In a Better Place: A Doctor’s Journey

A doctor’s white coat is like an armour against the world. Cool and confident behind it,smiling to reassure nervous patients, while the doctor’s own anxieties and uncertaintiesremain well hidden. In a Better Place takes us to the world behind that self-assuredexterior through the lives of Sudha, practising in a busy hospital in the heart of Delhi, herhusband, Girish, and their close circle of doctor friends and colleagues.It is a world of sudden crises and long hours in bleak hospital wards, courageous fightsto save a life and heartbreak, personal dilemmas and aspirations for a better life, butalso the great satisfactions of a job well done. Always there is the pulsating canvas ofthe city—first the hospital in Delhi, then in England. From minor observations to broaderstrokes—a doctor evaluating quickly what to do to save a patient, the rusty screech of ascreen as it is pulled to give privacy to a patient being given emergency care, to a teaseller near the IIT gate and a dhaba which serves excellent food, the details help usconnect to Sudha, Girish, Jai and Sanjay with a rare immediacy. Always, like a gooddoctor does her patient, Bornali Datta carries the reader along with her. Sudha and herhusband do get to be where they think they want to be, but, as this engaging noveldevelops, it is not quite what they wanted, they realise