Air in the most exclusive chamber of the institution was still and calm. Persons present in the room irrespective of the hosts and the guests, had their gazes fixed on Rehan as he shot out the question straight at the senior most consultant. The professor smiled at Rehan and said, “I’m impressed that you have come straight to the point, young man! Actually, there are many things which act together in unison to cure any ailment, among which the patient’s trust and will plays a major role. I’m confident about my part, as per the signs seen, at the moment, your friend’s condition is a curable one, but to reach at the perfect solution I need to observe him under some controlled conditions here, which we call the Pathya.
Depending on the response of your friend’s body and mind only could I fix the exact treatment, which again may change with the internal and external conditions of the body, the mind, the environment and also the stage of the ailment. So, I need a minimum of seven days in-house, or rather a few more days depending on the rate of recovery.”
As the doctor almost finished with his words, there was a knock on the door and a lady doctor, stepped into the chamber, followed by another flock of students in white coats. She was younger than the professor and had a crisp personality which gave her the look of an experienced professional. She spoke boldly with the utmost tone of respect expected from a modest lady; her words were focused to the professor. She asked, “Sir, when are you leaving in the afternoon, we have a press conference at 6pm, hope you remember.” The professor replied, “Oh thank you dear, I had almost forgotten that.” She then started to leave the room with an ensuring smile, which kind of indicated a deep bond that the duo shared. Following her, the students who had come along also bowed to the doctor and started turning about to leave the room.
One of the students had a momentary eye contact with Saarang and Rehan noticed that all of a sudden, his friend was kind of stunned and how it took him a minute to retrieve his gaze that was fixed on the door which closed behind the guests. The new connecting lines that began to setup between the friends were instantaneously broken by the affirming voice of the professor. He said, “My most brilliant and sensible student for almost 20 years now. She’s been the god mother for the patients here, the loving daughter for the hundreds of ailing souls and the best mentor for the future ambassadors of this science. Don’t mind gentlemen, it’s my pride to boast about my students who are in this profession just for the wellbeing of the mankind and for the progress of the science.”
The professor jotted down something in the case file and informed the nurse that there was some advice for in-patient admission. Rehan stepped on Saarang’s foot to bring him back to the situation. Rehan noticed that his friend was still confused. So, he asked the doctor if they could discuss the matter with the family and get back the next day. The doctor replied, “OK, but be prompt in your reply. We are transparent and never compromise with the ethics and as far as the expenses are concerned, the institution is funded by the Government, thus reasonable”.
The friends took leave from the chamber and as soon as they came out, Rehan observed that Saarang’s eyes were searching all around for something. He broke in “What man! Don’t tell me that you are looking for that girl. What’s it bro? Never seen you so desperate.” Saarang replied, still scanning around, “I bet that she’s the same girl in the picture.” Rehan reacted in surprise, “which picture and which girl bro?” Saarang continued, his gaze still wandering, “Bro, when I was back from Botswana, my mom had come up with the pictures of some girls, given to her by some matrimony agent. Among those there was this one girl whose image kind of captured me for little longer, but as the thought of my skin disease burped up, I literally scolded my mom and snapped the pics on the dining table. But now I strongly feel that she is the same girl.
Rehan noticed a kind of sparkle in his friend’s eyes, and the college times reeled at the back of his eyes for few seconds, as Rehan realised that this may be that one crucial thing that he missed in his friend right from the first moment of this reunion. Rehan recollected, how enthusiastic his friend used to be and this very sparkle in his eyes was the source of vigour and vitality in the people around him in any deed, may it be academics, sports, arts or simply hang outs. Just for this reason that if the sight of this girl has made his friend alive, Rehan silently but strongly decided to find the girl. In this excitement he almost marked the incident as a signal from the unseen powers of the universe that he believed in and accepted as the destiny.
Rehan reminded himself by shredding the newest of thoughts on his mind, the core purpose of being there. He thought that making his friend happy was important, but the need of the hour was to arrive at a decision regarding the treatment proposal by the professor. Picking this particular one from the array of thoughts that crowded Rehan’s mind for the past few seconds, he spoke to his friend, who was still looking around to find the person who almost changed the rhythm of his heart beats.
“My dear brother we need to give a response to the professor as soon as possible.” On hearing Rehan’s words, Saarang turned towards him as if he was hearing something for the first time. Rehan popped back, “What? Why do you stare at me like that?” Saarang replied, “nothing Bro, I was kind of swayed away from the real…” Rehan could literally observe the blush on Saarang’s cheeks and the glow in his eyes fading away, making way for the calculative thinker to take over and find a suitable way out.
The friends paced down the walk away discussing the possibilities of staying back for the treatment, the main concern was to keep Saarang’s parents in the dark and not letting them sense the reality. Rehan said that he would call Nisha once and take her advice too. As Rehan took his phone to call her, Saarang’s phone vibrated in his pocket and as he pulled it out, he was excited to see Oteng’s picture on the screen. Though Rehan stood busy swiping his phones screen, he made it sure to keep a watch on his friend, as he was concerned if anything different from the present situation would alter his friend’s mood. He saw that though his friend seemed little anxious in the beginning but as the conversation continued, he seemed delightful but calm. He was giving some official instructions to the person on the other end and in a while, he hanged up the call by uttering, “Congratulations!!! Partner…”
As Saarang turned towards his friend, Rehan lifted his brows to enquire the reason behind his little giggle. Saarang walked to his friend and spoke, “brother! A huge consignment on which I was working for quite a couple of months with a London based group is almost finalised. They communicated with Sarah and Oteng, my friends over there and have asked to proceed with the initial paper works.” On hearing that Rehan felt a kind of positivity regarding the entire situation, and he said, “bro this place seems lucky, anyway let me call Nisha once.”
As Rehan stalked little away looking at his phone, Saarang’s thoughts had an unusual shift from the professional algorithms and got entangled with those words that came out of his friend’s mouth. Saarang never thought of luck and coincidences normally but when his friend talked about that place being lucky, the first thought that pierced through him was the face of that girl, who earlier turned around and left the room just by exchanging a glance and then disappeared into thin air.
In the meantime, Rehan came back and told that Nisha was very happy on hearing about the meeting with the professor and she insisted to go with the therapy as early as possible. About Saarang’s parents she said that they were quite happy and now the three of them had gelled pretty well and she also assured that she would handle that side.
So, the decision was almost made, that too in a simpler way. Rehan asked his friend whether they should confirm the decision of staying back to the professor then itself or wait till the next day as told by them earlier. He looked straight into Saarang’s eyes which didn’t seem confused as they were earlier, Rehan wondered if the call from Botswana, or the professor’s aura or rather the glimpse of that unknown girl was responsible for that change.
As he was lost in his inferring thoughts, Saarang spoke up, “my mom always says that when things around you seem good to the heart you must immediately grab the chance. So, let’s stay back and hope for the best to come our way.” Rehan literally jumped out of joy and hugged his champ tight and said with that 1000-volt smile of his, which was displayed in the rarest of the occasions, “this is you bro…this is you…”
