Pediatrician-Author Shridhar Khanal Discusses Merging Medicine and Literature, AI Themes in Fiction

Shridhar Khanal is a pediatrician by profession. He first came before readers with the novel 'Seven Blue Balls' (2011), as he enjoys writing stories and novels. His story 'GPT 2000' was among the top 25 in the Bahrakhari Story Competition 2080.

Khanal later adapted that story into the novel 'Sarvani'. This novel has received numerous national and international awards. Here is an interview conducted by Rama Subedi with Khanal for Ratopati's 'Kitab Ka Kura' series.

You are a child doctor. Yet, amidst stethoscopes and prescriptions, you manage to wander in the world of literature. Before 'Sarvani', you had already written a novel and an epic poem. How did you arrive in the world of writing?

- Rather than a transition, this has been my desire since childhood. I developed an interest in literature when I was 12-13 years old. I used to write poems and stories sometimes. When I was in the 9th or 10th grade, I was forced to live separately from my mother and father for some time. At that time, I felt so lonely, helpless, and orphaned that I put these feelings onto paper in the form of 'Orphaned' (Tuhuro). This was an epic poem. But it never got published. I had the manuscript for a long time, but it was lost later. I also won first place in a poetry competition at the school level.

At that time, there were many literary programs on FM radio stations. There were poetry competitions. Free verse, stories, and lyrical stories were also recited. Listening to all of that sustained my passion for literature. I was good at my studies. But the social background was such that after scoring well and passing, one had to study science, become a doctor or an engineer. There was no thought of doing anything in literature. Again, deep down, I didn't have a fixed idea that I would become a doctor or anything specific. Because my studies were good, I studied science. Then I started studying medicine. But the literary passion inside me did not fade. Even while studying MBBS, I would read almost every work by famous authors and those newly released in the market. My two personalities—the physician and the writer—walked 'parallelly'. I didn't suddenly arrive in this world of books, or rather, writing.

What is the difference or similarity between being a writer and being a physician?

- Thinking deeply, I don't find much difference. Almost every person has some literary consciousness, some literary flow running within them. Who on earth dislikes music? A person who likes music can be a pilot, a doctor, a lawyer, anything, right? Naturally, no human being is immune to emotions, untouched by feelings, or unaffected by the suffering of others. Sharing joy and sorrow is also a kind of connection. Some people are a bit more emotional. Does one need to be a bit more emotional to be a writer? Perhaps that very emotionality made me a writer?

But being a physician is also being with the suffering of others. Because it is a profession aimed at alleviating the suffering of others, I don't see much difference between the two. When I examine a patient, I think about their difficulties, their socio-economic background, and their story, along with their illness. I am not a separate personality when I am a doctor and another when I write stories. Both my personalities merge and appear in my work.

You wrote a novel based on AI and robotics. It was said to be the first such experiment in Nepal. It received much attention and many awards. Where did the idea to write such a novel come from?

- Before Sarvani, I had another novel released in the market. 'Seven Blue Ball' about 10 years ago. Politics is central to it. A child separated from his mother during the Maoist insurgency comes to Kathmandu searching for her. In this process, he lives the life of a street child. Then, after I became a pediatrician, the problems of the digital age started reaching me. Digital autism in children, not caring for parents or relatives who visit the home, staying up all night playing games on mobile phones, etc. What will such children become in the future? What will our future be like? These thoughts kept hitting my mind.

After that, I started exploring where our future is heading. Before that, I hadn't heard much about AI. I started researching it. I read articles. I wrote it because I felt this story could be both new and a warning. What might our condition become if we become too dependent on technology? This is a warning. Nowadays, parents look at digital media to decide what to feed their children. If this situation continues to grow, that day might come tomorrow. By weaving together many such scenarios, after writing a short story, I developed it into a novel.

What are you currently working on?

- Currently, I have two or three ideas. One is a children's novel, which is almost ready. Another is a novel based on domestic violence, violence against women, using a CIB investigation as the core. It is currently under editing. It will probably hit the market next year.

Having discussed all this, I want to know what a book is to you and how it has impacted your life?

- A book is another eye for me to peek into the world. It shows me worlds I have never visited. We learned from books that there was a black hole in space, didn't we? Books also taught us that Prithvi Narayan Shah existed. Books gave me a new eye to understand the world; they broadened the horizon of my vision. If there were no books, my thinking would be narrow. I would be living within a small circle.

Has any book changed your thinking?

- Not really, specifically. I wouldn't say I changed. Some books have progressively nudged me to read. 'Muna Madan' taught me the importance of a family. It is also the work that instilled the essence of literature in me. 'Shirishko Phool', 'Sumina'—each gave something. No single book completely changed my thinking.

Why do people need books?

- Our brain structure has neural connections. Reading or learning something means creating new synaptic connections in the brain. These synapses might not be useful at the exact moment we learn them. They might be useful during the course of life experiences. We learned things like sin square theta plus cos square theta in school, right?

At that time, we learned many things that we felt would never be useful in life—why were they taught? But this is novel information for the brain. It establishes certain connections. Why do you think difficult math problems that require constant scratching and solving are given? When faced with extremely difficult problems, we would pause, think, and solve the equation after some time, right? Similarly, this is taught to solve problems that arise in life. Our brain is being accustomed. This is the difference between an educated person and an uneducated person. An educated person has extra neural connections in the brain compared to an uneducated person.

The connections formed in the brain while solving equations help in patiently solving life's problems later. Problems are not solved all at once. This teaches the brain that things get messed up, and one must try repeatedly by scratching. I have limitations in life. One way to overcome those limitations is by reading books.

Is there any work that has particularly inspired you?

- The work I love to read often and continue to read is Pearl S. Buck's 'The Good Earth'. I still reread any work by B.P. Koirala. All of Laxmi Prasad Devkota's works, starting from 'Muna Madan', have touched me equally.

Which book are you reading these days?

- I just finished reading Uma Subedi's 'Paridhi'. I liked this work. Currently, I am reading Seema Abhas's 'Mahayug'.

Any Nepali book that influenced you?

Initially, I would say 'Muna Madan'. It sowed the seed of literary consciousness in me. After that, I read 'Shirishko Phool'. 'Pagal Basti' has influenced me equally. B.P. Koirala's 'Sumina', 'Narendra Dai', 'Modi Aain', 'Hitler ra Yahudi', and others. All these took me to a different world of literature. If these books hadn't had an impact, I might not have read books at all. I might have settled into some other profession, leaving the path of writing.

And foreign ones?

- In the environment I grew up in, Paulo Coelho's books were read extensively. I recall his works. 'War and Peace', Murakami's books, 'The Vegetarian', etc. While studying MBBS, I developed a craze for movies later. I started watching many art films. I even watched the story of 'The Great Gatsby' as a movie first.

You brought up films. Between books and films, which medium seems more effective?

- Reading books has its unique benefits. As a medical student, I can say that books create many neural connections in your brain. While reading a book, you become the director, choreographer, and actor of the scenes appearing in it. This helps increase your brain's plasticity, but a film presents things ready-made. While watching it, no one uses much brainpower. If you have watched the TV series Mahabharata without reading it, when you read it, the faces of the characters from the TV serial come to your mind when recalling the scenes. In terms of creation, books are better than films. However, in terms of making an impression, film often comes first.

Many writers say they write keeping the reader in mind. Some write centering on themselves. What do you do while writing?

- When I first started writing, I was centered on myself. I was afflicted with the thought, 'I understood it, so that's enough.' After writing 'Seven Blue Ball', I gave it to many people to read. They suggested that certain things were not good and could be omitted. But I felt that others might understand. I followed some suggestions.

I used to think writing was for my own enjoyment. But gradually, that thinking changes. Now, I think: Who will read what I write? Will they grasp it or not? The skill of a writer is to be able to easily convey what they write to the reader, even through any medium or by creating new words, is what I think nowadays. I have shifted from being self-centered to reader-centered. If the reader doesn't understand, there is no meaning in writing.

Recently, social media has been heavily influencing every aspect of our lives. How has social media or the digital age affected your reading culture?

I have two points on this too. The way social media is expanding now has certainly broadened the scope of reading. We easily get information about which new book is in the market, what a particular piece of writing is like—this is positive. It provides information about books. But the disadvantage is that hours pass unnoticed while watching Facebook Shorts or Reels. They call it dopamine detox. People get lost in entertainment.

There has been more activity in Nepali literature in the last 20 years, in terms of both writing and literary events/exhibitions. Has our literary standard improved as expected?

I don't have much to say on this as a participant, but I can say something as a reader. The books I read first were by Laxmi Prasad Devkota, Shankar Lamichhane, Bhupi Sherchan. But the literary works being published now, in terms of quantity and volume, have not surpassed the writing of the previous generation of authors. In many cases, the writing has even declined. Although it seems like there is some buzz in literature, it is not as much as it should be.

With the development of consciousness, everything is developing. Similarly, literature has not been able to leap forward in proportion. I feel that healthy literary debate is also happening less than it should. Where are we in terms of surpassing the vast thinking of Laxmi Prasad Devkota from 70/80 years ago? We should have refined ourselves even more in this interval of 70/80 years. Are we perhaps shrinking instead? The question of how contemporary essays compare to Devkota's essays might answer this.

Again, literature doesn't just appear out of nowhere. It is a product of society. How society feeds it, how it views literature also matters. How does literary consciousness sprout in a person after birth, how do they think of writing a story, poem, novel, or ghazal? Whether the environment nurtures such thoughts also affects this.