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 southKodagu, 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 inMadikeri.[3] She studied medicine inSt. John's Medical College,Bangalore from 1965[5] and then studied surgery at theUniversity of Liverpool, England,[1] where she obtained theFRCS qualification.[3] She worked as a surgeon in various parts of rural India[1] before moving toLonavala to start a free medical centre for migrant labourers.[6]
Nambisan works as surgeon and medical advisor at the Tata Coffee Hospital inKodagu, Karnataka,[2] and is the Chief Medical Officer forTata 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 toVijay 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 magazineTarget. She also contributed toFemina andEve'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 theDSC Prize for South Asian Literature in 2012,[11] as well as theMan 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 storyDr 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 toIndian Literature, the journal published by theSahitya 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 journalIndian Literature.
Literary Awards and Recognition:
Kavery Nambisan was aCoorg Person of the Year in 2005.[18]