Mrityu: Death tales with a healing touch

As the name of the book suggests all the stories deal about death, or more precisely about the “healing” power of death.

A grave issue—a very grave issue to write stories on.

And yet, no one, except a doctor, who deals with death all the time, can be more qualified than writing about this topic.

So it becomes all the more exciting to see what a doctor’s take is on this subject.

Each of the short stories are about dying people, people who are trying to cling to their lives desperately.

Each story has a central character who is on the verge of death—be it a cancer patient, a suicide victim, or the patient of some grave and incurable disease.

And all these people are being treated by Dr Dev, who prefers to be known as DD.

DD is a character that must be based on the author himself and so this character gets a sense of gravity, a certain reliability, an indefinable vulnerability, a certain humanity.

Throughout all the stories we see how DD interacts with his terminally ill patients and try to make their last moments better.

And this is exactly where the stories and the thoughts of the author stand out.

The author says that it is human nature to get attached to the external world. Humans have a natural urge to control the things around them, including their lives. It is only when life delivers its fatal blow do we realise the futility of all that we call “life”.

When we see life slipping through our tightly fisted fingers, it becomes an unbearable emotion. And that is what makes the whole process of dying a terrifying experience.

This whole concept has been presented so beautifully through these stories and through Dr Dev’s observations.

There is a story about a suicide victim where the young girl tries to kill herself after she is chastised by her family because of her unsatisfactory board results. The girl takes poison tablets thinking death will be easy like they show in the movies but when the trauma begins it is too late to mend things.

DD tries to save the girl with all the known medical techniques in practice but it is only in the moment of her death does he realise how wrong the whole process is.

A dying person, who is in unimaginable agony, must wish to see his or her loved ones before breathing their last.

How soothing can the sight of strangers be in that last glimpse of the world? DD thinks the best way to go is at home, in the arms of our near and dear ones.

The beauty and the poignancy of these thoughts have to be read to be truly understood. A simple review can never do justice to a book like this.

(Reviewed by Priya Das)