Wider Readership

I wrote a book for postgraduate students called 'Practical Gynecology and Obstetrics'. It has gone through four editions. Today I had a pleasant surprise. I had finished the session in the OT and was on my way to the office. Two guys were sitting on the table (they sit anywhere!) just outside the OT. They were going through a copy of this book I wrote about. They were young, but not doctors. They looked more like relatives of patients in the OT, or relatives or friends of servants working in the OT. I asked them why they were reading that book. They immediately withdrew, saying they had nothing to do with that book. So I opened the book and checked whose name was written inside. It belonged to one Dr. XXXX YYYY. I asked around, and found that this doctor was probably an intern who had forgotten that book in the OT, and the residents would read it sometimes, when they needed a ready reference and could not go to their rooms. I also recalled that our houseman had not read how to do a laparoscopy and was asked to read it in the OT by our Associate Professor. So the question was what those two guys found so interesting in that book. In a couple of seconds the answer dawned on me. They found a photograph of an old woman with a huge abdominal tumor on the front page, which attracted them to that book. They found diagrams which had to do with women, so they kept looking, hoping to find something more interesting. I wonder how they hoped so looking at sketches of instruments and operations that I had made myself (meaning not by a professional artist). I think one lives on hope more than on reality.