operations to get the right shape to their body from head to toe. The obsession people have for beauty, and the corrections done to their bodies, with the help of surgeons is worth contemplating. Its an eye-opener against the priorities of the coming generations, their obsessions, wants and desires. We find Dr. Dhruv operating on children born with Cleft lip. We find him counseling parents who bring their dark skinned daughters and want them to be changed into light skinned beauties. Dhruv explains to a couple that total change of skin color is impossible. The parents who want a proper alliance to their dark skinned daughter leave the hospital only to search for another doctor who agrees to perform the operation.
We are also made aware of the hospital politics. A junior doctor who owns an hospital invites Dhruv to be a consultant surgeon and allows him to operate on a few complicated cases. Then he performs the operations himself by using Dhruv’s name and this information comes out only after an operation goes wrong. Dhruv is hard working, sincere and an ever learning doctor. As readers we start appreciating his skill. when most of his patients are turned into beautiful and handsome models and they start moving to the top in their professions.
On the other hand this book also forced me to think about the mindset of the present generations. Especially when it talks about old women demanding the doctor to remove their wrinkles, when common men want a face lift or a nose job. When Dr. Dhruv gets its eyelids stretched , when a few girls get operated for false dimples and when most of the women get liposuction done on themselves to become slim and look good in swim suits we start wondering about the changing perception of beauty and self respect.
It is true that beauty gives confidence. But having a perfect figure cannot be the only point one need to work on. When boys reject dark skinned girls to marry, then it’s the mindset which needs to change, instead of that, we are trying to change the bodies of women according to the whims and fancy of the opposite sex. It’s surprising how a lot of men especially aging actors visit plastic surgeons to get their faces done to look young and grab the meaty roles. Some get hair transplants done on their scalp, some remove the hair on their bodies permanently. Every patient who visits a cosmetic surgeon has a frame in mind and they request the doctor to change them and help them fit into the frame they designed for themselves.
As a person belonging to the scientific era I truly enjoyed the miracles medical science has provided to this generation but on the other hand I also feel that a lot of insecurity is also being built in their minds. A very famous journalist has a common face and therefore finds difficult to find men attracted to her. Dr. Dhruv operates on her and gives her a shapely figure. After a few months she comes to the doctor thanking him that now she has got a boy friend who likes her face and body. She specially mentions that her friend likes the corrections made by the doctor and fell in love with her. There are a lot of instances where women and men found love after they altered their looks and bodies. This I personally feel is material for serious thinking. How important the outer decorations have become and how easily people get into relationships based on physical appearance needs a serious thought. This is the era where the package needs to be decorated well, then the actual gift. Today Psychologists rank the celebrities who get obsessed with these surgeries as “beauty sick”. This sickness is dangerous and does not help in the healthy development of an Individual. As a doctor the author gives the painful endurance a plastic surgeon exhibits all through his career. On the other hand these Cosmetic surgeries also lead to the path of serious obsession and insecurity issues.
When I first read about doctors like Sharad Kumar Dixit who lived in a wheel chair and served humanity till his death, I fell in love with his Profession as a Plastic Surgeon. He has performed a lot of Correctional Surgeries, Cosmetic and Plastic Surgeries, free of cost on the poor. He did thousands of operations correcting the disfigured patients of acid attacks, accident survivors, and small children born with physical ailments. This is giving a new life to the unlucky and the under privileged individuals. But while observing the patients of Dhurv in this novel we find very few such cases dealt by him. Surprisingly we find a husband who brings his wife to the hospital wanting breast implants. He requests the doctor to fix his wife’s breasts and turn them just like how they were when he married her a few years ago. We find Dr. Dhruv’s parents and relatives proudly getting on to the operation table to remove their wrinkles and get a young look. Somewhere I had a deep feeling inside that technology is good but we have brought it to a stage where instead of helping us it is ruling us and controlling us. The Novel ends with a hope that someday the plastic surgery will go to a stage where doctors will be operating on human DNA , giving totally a different look to their clients. This statement did not make me happy but I was uncomfortable thinking about the consequences and the preferences of the coming generation.
The novel starts with these words….”The eye of a falcon, the courage of a tiger, the composure of a monk, the versatility of a decathlete, the concentration of a marksman, the endurance of a mountaineer and hands as deft as a lady’s – these are the attributes of a good surgeon”. We all agree to this statement and accept that a Surgeon is a miracle worker. His work has to be respected, appreciated and acknowledged. His work should help humanity lead dignified, respectable and happy lives and should not add fire to their obsessed minds. With so much of advanced medical technology human beings are going against the nature, They are unable to appreciate themselves and are easily carried away by a lot of weaknesses, the thirst for a perfect figure being one among them.
As a novel this book gives a lot of information on Plastic Surgery. On the other hand it also explains us the obsessive, intolerant, thought process of the present generation. One side, this novel discusses a case where a man from Jaipur village abandoned his burnt wife telling a staff nurse that the amount required for treatment could fetch him a new bride. On the other side we have models showing swim suits and requesting the doctor to make them fit to wear them. We have patients getting injected to look beautiful for a few days while on the other hand we have young children with birth defects unable to eat or work properly all through their life. Both kinds live in the same country but there are a lot of social, cultural, and financial differences when it comes to their priorities and needs. In this book Dr. Dhruv deals with all the patients alike but when we critically view the patients he has treated, we finds the art of plastic surgery is mostly used on men and women whose confidence solely lies in the shape of their bodies. The obsession with Beauty and perfection is touching peaks in this decade. Almost every one from the glamour field has gone for these Surgeries. Human Needs have been replaced by Obsession.
The Marketing strategy which is dominating the two medical wonders – Surrogacy and Plastic Surgery should be a matter of concern to the ethical doctors. Plastic Surgery is a gift, humanity has procured through science. If it becomes the tool of the obsessed, then it’s sanctity is lost. This book helped me to understand the science of Plastic surgery and the need to view the concept of beauty differently. Somewhere we have crossed the boundary of needs and wants and stepped into a world of obsession. This is not a healthy sign. Through the confessions of this plastic surgeon, who meant to put his professional experience in the highest priority, we can also hear the alarm bells regarding the obsession for beauty and perfection in the world around.
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