Originally posted by: Aafrah-SA
Chapter 1
"Stitch him up now. Please make
sure he is kept under observation for the next 72 hours. Keep checking his
vitals, and if his blood sugar level fluctuates through the day, please switch
to insulin immediately. That should be enough. And, good job team!
I walked out of the OT and
greeted the worried bunch of relatives of my patient standing outside.
"Mr. Arora is out of danger, we
have removed the blockages and successfully placed the stents. We will be
keeping him in the ICU for the next 72 hours, for observing his vitals, it is
not serious, just a caution-check on our part. My team of doctors will inform
you when he is conscious.
As I walked away, I checked my
schedule, I was running one hour late, I still had to read the history of the
brain tumour patient who had been moved to SDCH on reference, before sitting to
discuss it with my senior neurosurgeon tonight to finalise a way forward with
her. On that, Ma had requested me to come home early, some folks were coming
home. As I walked towards my cabin, lost in thoughts, I almost bumped into
someone.
"Watch where you're going Veer!
I turned around to see the annoyed face of Priya di, massaging her shoulder,
glaring at me.
"Oh, sorry di, I was thinking
about...
"I know, it's fine. Be careful
next time. I was coming to ask you when are you leaving for home? I will come
with you. she replied.
"I will take a while, why don't
you carry on, I will join you...
Some habits die hard, since
childhood Priya di always had this habit of cutting my sentence short and never
letting me finish.
"No Veer, Ma has specifically
instructed me to bring you home with me. I spoke to your secretary Aarti, and
she told me you are scheduled to have a meeting with Dr. Pragya on some brain
tumour case, so I requested Pragya and got it re-scheduled for tomorrow. So,
should we leave now?
Trust Ma and di to leave no
stones unturned when they need to corner me, I thought to myself amused. I
promised Priya di, I would take another forty minutes and then we could leave
together. She rolled her eyes and left, as I walked inside my cabin to study
the brain tumour case, which I would now discuss with my senior neurosurgeon
Dr. Pragya, tomorrow.
After half an hour of going
through the history I felt confident that the tumour was still in treatable
state, Pragya will still need to run a biopsy post operation, though chances of
the tumour being cancerous is negligible. I smiled in relief. It has been seven
years that I have been practicing, but even now the hope of a patient's
recovery makes me happier than a doctor should feel. Although I mask my feelings
well before my patient, but I could never really detach.
~An hour later at home~
I was sitting on the couch in our
hall throwing murderous glances at Ma and Di, which were completely ignored by
the duo as they politely spoke to a supposed daughter of a famous oncologist in
town, who also happened to be a friend to our father. She was invited to the
Malhotra mansion along with her father for dinner, since she had recently moved
back to the country after practising in the UK for a few years, and didn't have
a big social circle. Of course, I could see right through the hoax. Over the
years, my mother had become pretty much how Dr. Kabir's mother had become a few
years back, "daughter-in-law hungry as I like to term it.
"Savitri bhabi, I hear Priya heads
the legal team at SDCH and Veer is the managing director, practising cardiology
like his father. Both handling the hospital so well, Anand must be so proud!
spoke Dr. Kalra, as my mother smiled proudly in return before giving him embarrassingly
elaborate details about our achievements. These are the times I enjoy dad's
presence, if he were here, he would have found a way to cut short this embarrassing
conversation. But dad was in Mumbai for a seminar. After the truth about Dr.
Mishra's death was out, it seemed to genuinely hit my father's conscience. He
slowly started retreating from his hospital duties, as Priya di and I took over.
Now he spent most of his time as a consulting dean in cardiology, across
universities in India and abroad. He conducted seminars and trainings and liked
to stay in the academic side of things. He has finally realized that the
business side of this evoked the devil in him. I was lost in my thoughts when I
felt a gentle tap on my shoulder.
"Hi Veer, you seem lost! I
looked around to see a girl standing next to me and peering down at me with an
amused face.
"I ..yeah..err..actually.. I
began stuttering, as she looked into my eyes and said, "Hmm..I see no signs of
concussion in you. You really must be slow then. She completed her diagnosis
with a straight face. Her sarcasm only struck me, when I heard Priya di laugh
out from beside me. She, really did catch me off guard!
I laughed a little and responded,
"Hello, I am Veer
"Veer, the batman of SDCH
cardiology? Figured that much from your mother she replied and laughed a little
more, while I turned deep red in embarrassment. She didn't seem to notice it,
as she continued, "I am Naina. Naina Kalra, and I hope you know, our parents
are trying their best to get us hitched
It turned out that Naina was
indeed a nice person, and after our awkward introduction, we did get along
quite well. She was a doctor too and practised psychiatry at a hospital in
London, but had recently moved to India to stay with family and practise. She was
a warm and friendly person, and we found ourselves talking quite a lot. Our
parents were happy to see us bonding, and under ordinary circumstances one
would think, this would lead to something. But I was no more into it. My whole
idea of emotional intimacy had gone for a toss a few years back, when I had
crossed path with an extraordinary woman, Dr. Sanchi Mishra. I don't like
thinking about it, more on that later.
As we bid Naina and her family
after dinner, I smiled to myself. She was a nice girl. We could be friends.
However, I also decided to set my mother's expectation straight. I was single
and at peace. I wasn't in need of a partner. I don't know why my mother and
sister keeps pushing this, they have been in my shoes too. All three pf us
Malhotra's know, when a partner cheats on you, it really hurts and I am not
ready for more hurt.
Bigg Boss 19
Ganesh Kartikeya
