“AN MBBS IS A DEGREE, NOT A LIFE SENTENCE”: Interview Mrigank Warrier

Interview by Shivangi Shankar

Mrigank Warrier talks about medicine, writing and how he made the switch

“An MBBS”, Mrigank says, “like any college education – teaches you how to think. I am so grateful for all that my MBBS taught me, apart from medicine itself.” Although he never throws the title around, he has found that people give him a certain amount of respect once they get to know that he is a doctor, even when his work isn’t medicine related. As a freelance feature-writer he often covers healthcare in his writing and says his education gives him the required understanding of medicine and the healthcare profession.

So, it isn’t that he dislikes medicine, in fact, he loved biology and he loved talking and listening to people. MBBS was a choice that he thought, at the time, would let him do “useful” work. In retrospect, he thinks he was dismissive of many professions then. Still, he found the idea of a professional life that would let him give back to society without any extra effort on his part very appealing.

However, he only made the switch once he realised that while he loved and enjoyed medicine, it didn’t thrill him. He realized nothing gave him the kind of high he got from writing.

Writing had been an interest since as far back as Mrigank remembers. During MBBS, he planned to pursue both writing and medicine as parallel careers. During and after internship, while studying for the PG entrance, he found himself repulsed by the very sight of MCQ books. He also began to have doubts about the quality of life of a doctor in the cellphone age. He then started to realise that it would be perpetually unfulfilling to try and pursue both career paths with dedication, and he would end up excelling at neither.

Mrigank always found the time and space to pursue writing alongside his education. He says, “I got many para-curricular and extracurricular opportunities in college to use my writing skills, and I grabbed all of them. And I sought them outside college too, because the internet is a beautiful thing.”

The only real struggle for him has been having to market himself, negotiate money and hustle to generate work. “When you choose medicine as your vocation, you also set yourself on a trajectory where there are relatively few choices available to you, and you don’t have to generate opportunities/work on your own. You work hard, and you either get the PG seat/superspecialization/bonded seat/govt job, or you don’t.” He has also had to learn to deal with rejection(as opposed to the anonymity of not qualifying for something as in most medical line of work).

Though this uncertainty brought in some anxiety for him, he says his family and friends have mostly been supportive. Regarding the role colleges could play in supporting medical students discover and hone their skills and interests, he believes medical colleges need to look at students as fully formed human beings, not future cogs in the healthcare system.

To colleges and educators he says, “Realise they have interests other than medicine, just like you (professors) do.

Acknowledge that what they learn and do outside of medicine has a massive bearing on the kind of doctors they become.

Admit that an MBBS is a degree, not a life sentence. So many people who enter MBBS never wanted to do it, or no longer want to do it. Let them know there is an exit option, and the roads ahead.

In practical terms, start a Medical Humanities unit. Medicine seems insulated from the outside world, but it isn’t. At all. Help students access all they need to become well-rounded human beings, not coldly clinical treatment robots.”

He says though he wasn’t prepared for what he was throwing himself into, the rewards have been worth it. He adds that fortunately, he has never had second thoughts about switching to journalism. He enjoys his work even while working on something relatively mundane.

To others who consider making a switch after medicine, he advises, “If you’re going to do it, do it because you want to do what you’re switching to, not because you want to run away from medicine. The latter will offer temporary respite, but you will always wonder if you made the right choice.

He adds, “Start doing whatever it is that you want to, right now. Don’t wait to learn it formally, or to be paid for it (although both these would be nice).

Have definite goals. I decided I wanted to be a ‘writer’. ‘Writer’ is not a profession; journalist, novelist, content writer, technical writer, editor, copywriter etc are. Feel free to dabble in everything initially, but figure out what you want to focus on as early as you can. Like medicine, you need to ‘specialize’ in your new career too.”