Walk with the weary by M R Rajagopal

Walk with the weary by M R Rajagopal

Book Review

Genre- Non Fictional semi autobiography

Rating- 4.5/5

Biased review because Dr Rajagopal is my Alma Mater and for us the Pain and Palliative posting is a matter of great pride and it was one of our best postings as house surgeons! But to be Frank many times turned out to be one of the most depressing postings.

But the amount of suffering we see in the pain and palliative clinic would be an eye opener on the smallness of our own problems!
The whole book is a veritable proof of this very fact. If you feel you have some big problem then one read of this book will make your problems or issues minute in comparison!

Sir begins with his childhood in a semi autobiographical fashion and take some chapters to come to the actual point! But even the early chapters are like the stepping stones to his ultimate aim of pain and palliation. From the start even if his interest was different and so the opportunity; you can make sure from his experiences that pain and palliation was his dream.

His sojourn to Middle East and first major experience with pain relief of a burns patient and the sudden jolt at the patient’s frank outburst inflating his own bubble was a revelation!

One this is evident that sir pays so much attention to the Patient, he is not someone who can ignore anyone in pain even if he or she has not come to him for the same.
The way he remembers each and every one of his patient is nothing sort of a miracle when as a doctor you would realise that you would remember the special ones, your major success and your major failures! You would never forget these patients! Then it is understood that Sir would have treated countless forgotten patients who would have been happy and palliated so to speak but it would have become a routine affair!

If you have read the book when breath becomes air by Paul Kalanithi then you can understand the direction in which the book moves. If that is one story then this is numerous such stories and the way Sir narrates them is like living at the moment. Some stories make you feel so low while some others give you some glimmer of hope.

He talks about his inspirations primarily his patients and also how Mahatma Gandhi’s book had a big impact on him.

His fight against red tape and government and his friends and his well wishers and his support staff is an eye opener that if you have to do something great and be a pioneer then you need to be wholly committed and nothing short of that will do. How he set up one of the best WHO recognised pain and palliative care centre in Calicut is a satisfactory ending to his genuine efforts!

In between the stories of pain and palliation and the use of Morphine and his training and his mentors ; sir gives a glimpse of his life and family with couple of chapters on his grand parent and then about his wife Chandrika (a love story there!) and his father with some information on his brothers. This intermittently makes us realise that Sir is also human but of course a very unique and special!

Every chapter has some character or a patient with his or her story and every story can be a complete Novel or even a touching movie!
His experiences in UK and America also shows how much he has travelled in an endeavour to give pain relief and palliation to as many as possible.

During our education and postings, pain relief and palliation was just a small topic and posting though now because of Sir’s efforts and the effort of many, it has become an integral and important part of the curriculum. Sir also describes the way his original centre gave rise to many others and how they train others in this noble deed.

He has not failed to mention even the support staff or the nursing staff and his friends who stood with him and helped him in his quest,

This is a must read for everyone, to understand what’s humanity and how to be humane! If you are happy you must read this and if you are sad then you definitely must read this! If anything else, just read it anyway!