In the dead of night,the phone rang: Ma,I just won the Pulitzer

Incidentally,Siddhartha had made her read the book even before it was published. “I was in New York with him because his daughter had just been born. He used to bring printouts of his writing home,for me to read. It is an excellent book and the best thing about it is anybody can enjoy it,” Chandana said.

A student of St Columba’s School in New Delhi,Siddhartha left India in September 1989 after he cleared his SAT examinations. “He has always done us proud. He was the first doctor in the family. And today,he has done the country proud,” his mother said.

Father Sibeswai Mukherjee,who retired from Mitsubishi some years ago,said he was living his dream through his son. “Though I had always wanted to be a doctor,circumstances prevented me. My son had already helped me realise that dream. But winning the Pulitzer is beyond any dream. It is still to sink in. It is by far the best Poila Boishakh (Bengali new year) gift I have got in my life.”

Siddhartha’s interest in cancer had come as a surprise to the family. “Even though he became an oncologist,I had no idea he was planning such a book,on the history of cancer. He told us much after he started writing it,” Chandana said. Her favourite part in the book,she says,is the importance of research on cancer that it highlights.

The couple plans to visit Siddhartha in June. Chandana has not spoken to Siddhartha since the midnight call. “I know I must be one of the first few people he informed. My son is understandably busy today,so he told me last night that he will call me once he is free,” she said.

Siddhartha,41,is a former Rhodes scholar who graduated from Stanford University,University of Oxford and the Harvard Medical School. He works as an Assistant Professor of medicine at Columbia University and a cancer physician at the CU/NY Presbyterian Hospital. He lives in New York with his wife,artist Sarah Sze,and two daughters.