Title: Golu and Papa: First Aid for Every Home
Author: Dr. Javed
ISBN: 978-93-4726-364-4
Publisher: Evincepub Publishing
About The Book:
Golu and Papa: First Aid for Every Home is a practical, story-driven first aid manual set in everyday Indian life. Through warm and engaging conversations between a curious child and his thoughtful father, the book transforms real-life emergencies into powerful learning moments. Each chapter presents common situations faced at home, school, or on the street, and gently guides readers through simple, evidence-based first aid actions that can save lives. Written in an easy, relatable style, this book empowers families, students, and communities to respond confidently before professional medical help arrives.
About the author:
Dr. Javed is a medical educator, simulation leader, and advocate for community first aid training. He serves as the National Head for Simulation & Training at VASA, where he teaches lifesaving skills to students, professionals, and families.
He believes that first aid should be understood by every home, not just hospitals. Throughout his career as master trainer, he has trained thousands of people and witnessed how ordinary individuals can save lives with calmness, clarity, and simple actions.
His dream is for every Indian household to feel prepared, confident, and safe. He wrote this book for parents, children, teachers, communities, and every person who believes in the power of helping others. He believes in the quiet power of knowledge, the discipline of training, and the human responsibility to help.
Neel Preet: What first drew you toward writing as a form of expression?
Dr. Javed: Writing was never something I planned. It grew naturally from my work as a medical educator. Every day, I found myself explaining complex medical procedures in simple words to students, nurses, and families. I realised that the same skill, the ability to make the difficult feel approachable, could reach far more people through the written word. Teaching is a form of expression, and writing became its natural extension. I wanted my voice to travel beyond the classroom, beyond the simulation lab, and into homes where it was needed most.
Neel Preet: Was there a defining moment that pushed you to become an author?
Dr. Javed: Yes. It was not a single dramatic moment, but a quiet accumulation of many. Over years of training healthcare professionals and conducting community workshops, I kept meeting ordinary people, parents, teachers, shopkeepers, who desperately wanted to help during emergencies but did not know how. I saw the fear in their eyes, the helplessness. One incident stayed with me: a father at a workshop told me he had watched his child choke and could do nothing because he had never been taught. That conversation planted the seed. I knew I had to write something that would reach people before the emergency, not after.
Neel Preet: How much of your personal life influences your writing?
Dr. Javed: Deeply, and in ways that may not be immediately obvious. I am a father, and the relationship between Golu and Papa is inspired by the conversations I have had with children in my own life, the curiosity they bring, the way they ask “why” without hesitation, and how they trust completely when you teach them with patience. My years of living in India, understanding how our families function, the role of Dadi, Chachu, neighbours, the kitchen as the centre of the household, all of that is woven into the stories. Every chapter carries a piece of real life.
Neel Preet: What emotions or thoughts usually inspire your ideas?
Dr. Javed: A sense of responsibility, mostly. When you know something that could save a life and you see people struggling without that knowledge, it creates an urgency that does not go away. But alongside that, there is also a deep affection for everyday Indian life. The warmth of a family sitting together, a child’s laughter, the smell of jalebis, the chaos of a cricket match in the lane. I wanted to honour those moments and show that even within them, there are opportunities to learn something lifesaving. My ideas come from the intersection of love and duty.
Neel Preet: If you hadn’t become a writer, what path do you think you would have chosen?
Dr. Javed: I am, first and always, a medical professional. Writing is not a departure from that identity. It is an extension. Had I not written books, I would have continued doing exactly what I do: teaching, training, and building simulation programmes. But I believe writing has allowed me to multiply my impact. A training session reaches a room. A book reaches a nation. If I had to choose a parallel path, it would have been filmmaking or documentary work, because visual storytelling has the same power to educate and move people.
Neel Preet: What is the core idea or message behind your book?
Dr. Javed: The core message is simple: first aid is not a medical skill reserved for doctors. It is a human skill that belongs in every home. Through the bond between Golu and Papa, I wanted to show that learning to help others is an act of love, not a burden. The book teaches readers to stay calm, think clearly, and act with confidence during emergencies. But more than that, it teaches them that being prepared is itself a form of kindness, what Papa calls “prepared kindness.”
Neel Preet: How did the concept of this book evolve from idea to final manuscript?
Dr. Javed: The idea began during my community training workshops. I noticed that when I told stories, real or imagined, people remembered the lessons far better than when I used clinical language. So I thought: what if an entire first-aid manual was built on stories? The concept of a father teaching his son felt natural because that is how knowledge has always been passed down in Indian families, through conversation, through daily life. The manuscript went through several rounds of refinement. Each chapter was tested for medical accuracy, emotional resonance, and cultural relevance. It took patience, but the final book is exactly what I had envisioned: a medical guide that reads like a bedtime story.
Neel Preet: What makes this book different from others in the same genre?
Dr. Javed: Most first-aid books are clinical manuals written for professionals. They use jargon, diagrams, and a tone that can feel intimidating. This book is the opposite. It is written for families, in the language of families. Every chapter is a story set in a recognisable Indian household, with characters that feel like your own relatives. Golu is every curious child. Papa is every patient parent. Dadi, Chachu, the neighbours, they are all people you know. The medical content is rigorous and evidence-based, but the delivery is warm, accessible, and deeply human. No other first-aid book in India does this.
Neel Preet: Did the story or content change significantly during the writing process?
Dr. Javed: The heart of the book remained the same from beginning to end: a father and son learning first aid together through everyday stories. But the details evolved considerably. Some chapters were rewritten multiple times to get the balance right between medical accuracy and narrative warmth. A few chapters were added later when I realised there were gaps, topics that families needed but that I had initially overlooked. The illustrations also shaped the writing. When I saw how Golu and Papa came alive visually, it pushed me to make the text equally vivid. The writing process was a conversation between science and storytelling, and both kept refining each other.
Neel Preet: What do you hope readers feel after finishing your book?
Dr. Javed: I want them to feel empowered. Not frightened by emergencies, but prepared for them. I want a mother to read this book and feel confident that if her child burns a hand in the kitchen, she knows exactly what to do. I want a teenager to read it and understand that helping someone who has fainted is not complicated, it just takes a little knowledge and a lot of calm. Most of all, I want readers to close this book and feel that first aid is not something distant or clinical. It is something they already carry within them: the willingness to help. This book simply gives that willingness a language and a method.
