Rajesh Khullar defies the quintessential bureaucrat much like his book demystifies the beliefs around HIV or AIDS.
Tell him his book is a good read and this IAS officer is humbled instantly. “I never thought I would be able to write a book,” he says.

His first book, Viral Match, provides the windfall every HIV positive person awaits. When the book says that it may well take 15 years or sometimes even 30 years for an HIV positive person to develop full blown AIDS, or when it exemplifies through one of its characters (Dr Saran) that surgeons are at high risk to contract the disease— the book deflates two HIV myths; being HIV positive is the dead-end and promiscuity is the answer to all HIV whys.

According to the author, Dr Saran represents hundreds of surgeons in the country who have become HIV positive while pursuing their noble profession. “Personally, I know six surgeons who have contracted the virus through this means. It is sad, but you cannot do much about it.”

“During the surgeries, there are chances for blood vessels to rupture and the blood to get splashed on the doctor’s eyes. If that happens, and if the patient is HIV positive, then the chances are that the doctor too gets the virus. Again, it depends on the viral load of the patients,” says Khullar.

That’s when the medical world came up with the phrase post-exposure prophylaxis and the triple cocktail that could counter the viral attack if taken within 72 hours (in case of hospital exposure to the virus).

In Viral Match too, Vishal takes the triple cocktail, fearing sexual exposure to the virus and goes through unpleasant side-effects of the medicines. Wasn’t the author divulging too much information about the medication? Doesn’t he feel it will be misused by at least some of his readers? “Come on ... this information is all over the internet. If people have to misuse it, would we be able to stop them?” the author asks.

Database for queries

Even though Viral Match has all the ingredients of a gripping medical thriller, it also serves as a database for all HIV-related queries and at times as a service manual for condoms and provides many sure shot ways to kill oneself. Khullar started his research on AIDS much before the idea of a book surfaced in his mind. His stint with the Haryana State AIDS Control Society, as its director, also helped him gather knowledge of this deadly disease.
According to Khullar, writing fiction with the disease as the main theme itself was part of the drive to clear the smoke about HIV. “I have noticed that the information fails to reach the right segment— the youngsters. So I thought of a book a father can gift his son or  daughter. I am sure my book will at least help that section of society that can read,” he says.

When the book says a needle tip can hold 16,000 HIV viruses or that these viruses can survive outside the human body only for a couple of hours and moreover, during blood donation, if your blood is tested positive for HIV, it is destroyed at once, it dispels many a myth attached to this disease.

But one is also left to wonder why the law in the country prevents hospitals or blood banks from informing the person about his HIV status if found positive during a blood donation drive. “It is quite strange. But that’s what the law dictates. The same is not the case in the US. Then again, the HIV positive person’s identity may get disclosed if the information is let out,” Khullar says.

The book is also peppered with interesting pieces of information like the one in which Radhika warns Vandana, “The less suspecting you are about your husband, more are the chances that he’s cheating on you” and the Karmic rule of timings, “If the act is creative, do it now; if it’s destructive, do it after 24 hrs.”

Are these words of wisdom ripped off from his own life? Khullar laughs, “My male friends who read the book told me that such tidbits could detriment the ‘sanctity’ of their marriage. And the Karmic rule of timings is of course from the Australian philosopher Gurdjieff, the only Western philosopher who is known to have attained enlightenment.”

This author is now working on another book on governance, or rather the lack of it in the country. And when he’s not writing or reading, he spoils his two children.