Lavnya Krishnamurthy, the author of I Prescribe Love, is an Ophthalmologist by profession but a writer by passion. She completed her MBBS in Kochi and her post-graduation in Pondicherry. She’s currently pursuing her fellowship in retinal surgery in Pondicherry, along with her literary pursuits.
TBE: Tell us a little about your story and the story world you’ve created.
Lavnya Krishnamurthy: The story revolves around the life of Shwetha Sundar, a girl from a traditional Tamil Brahmin family, and how her outlook and perspectives on life and love change, when she steps into medical college. College is indeed a turning point in everyone’s life, in some way or the other. Same goes with Shwetha, who understands life, love, true friendship and heartbreak in a new light. It also traces her journey which is a rollercoaster ride, towards the becoming and life of a doctor.
TBE: How do you come up with the title of the book and what is the significance of the title?
Lavnya Krishnamurthy: I wanted to connect two things basically-romance and doctors. So, I thought of something which would bring out both, also emphasizing that true love is the best medicine there which can be prescribed, ever.
TBE: How this story first came to be. Did it start with an image, a voice, a concept, a dilemma or something else?
Lavnya Krishnamurthy: It started with a trip to my old college campus, which brought back tons and tons of overwhelming memories. It reminded me that college was where I had spent the happiest years of my life. It also made me sad when I realized that those days would never come back again. So, I decided to re-live those days through my words. I wanted to immortalize those days in the pages of my book and tell the world not just my story, but the story all doctors out there, and how we came to be.
TBE: What is the inspiration for your book? Is there a particular theme you wished to explore?
Lavnya Krishnamurthy: My prime inspiration was my own journey through medical college and how it changed my life forever. I wanted the world to know that we doctors, just like everyone else, have the same journey through life and love, in addition to our challenging curriculum and everyday lives.
TBE: Who are your main characters? And If you had to become one of your characters, whose life would you choose? What appeals to you about it?
Lavnya Krishnamurthy: The main characters are Shwetha, her boyfriend Gautham, and her friends Gurpreet, Srinath and Lalitha. Well, I would obviously be Shwetha because she is me! I shouldn’t talk about myself more than that!
TBE: Ultimately, what would you like for the readers to take from I Prescribe Love?
Lavnya Krishnamurthy: I just want everyone to happily reminisce their college days and understand what goes into the becoming and life of a doctor in this country. To those who are just stepping into college, I want to say, cherish every moment!
TBE: You have a way of creating determined women characters who push hard for a particular goal. How did that idea end up being so important in your novel?
Lavnya Krishnamurthy: Let me be honest here. Despite all the talk of ‘feminism’ and ‘equal rights for women’, our country still has a long way to go, when it comes to understanding that women have their own dreams and ambitions to pursue, and not just to sit at home and make a family. In every profession, women are subtly but surely denied equal chances. And women are the ones who are almost immediately judged, when anything goes wrong in the family, too. This should change. Women should be seen as professionals of equal caliber and intelligence, beyond the realm of home-making.
TBE: Have you ever learned anything thing from a negative review and incorporated it in your writing?
Lavnya Krishnamurthy: When I first put my story up on online platforms like Wattpad and Inkitt, not all reviews were positive. Some readers remarked about my repetitive usage of certain terms, which I promptly changed.
TBE: In your opinion, what is the most important thing about any book?
Lavnya Krishnamurthy: The most important thing about any book is its ability to keep you hooked to its pages, no matter what the storyline or genre is. And at the end, it must leave the reader feeling that their time was well-spent.
TBE: What or who inspired you to first write? Which authors have influenced you?
Lavnya Krishnamurthy: My interest in both reading and writing along with a love for the language comes from my dear Grand-Aunt, the late DR. Leela Meenakshi, a bibliophile, a great doctor and the most inspiring woman I have ever known. She carved a name for herself in a then male-dominated profession and till this date, continues to be my guiding star. I wouldn’t say that my style of writing was influenced by any author in particular. But the one author who inspired me to tell my story to the world was Elizabeth Gilbert.
TBE: Is there anything you are currently working on that may intrigue the interest of your readers?
Lavnya Krishnamurthy: I am currently working on my third book which chronicles the journey of an Investigative journalist who wakes up with post-traumatic memory loss, and is trying to put together her life, amidst a somewhat chaotic love triangle.
