The RMO enquired to Saarang if he was alright and within fractions Rehan leapt forward with a glass of water, as if he knew the exact diagnosis and remedy for the instant outbreak of air from lungs of his dear friend. Saarang slowly gulped a mouthful of water and utilized the time to gather himself from the shock of seeing the most awaited image of the past lengthy hours. Leave alone Saarang, even Rehan’s heart skipped a beat at the scene before his eyes.
Dr. Harini continued, “So! Saarang this is Dr. Avantika, she’s a house surgeon here and she will surely clear all your doubts, still if you happen to need further clarifications, we are always here. So! Hesitations apart and enjoy the stay. We are here to help you in the best way possible and as the professor said, if everything goes well you can strike this thing away from your life, but your will is as important as the treatment itself.” Backing the statement, came the dominating voice of the professor, as he quoted some verse with a sparkle in his eyes which definitely was in Sanskrit. Saying that much the crew turned to leave the room and as the girl turned, Saarang’s eyes got stuck on her, happening almost involuntarily. But unlike the previous rendezvous, this time the girl did not throw glances at Saarang.
A thousand thoughts rippled across his mind trying to figure out the present state of mind of this girl, whom he desperately wanted to see but didn’t know for what reason. Lost in his own network of thoughts, the voice of the RMO broke Saarang out of it as he heard that the detailed intern would be coming to him in the afternoon to explain his proposed treatment. And as she said this, Saarang found the girl nodding to him in a very cordial way as if the one who stood before him was the Goddess of modesty. This again made a new thought wave to arise in his mind. Though unaware about these rises and falls within Saarang, his friend Rehan spoke for him and swiftly headed towards the RMO, who by now was near the door, about to exit the patient’s room. Rehan thanked Dr. Harini for the consideration she showed towards his inquisitive friend and also showed his gratitude towards the junior doctor in advance. As they exchanged glances the doctors walked out of Saarang’s room leaving behind a half stuck patient and an excited friend of his.
Rehan rushed back to his friend, he was so excited that his heart was kind of pounding as the words dropped out of his mouth, “Bro! this is gonna be terrific, see I told you that there is something about it and God is trying to set some links. And now it’s your turn to follow it and do the needful.” As Rehan spoke, he noticed that Saarang was already lost in thoughts. After a few seconds he smiled and said, “Why are you building up so much Bro! we are here for a purpose and they are doing their duty and nothing should come in the way of reaching that destination as told by those senior doctors, my mind matters and I want to give in my 100 percent.” Though Saarang was trying to be very immune to his friend’s remarks, there was something that was prompting him from within and no doubt Rehan could feel it. But as always, he just wanted to stay by his friend’s side so that they could go back with the mission accomplished.
The friends then swayed away into other conversations. The evening herbal tea arrived and Saarang looked into his watch, it was 4.30 pm already and he felt a bit desperate as the expected one hadn’t arrived yet, though he was at peace externally. Rehan could sense it but he chose not to speak of the girl again after the previous comment by his friend. In the midst of the chit-chat, after about an hour, Rehan interrupted, “Brother, why am I getting this feeling that the junior doctor forgot about us and has gone home.” Saarang, who was twiddling with his own thoughts was silent at this and then he said after a thought, “lets see what comes, anyway we are continuing with the decision of taking the treatment, rest how they execute is their way of doing things. We can always communicate with the consultant and there isn’t much need to be dependent on the students for that purpose. ” Rehan could feel that tint of irritation in friend’s voice, as being on time is one thing these two friends have always fancied.
When the clock in the room ticked around quarter past six, there was a knock on the door and two ladies entered the room. As without aprons this time, it took a while for Rehan to recognise them. One of them was Dr. Avantika. She wore a light blue cotton kurti which seemed quite loose on her lean physique. Rehan recognized that three petal brand of casual wear range, as Nisha preferred them for her summer collection. Saarang noticed that black mole on the left cheek of this girl just below her eyes. Her eyes were jet black in colour, medium sized but seemed big as she had filled the margins with dark kaajal, and the lashes were not very dense but long and curved. Her brows didn’t seem to be made up with the thread but were in shape naturally. Unlike the last two times, her hair was not fixed into a bun but they fell over her back till the end of her spine like those thick spiral cables. The wet hair seemed even more black and shiny. Tiny droplets of water trickled from the hair tips which made her kurti wet round the area.
Saarang was very sharp at observation and assessment, may it be calculations or people. The other girl was quite tall, as tall as Rehan, with a pale skin tone and short, coloured hair with a large pair of spectacles fixed on her face. Though both of them looked poles apart, the stethoscopes that adorned their necks made them look very professional with a magnetic aura.
On entering the room, they waved to Rehan and came straight heading to their patient. Dr. Avantika was the one to speak first. She asked how Saarang felt about the weather and food at the new place. Saarang was slightly shocked but felt excited to wonder how could someone arrive late at a meeting and be so bold and confident. Rehan also held a similar line and as couldn’t resist himself, he prompted, “When it got this late, we thought that you might not show up today. Isn’t your working time over yet?” Before Avantika could answer Rehan, the other girl jumped in, “Sir, we have a night duty today, and as Avantika is posted with the Professor she had quite a long day too.” Dr. Avantika took over and said, “I’m sorry I kept you waiting, actually on usual days I leave by 5 – 5.30 pm, but today as I’m on the night duty I thought I could meet you now, cause Harini Mam has asked me to explain things in detail to you and I would get little more time to spend now than during the day hours.”
The explanations came as quite impressive to Saarang. Where he thought of lowly about the non-punctual attitude from the doctor, now he was delighted that she rather had better plans. On hearing all that Rehan also felt at ease and asked out of the blue, whether there are any hangout points in the locality. Again answering the question the other girl nodded and said that few of her favourites were just outside the campus. Rehan planned to go and checkout. Meanwhile the girl again spoke up, she suggested that she may go and finish with the evening rounds and by that time Avantika may stay with the patient and clear his doubts. The two ladies nodded to each other and as the other one was about to leave, Rehan stepped towards her, to ask her name.
She turned around in a way that her golden brown, short, straight hair fanned around to cover her face before settling back in position and said, “I’m Dr. Jennifer Parera, you may call me Jenni. Is there something that I can do for you?” Rehan didn’t expect such hearty response from the brunette doctor. Rehan stammered, “Nah… I simply enquired; actually I wanted to explore the nearby areas just in case I get bored.” Dr. Jenni spurted out all of a sudden, “so you want me to show you around? Oh! Actually I’m on duty today, let’s fix it for tomorrow.” Rehan was taken aback, he had never thought of it coming around this way and conveyed that it was ok and he never meant like that.
Saarang and Avantika exchanged a glance and Rehan also walked to them. He said, “Bro, do you mind if I go and see the surroundings before it gets too dark. And Dr. Avantika are you ok to be here alone with my friend, I shall be back in a while. Actually we waited for you the entire evening, otherwise I would have gone early in the evening.” Listening to this Jenni reverted, “this is one girl in the campus, you can leave alone anywhere, anytime. She’s our ‘karate kid’, your friend may better be cautious.” Hearing those remarks Rehan too jumped in for his friend and said, “Ahaa…that’s interesting then we may audience a karate – kung fu combo.” As all of them laughed, Jenni hurried towards the door announcing that she needed to finish the rounds and then faded away into the corridor. Rehan also sped away, leaving behind the other two in the room.
It was Avantika who spoke first, “so, it seems you ain’t practicing these days, your body says it all.” Saarang replied with yet another interesting surprise, “that means you really are into karate!!! Otherwise generally people fall for my body frame and believe that I’m pretty fit. You caught me right.” Each statement she made, took Saarang run into another array of thoughts. It was for the first time ever he had met someone so crisp in assessments. His inquisitiveness to know about her was now overpowering the education he demanded regarding the treatments earlier…
