“I am a doctor and a writer, I understand medicine. So it is understandable, even expected, that I write on my subject. It’s still in the preliminary stages, so I do not know how it will turn out – even if it will be another biography,” says Mukherjee.
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Dr.Siddhartha Mukherjee describes the Pulitzer-experience as “overwhelming”. “I am humbled and excited at the same time. It is an incredible experience, very tough to describe,” he said.
Reacting humbly to the view that his work signifies the maturing of Indian non-fiction writing, Mukherjee said there were several non-fiction writers he had grown up reading. “I loved William Dalrymple, Rana Dasgupta, Suketu Mehta, and doctor-author Atul Gawande. I think these writers have written excellent non-fiction much before me.”
Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee says that clubbing books into genres restricts writing, and “I for one do not know what category my book should come under.”
A self-proclaimed literature enthusiast and a voracious reader, Dr.Siddhartha Mukherjee says the inspiration for his Pulitzer-winning book were his close encounters with cancer as an oncologist. “There were multiple experiences which came together, and all of it culminated in the comment made by one of my patients who had stomach cancer. She said she could fight cancer, if only she knew precisely what she was battling.” A chance comment it may have been. But it has created history!
