The Curious Adventures of a Doctor from Jaffna

Author: Dr K Puvanendran

The Curious Adventures of a Doctor from Jaffna is the delightful autobiography of Dr K. Puvanendran. It traces his early childhood in Ceylon to his life in Singapore. He practised for 50 years as a neurologist.

The book comprises three sections. Part one explores his early years, 'his crazy pranks that made his aimless life all the more intense.' He describes how, in a vacant mood he watched the geckos, he saw a crowd, a host of gekos dancing hip hop. He felt he could dance with those wall-crawlers, until one day he saw a snapped -off tail dancing on the floor that unnerved him. He enjoyed his school life and the relaxed life on Jaffna and describes his first bicycle ride as, "He bombed the descent, it was ten minutes of joy."

His happy days did not last long. He was about to turn four, he was seriously ill from round worm toxemia that closed his eyes and lulled him. He was vomiting worms. Ayurvedic doctor Pasupati was called in. "He rolled, what looked like a scrum of dirty skin between his fingers to a bullet and poked it down my mouth between the fret and pain. It was opium. It made me worse."

It was his sister who fed him the water of life, "she tempered the wind to the shorn lamb that was me."

Then, his first taste of gin and lime, when he was entering the University in Colombo.

Puvan and his friends were invited by their VIP hosts to celebrate victory at the Royal- Thomian cricket match. "With the second round of cocktails we were somewhat dizzy, but delightful with their company. We parted their company with our college song. We located our bikes on the kerb; they were flat on the ground. We lifted them. Our cycles would not ride much further and we were flat on our faces. But we knew one thing,that every time we found ourselves flat on our face, we got on to the race. Thanks to our wise elders , who taught us to molt into men; we left the cocoon and became butterflies."

Puvan started the first year of his medical course at Colombo in 1956 and it was during Anatomy class that he first met his future wife Kamala. After working in Ceylon, he went to London to work and train in Neurology. He went back to Jaffna to serve his native village and his kin. His village was Karainagar.

He worked in Moolai, a sentinel town to his village. He was impressed by the medical care.

He lived among the villagers who were simple, guiless samaritans. He sees the villagers in the midst of natural surroundings and muses that God made the villages and man made the town. Feeling the turmoil in Ceylon, he courted Singapore. He received a letter from the Singapore Ministry of Health with job offers for himself and his wife.

He had to decide, whether to lock up his things at home, or give away his lifetime collection of things, teakwood furniture, house, farm and pet dog. "It was then that I realised that home is not a set of houses, or a town on a map. It is not a place, but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a firm shelter that you take for your entire life." With a heavy heart he decided to go.

Singapore in 1971. This is what he saw through the looking glass:

He saw peculiar things and strange people, some hard to understand and make sense of. With his first peep at Paya Lebar airport he saw strange signboards with hiking fines and a pecuniary shadow following him. On the customs and immigration form, he had to declare, "Any more baggage or wives expect to import".

Dr Puvan practised and taught students and doctors in Singapore for a near half century. He noticed that during the 1970s doctors were serious minded like any Singaporean. He believed that life was far too important to be taken seriously.

Author ends the third part of the book with a series of 25 memorable cases, somewhat like Dr Watson's casebook on Sherlock Holmes. which would certainly impress the reader with Puvan's keen diagnostic sense and clinical acumen.The reader's interest is heightened further by the three kings and presidents and cabinet ministers of various countries he treated with a story to tell you in entertainment.

This entertaining book is easy to read, written in a charming style and offers much wisdom and humour. It is published by Editions Didier Millet Pvt Ltd.

The book comes with a foreword written by former President of Singapore S.R. Nathan.