For brown skin, by brown skin. Sharad Paul’s preamble to Dermocracy (Collins) is evocative in a country in which the definition of democracy is much bandied about. It leaves the reader in no doubt about what’s in store inside: a nearly personal guide to taking care of brown skin. Oh, well, not just skin entirely, but hair, vitamins and even smelly feet.
A modest 140-odd pages, the book has a helpful précis at the end of each chapter, hand-drawn illustrations and some recipes, all packed into a question-and-answer format, faintly reminiscent of agony aunt columns, but all rolled into some solid science wrap. It may not be all that easy to write about science in a manner that is easy to comprehend, but Dr. Paul does it with panache.
He does a number of things: practises and teaches in the field of cutaneous oncology; develops an innovate cosmetics line for his favourite colour of skin; runs a literacy programme for disadvantaged children; and manages to squeeze in time for fiction. Whether it is his felicity with fiction, or his teaching skills, or a combination of both, the doctor manages to convert dense dermatology into very a readable book, with the aid of actual questions from actual people. Excerpts from an interview with the specialist who will be in Chennai next month for The Hindu Lit For Life.
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That’s nice. Funnily, patients from India here remark that my clinic is as busy as Dr. Thambiah’s used to be (not knowing that we were related …) And my clinic does a lot of pro-bono work, too.
Was he an inspiration in picking your specialty?
He is my mother’s first cousin. In other words, my grandmother and his mother are sisters so he was my uncle. My original training was in plastic surgery (to do with accidents, trauma and burns and later I specialised in skin cancer and also started researching skin/skincare). I guess I had many interesting discussions with my uncle as we both shared a passion for skin.
Dermocracyseems like a great idea for equity: of equal opportunities for brown. Was it conceived as such? In fact, I hadn’t much thought of the Westernisation of beauty/treatment, until I read this book. I was, however, more conscious of the angst of black, and the demand for black-friendly skin and hair products. Has that met with any measure of success?
We (in India) still view the Western world or white skin as the ideal, so a lot of the advice is misplaced as people simply follow advice from overseas magazines. That is where this book came in — given I teach as an academic in Australia and New Zealand anyway and am used to educating both doctors and the public. Yes, it gets traction and I have also developed research-based cosmetics for our skin type that I hope to bring to India over the next year.
Why the Q&A format, so much like an agony aunt column in lifestyle, or even in serious, magazines? Is it to keep the format more conversational, or to show how these ought to be written?
Dermocracy is actually a follow-up to a more scientific book, Skin: a Biography ; that being a non-fiction book with a lot of science, reader demand was for a more DIY kind of popular book — the sort of daily advice in a more accessible way. If you read Skin: a Biography , you’ll see that that is a more serious (but accessible) science book.
There is brown and there is brown. Do some shades require more treatment than others, or is there a Standard Operating Procedure for brown skin? What about racial variants? For instance, the Maoris would be brown too, right. Do they get the same advice?
Yes, generally brown is determined by levels of melanin, the pigment that gives us all different skin colours. In general, brown and Asian skin get similar advice, allowing for genetic differences.
The hand-drawn illustrations are a nice touch. Why, though?
It was meant to be like a small classroom (or more personal) educational session, hence the hand-drawings. Again, this was a theme that began in the (more scientific) prequel.
Do you prefer writing fiction to non-fiction? Any plans in the pipeline in either genre?
Truth be known, I prefer fiction as I can really be free with words. Having said that, my reviewers feel my non-fiction reads like fiction. On another note, yes there are more non-fiction plans on scientific and medical topics. I have almost completed another novel (and another book on skin) but sometimes publishers are not as enthusiastic in this space, so I will further gauge interest when I am at literary festivals like the upcoming The Hindu Lit for Life. I also want to write about medicine, the profession and the issues facing medical life and work.
If you hadn’t been a skin specialist, what do you reckon you might have wanted to be?
Not sure; I got into both engineering and medicine and then chose the latter, so I guess whatever I did I would have worked hard at. At a basic level, I am just creative, so even in my medical work I do a lot of innovative things … What else would I have done? I already do a lot of other things — run a busy medical practice, teach at two universities, write fiction and non-fiction, used to run a bookstore-café chain, once a week teach creative writing to kids that cannot write properly and build school libraries … I guess, as my friends in India say, I am just a karma yogi .
Workshop @ The Hindu Lit for Life 2015
Dr. Sharad Paul will conduct a workshop on skincare on January 16, 2015, in Chennai. He will look at the implications of sun damage, pigmentation and the Vitamin D issue. There will be a live demo to create your own ‘homemade’ cleansers and exfoliators, followed by a Q&A session.
Please note: This is not a medical consultation session. No treatment will be offered and advice is intended to be broad, helpful, educational and informative.
No. of seats : 30
Fee: Rs. 1,000
To register, go to >Book My Show or >The Hindu .