Part-1
It was a cold winter's day in Lucknow. Ashutosh walked around ...ill at ease with himself. He watched his baba wish politicians and interact with their cronies...he was by his side while he greeted the ones who really mattered (again, this was done to please his baba), but now that the initial round was over, he quietly receded to the background.
Parties were never his thing...and attending one thrown by people with political affiliations filled him with disgust. His baba literally dragged him to it...he said that it would help him build the right connections...right connections? he scoffed at it...he was a surgeon and not a bureaucrat...he doesn't need a politician's hand over him...his skills will speak for themselves.
He watched them from his chair...small time leaders and their sidekicks...all dressed in white...in well starched kurta-pyjamas and dhotis...all greeting each other with a dishonest namaskar...uncouth men- Ashutosh remarked to himself.
Ashutosh had never stayed in Lucknow for long...he had attended a boarding school run by Catholic priests in Dehradun, then went to AIIMS for his medical education...later he flew to U.K for FRCS...12 years of stay in London had refined him even further...and now he is Lucknow- on his father's insistence. He was a neurosurgeon at K.G.H, a premier hospital in Lucknow...he was satisfied with his work but would have preferred not to live in a mofussil town. Patients were patients- whether in Lucknow or in Mumbai..but what he hated about being in Lucknow was being dragged to social events- invariably hosted by slimy thugs turned politicians.
When is this party going to end...he wondered...Just then he saw his Dad walk to him with an angry look on his face. "Ashu...bahut ho gayi teri manmani...I am sick of it...people die to attend such parties..and hobnob with people who matter ...and here you are... sulking in a corner"
"Baba..you know that I don't like all this...you are an advocate..you interact with these people on a daily basis..but keep me out of it...please spare me..."
"Don't embarrass me Ashu...come"
Ashutosh knew that arguing won't help...he followed his Dad...
Meanwhile a man arrived with 4 cronies in tow..he greeted people and did polite namaste to everyone...after some time Advocate Alok Tripathi approached him
"Namaste Lallanji"
"Namaste Namaste Advocate Saheb..."
Lallan Trivedi's attention was diverted to a tall, muscular and handsome looking man standing next to the advocate...
"Lallanji..yeh hai mera beta Ashutosh"
Ashutosh did a quick namaste
"Toh kya kar raha hai aapka beta...aap hi ki tarah lawyer ban gaya hai kya"
"Nahin..nahin...law sab iski bas ki baat nahin hai..yeh surgeon hai...K.G.H mein kaam kar raha hai"
Lallan gave Ashutosh another look from head to toe... before leaving to greet another politico.
Ashu heaved a sigh of relief as the party got over and their driver drove them home...tomorrow's surgeries played on his mind.
The next day dawned...Ashutosh left for KGH,Alok Tripathi left for the court...
Lallan Trivedi reclined on his chair and talked to his aide Pandey
"Pandeyji...Mujhe advocate Tripathi ke bete ke bare mein details chahiye...sab kuch pata kijiye... par jaldi"
It was a good day for Ashutosh...his surgeries went well...OPD was over...and now he was in canteen enjoying a cup of tea...and looking around.. a group of young doctors walked in...there were a few women among them...though Ashutosh had no particular interest in any of them, the girls did look in his direction...he smiled...He was a hot favourite among women...and he knew it...
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