Surjavo Sen Gupta reflects on co-directing the short play ‘Srijan’ and its resonances with the narrativization of health within the Indian medical paradigm.
“Stories change lives”—a phrase used perhaps too generously in blog posts (Jojanneke 2014; The Story Adventurer 2019; Gause 2020), yet it hints at something pertinent about the form itself. Stories aren’t merely recollections of the past interlaced with imagination; they function as a medium, permitting us to deal with the strangeness of reality on our own terms. Two years ago, ‘Srijan’ was born out of a desire to capture this very side of stories and storytelling. When my friend Arya Ray first conceived the idea back in 2023, he wrote it as a prose piece. However, inspired by its potential for the stage, it was quickly reworked into a four-scene play and brought to me. Since the central action focused on two male leads of the same age, we decided to co-star as well as co-direct, rehearsing intensively over the next several months. Once we felt ready, we premiered ‘Srijan’ at the Shapno Ekhon studio in Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi, on November 5th of that year.
This short piece shall be an attempt on my part to explicate the hopes that we had for ‘Srijan’ in fostering meaningful conversations on non-traditional narrative methods and vocabularies, an aspect still in its nascent stage within the paradigm of modern medical practice in India. However, before I jump into that, a brief insight into what ‘Srijan’ is even about is probably called for.
The Creation
Once upon a time, there was a storyteller who had stories. But the stories were all in his head. When he tried to tell his stories, he found that he did not have the skill, the language, the vocabulary.
The narrative of ‘Srijan’ is concerned with telling the story of a boy with the same name. Srijan in Hindi means ‘creation’—a name we considered apt for someone who would much rather reside in the highly imaginative worlds his mind conjures up than dwell in the ‘real’ world where his words seem to lose all potency. He struggles to cope with the real—it’s either too mundane or too overwhelming. But before long, Srijan’s sojourns start creating a growing disconnect with his real life. The people around him fail to understand the nature of the slips he makes into his dreamscape. Eventually, he accepts that only he can truly appreciate the richness his imagination offers and chooses to retreat there completely. Does he mentally escape to this world, leaving his corporeal self behind? Or does it serve as a larger metaphor, suggesting that those who cannot adopt medicalised language feel failed by the healthcare system and thus never open up again? The conclusion was deliberately left open for interpretation.
During our innumerable discussions on how to visually stage a character who exists in the liminal space between the ‘Real and the Symbolic’ (in Lacanian terms), we were well aware that once the play gets over, ‘Srijan’ would cease to be our own, and our audience shall have an interpretive hold over his story (Barthes, 1977). Yet, it was crucial for us that we move away from a generic depiction of someone afflicted with schizophrenia or a condition characterised by the general blurring between reality and mind-worlds. Because ‘Srijan’ was ultimately about shedding light on the nature of experience as being inherently subjective, which unfortunately undergoes a sort of flattening in the medical sector, where such maladies are continued to be understood only in strict clinical terms. For instance, whenever I have to visit my family physician, I’m only expected to list my symptoms, for which he prescribes medication. In fact, I’m actively discouraged from discussing how the experience of illness is affecting me emotionally and urged instead to remain as objective as possible to facilitate a clear, ‘scientific’ diagnosis.
What I’ve come to realise is that my experiences aren’t unique. For in the Indian middle-class context, there are established structures that require patients to report symptoms without delving into how their condition affects them psychologically. However, I argue that precisely by allowing patients to articulate their emotional experiences can we tap into an entire wealth of unexplored potential in healthcare. Listening to how an illness makes someone feel can lead to more personalised diagnoses, as the varying emotional impact of illnesses can provide valuable insights for more targeted treatment.
The Storytelling
No, no, no! It was so much better in my head! I thought I wrote – the story, in my head, if you could just imagine –
Srijan might be conscious of what’s real and what his mind has made up, but that doesn’t mean his mental health isn’t troubled. For it becomes clear over the course of the play that Srijan’s increasing flirtation with his paracosms is affecting his ordinary day-to-day functioning. People around him—parents, friends, even his boss—all make the mistake of attempting to understand him on their terms, and when they are unable to do so, get frustrated over our poor protagonist, ultimately resorting to medicalising his imagination. His voice is stifled because existing vocabularies fail to capture his lived reality. This disconnect can discourage people like Srijan from seeking further care, resulting in untreated or poorly managed conditions. Such disconnects might even perpetuate systemic gaps in the broader context, where healthcare remains impersonal and standardised, neglecting the nuanced and subjective dimensions of illness that could inform more holistic and personalised care approaches. And this is where storytelling as a therapeutic practice comes in.
The Indian Medical Clinic
There is growing awareness that patients and service users are a rich source of healthcare-related stories and that patient narratives can affect, change and benefit clinical practice (Charon 2006; Greenhalgh and Hurwitz 1999; Greenhalgh 2006; and Wilcock et al. 2003). The Patient Voices Programme becomes a noteworthy illustration of this point, where many participating storytellers have reported an increased sense of well-being, as well as greater confidence gained through the process of creating their ‘digital stories’ of healthcare (Haigh and Hardy 2010). Furthermore, Burnett and Peel’s (2001) argument that people from cultures with strong oral traditions, such as Somalia, respond better to health promotion advice presented as stories rather than written information can easily be extended to India, which similarly boasts a strong oral tradition spanning millennia.
In the final moments of the play, everyone clamours around Srijan, believing he is once again slipping into his dreamlike reverie. But Srijan’s eyes are sharp, his voice clear and firm. He raises his hand and calls out, “I’m awake, you’re all asleep”. Perhaps it’s time we woke up too and heeded his words. For the act of storytelling can become a bridge, allowing patients and healthcare professionals to meet halfway without needing to negate the other’s preferred vocabulary, and perhaps this is how stories can truly “change lives”.
About the author
Surjavo Sen Gupta (he/him) is an MA student at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. His research focuses on the intersections of visual culture, media studies, and social history, examining how artistic and institutional frameworks interact to reflect and influence cultural consciousness.
References
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Gause, Virginia. 2020. “Stories Change Lives.” LinkedIn, July 21, 2020. Accessed May 13, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/stories-change-lives-virginia-gause
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Greenhalgh, Trisha and Brian Hurwitz. 1999. Why study narrative? BMJ Vol. 318, 48–50 2nd Jan.
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Jojanneke. 2014. “Stories Change Lives.” Jojanneke van den Bosch (blog), June 4, 2014. Accessed May 13, 2025. https://jojannekevandenbosch-blog.tumblr.com/
Ray, Arya. 2023. Srijan Script. Public Domain.
The Story Adventurer. 2019. “Stories Change Lives.” The Story Adventurer (blog), December 17, 2019. https://storyadventurer.com/2019/12/17/stories-change-lives/
Wilcock, Peter M., Geraint Ceri Stewart Brown, John Bateson et al. 2003. Using patient stories to inspire quality improvement with the NHS Modernisation Agency collaborative programmes. Journal of Clinical Nursing, Vol. 12, 422–430.
