Chapter 16: Blurry lines
Malvika was a professional through and through. Yet when she attended any meetings of this sort, she still felt like an eight year old learning multiplication. She sat straight her chair in a dimly lit waiting room and her heels tapped on their own accord.
Psychiatric council was made of bunch of real intellectuals, pseudo intellectuals turned bureaucrats, and psychiatrists turned administrative politicians – her peers, mostly. And they were all here for the meeting.
She perched up straighter when a plump woman walked into the corridor.
"You can go in now, Dr. Malvika. They are ready for you." The woman said. Malvika nodded and exhaled before following the woman. She was led to a conference room and the woman motioned her to enter. Malvika ran her hand once on her crisp pantsuit to mellow any unintended wrinkle. Exhaling once more, she opened the door to see four men and two women seated along one side of the table.
"Good Morning," she wished the room and everyone in it. She knew everyone, of course.
"We had a look at your report and you have put together for us Dr. Malvika. What's your diagnosis?"
They got right down to business after a brief nod at her greeting.
"If you look at the summary at the end of the report, my diagnosis is present. I don't believe Dr. Jha is fit for field work given his psychosis." The seventy page report was reduced to one sentence.
"Besides the hallucination and the evident neurosis, is Dr. Jha slipping with his sessions?" One of the women asked her.
"No, he isn't. However I do believe that the patients aren't responding to therapy as we would like them to. You will see in my report I have added one of the sessions transcript as reference." Malvika said opening the said page in her own copy.
"Who was the subject?" A man speaks next.
Malvika hesitated only for a second. "Khushi Gupta," she said. The men and women exchanged glances.
"Dr. Jha plays few cards close to his heart. Ms. Gupta has been with us for months but he is yet to talk to her about her involvement with the Punisher." Malvika couldn't help but bring it up. One of the older looking men removed his specs and sighed.
"Dr. Malvika, we all agreed that we wouldn't do anything to aggravate the patient but Dr. Jha is well within his academic grounds to believe that she isn't ready to talk about it. We have been over this Dr. Malvika," there was a warning in his voice.
Malvika looked at the people in front of her. She had seen worst of the worst of humanity and stood toe to toe with them when some criminally insane men told her in graphic detail what they would do to her if she were to be alone with them in a room. But here she was, listening to condescending tones of people who never got out of their plush clinics to deal with societal deviants.
"Watch this," she said sliding a CD on the table.
No one on the other side of the table reacted. A woman mustered enough interest to respond. "I don't think-"
"Just shut the f**k up and watch it." Malvika let go of her politeness and walked towards the DVD player indifferent to the whispers.
"Dr. Malvika, we must warn you…" The man trailed as his eyes checked the room being displayed on the television. "Is that Dr. Jha's office?" Malvika nodded. "You installed an infrared camera in his office?" The ethical breach was magnanimous. Malvika shrugged and walked back to her chair and sat down without making noise. The indignation on their face disappeared when the saw the scene playing out which Malvika wanted them to see.
It was recording of Khushi breaking into Shyam's office.
"What the hell is going on in that facility?" The elderly man hissed.
"It's corruption in every possible way." Malvika replied easily. "It was quite a brilliant plan, Khushi and her associate came up with." When she had first seen the video she was momentarily shocked. But the shock wore off quickly when she worked out the way Khushi had pulled it off. If she hadn't installed camera in Shyam's room to investigate him, she would have never known about this. There was no reason to bring it up. Client confidentiality was compromised to an extent which worried Malvika.
"What actions have you taken?" One of the women asked.
Malvika gaped at them. "Ladies and gentlemen, you are all psychiatrists and pioneers in your area of expertise. Shouldn't your question be – why is she doing it?" Malvika was surprised at the woman's question.
"Why do you think so?"
Malvika leaned back on her chair. "I hope you all remember Dr. Akash."
The silence that followed her words was stinging. "Yes, the same man who was deemed insane by Dr. Jha so that he could be inside an asylum instead of incarceration. Following that, Khushi got curious and is investigating her own attack which made her take this drastic step." The men and women had several interesting expressions, she thought. She wasn't telling the complete truth but she was close.
"But that's…." A man, probably her age, trailed.
"Insane?" Malvika chuckled. "They aren't sane people irrespective of how they project themselves."
"We are here for the discussion of report on Dr. Jha. Please stay on topic Dr. Malvika."
She wanted to scream. Maybe the facility air was making her insane too. "You don't see it?" She asked flabbergasted at the reaction. She was met with blank stares. "People like Arnav and Khushi need treatment which they aren't getting with Dr. Jha. That's my point. I don't care if you don't assign them to me. At least get them someone decent enough not to squirm at the enshrouding darkness these people seem to be in." Malvika said enraged at the remarkable disassociated feeling they were emulating.
"Dr. Malvika…" A man hushed her with a warning tone.
"Look, Khushi thinks everything is a huge conspiracy. She cannot accept the fact that she killed her sister. She was attacked by someone while she was walking back from station. Was it Punisher? We don't know. The police seem to think so because she gave them the exact MO of the Punisher. Or maybe it was really the Punisher who attacked her. But the point is – she needs help. Same goes to Arnav. His above average intelligence makes everyone even half intelligent him a worthy adversary. He can charm a person enough to commit crime – nothing short of an evil cult leader. He isn't capable of remorse, empathy or sympathy. He does what he wants because it is fun. And then-"
She stopped when the elderly gentleman raised his palm motioning her to stop.
"What do you suggest Dr. Malvika?"
She took a deep breath berating her for losing her mind this way. She was a good actress and a good doctor to pull off certain things.
"Keep them under observation. Allow me to lead the sessions with few patients. I'll start with sitting in with Dr. Jha and confront him about his methods as time progresses."
"Please step outside Dr. Malvika. You will receive further instructions in a day or two." The chair of the meeting dismissed her.
Malvika nodded and started to walk back. Remembering something, she stopped and turned back. "My office room is compromised – it's bugged and I won't be surprised if my router is hacked. I will drop by here and collect the envelope." She decided for the others.
She wanted to understand what Khushi and Arnav were up to and what Akash was planning. Her heart had skipped several beats when she found out that Akash was playing chess with Khushi and he hadn't had a violent episode. It was almost normal.
But she knew better.
They hid behind the thin veil of normalcy and shoved the insanity behind the veil. All she had to do was to lift the curtain.
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