One morning, in June, 2016, award-winning Malayali author Benyamin was reading the newspaper at his home in Pandalam, Kerala. When he came ...
One morning, in June, 2016, award-winning Malayali author Benyamin was reading the newspaper at his home in Pandalam, Kerala. When he came across a particular news item, he held his breath.
Several leading surgeons in Delhi had been part of an international kidney transplant racket. One Dr Deepak Shukla, the CEO of the Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute, along with a few others had been arrested.
“Organ donation is an important concept,” said Benyamin. “Many people can get a new life because of this. These are vital parts of the human body. It was difficult for me to imagine that people could run a trade in this.”
It sparked an interest in him to write a novel on the theme. After his research, it took about two-and-a-half years to write the book. It was originally published in Malayalam with the title Sareera Shastram in 2017.
The story starts simply enough. A character named Midhun has a bike accident in Delhi. The injuries are minor, but a day after he is admitted to a hospital he takes a turn for the worse and dies. Subsequently, his organs are donated to six people.
Midhun’s friends Ragesh, Sandhya and Rithu, who work in multinational companies, are part of a Christian fellowship group run...