Knotty Affairs Page 2

  Chapter 1

  Four years ago

  AAKASH RUSHED UP the stairs of Nerul railway station at lightning speed. Taking two steps at a time, he tried to cover the long footbridge in a jiffy. He had to duck down and jerk aside to avoid colliding with the alighting passengers and the crowd milling around him. Finally, surviving the shoves and abuses that came his way, he managed to reach the other end of the bridge, and once he reached there, he quickly made a dash towards the exit. One would not be wrong in assuming that this is the most common sight on any local suburban station on a working day.

  Quickly running out of the station, juggling his laptop bag from one shoulder to the other, Aakash headed for the rickshaw stand.

  In no time, his rickshaw was crossing the bylanes of Nerul and making its way to DY Patil Dental College, a renowned dental college in Navi Mumbai.

  Aakash, an intern in YMT Dental College, was presenting a paper at an inter-collegiate festival being held at DY Patil. He had to be at the venue at nine o’clock sharp, but he was running late. Rattling through the streets of Nerul in an auto, he quickly took out a necktie from his bag, the knot of which had already been prepared by his dad the night before. He then pulled out his laptop and switched it on impatiently.

  Much to his annoyance, the auto driver remarked, ‘Saab, jab tak aapka computer chalu hoga tab tak toh college aa jayega!’ To this he dismissively replied, ‘Arre kuchch urgent yaad aa gaya.’

  He was to deliver a presentation on the topic ‘Needle Phobia’, related to child dentistry, and had asked his friend Aniket to confirm the actual needle sizes used, since Aniket’s dad ran a dental practice. He had received a text from Aniket mentioning the sizes, when he was getting off the train.

  Aakash tried to make the corrections and modifications in his PowerPoint presentation as fast as he could. Completely absorbed in his work, he hadn’t realized that the auto had come to an abrupt halt and that he had reached the venue. He quickly shut his laptop.

  Standing near the water cooler, filling his bottle, Aakash noticed the coordinators of the competition near the canteen. He saw Dr Poonawala, a highly reputed oral surgeon based in Nashik, engrossed in an animated conversation with a fellow judge. Dr Poonawala was a visiting faculty in DY Patil College and was attached to Sion Hospital as his maxillofacial surgeon. His expertise in various surgeries and his method of teaching budding dentists was widely acclaimed in the small world of dentistry. Aakash marvelled at his achievements and looked up to him as a professional icon. Most of the dentists aspired to be like him. The very thought that Dr Poonawala would be judging his presentation today made Aakash slightly nervous.

  ‘Excuse me?’ a sweet voice interrupted his chain of thoughts. ‘May I?’ An attractive girl stood behind him. She was wearing blue denim and a black top, and was holding an empty water bottle in her hand. Aakash quickly stepped aside and let her fill her bottle. While he pretended to drink from his bottle, he stole a glance at the pretty girl. She looked up at him, giving him a warm smile. Aakash almost choked. At an absolute loss for words, he managed to smile back. The girl, tightening the cap of her bottle, eyed Aakash in his tie and formal attire. She asked, ‘Participant in the scientific paper-presentation session?’

  Aakash was quick to respond, ‘Yep.’

  She immediately gave a thumbs-up sign and wished him all the best.

  ‘Thanks!’ mumbled Aakash. He stared at the retreating figure and found his spirits lifting up. He smiled and reminded himself, ‘Focus, Aakash. Focus!’

  The paper presentation started almost an hour late, after the guest of honour’s speech and the welcome address speech by the judges. While the announcer pelted out instructions for the session, Aakash nervously fretted over his slides for a last-minute revision. So busy was he pouring over them that he did not hear someone call out to him.

  A female voice called out to him again, this time a little louder than before.

  Somewhat startled, Aakash looked up to find a fair, slim girl wearing spectacles, standing beside him. ‘Hey, I’m really sorry to bother you! I don’t have a laptop and I need to download my PPT so that I can go through it one last time before hitting the dais. Would you mind saving my presentation on your laptop?’ the girl asked, holding out a pen drive.

  Aakash did not want to waste much time over this, so he quickly snatched the pen drive from her hand and connected it to his laptop. Quickly saving the presentation as the girl guided him, he said, ‘I won’t be able to give you my laptop since my turn is next. You can have it after I finish my presentation.’ The girl nodded and went back to her seat.

  After a while, Aakash tilted his head to look back, meeting the eyes of the girl he had just talked to. She raised her thumb gesturing good luck to Aakash. He smiled in acknowledgement. Drawing in a deep breath, he closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. He looked at the stage where a presenter from the Government Dental College, Mumbai, was confidently talking about the recent advances in the field of endodontics. The projector screen flashed various pictorial elaborations, but they all passed by in a blur before Aakash’s eyes. He cracked his knuckles nervously to keep his stage fright at bay. A round of applause indicated that the announcer would call out his name next.

  Barring a few initial fumbles, Aakash felt somewhat confident and enjoyed explaining the subject of his seminar to the audience. Yet, he found it difficult to maintain eye contact with the judges or the audience. He was the only one representing his college, so the onus of flagging off his college’s talent was on his shoulders. Though his nervousness was quite evident, he went on for the next ten minutes talking about needle phobia, various behaviour-modification techniques, the delivery system and its techniques. When the lights came on, he heaved a sigh of relief.

  Dr Poonawala smiled at him with courtesy, and this made Aakash feel that he had won the competition. A few questions were thrown at him by the judges and panel mediators, which he skilfully answered. Just as he was about to disconnect his pen drive, he saw someone in the audience raise her hand.

  The girl with spectacles rose from her chair and popped a question, ‘Hello doctor, you just spoke about the behaviourmodification techniques to avert needle phobia, but it is possible that, in spite of a doctor’s best efforts, a child may not respond to these techniques and it may result in a failure to curb the phobia. In that case, would you recommend tackling the case with conscious sedation or, maybe even, general anaesthesia?’

  Aakash was taken aback by this question since he had skipped researching about conscious sedation and general anaesthesia, as it was remotely associated with his topic. He initially chose to dodge the question but, on second thought, decided to play along. He cleared his throat and answered, ‘Well, I am a firm believer of behaviourmodification techniques. If the mentioned techniques are applied properly, I don’t see any reason why they should fail. And in the rare case where they do fail, complex techniques of administering conscious sedation should be thought about; but this should be done with proper case selection and in presence of an expert team of doctors and allied professionals. Also, in these kind of cases, it is essential for the patient’s parents to give the doctor complete authority as well as their consent, so as to avoid any legal complications.’

  Aakash felt like patting himself on the back for coming up with this diplomatic reply, but, though the girl nodded in admiration, Aakash knew that the damage was already done. He felt mildly irritated that she had chosen to be oversmart at his expense.

  In most cases, these long sessions of presentations end up being a slumber party for most listeners. Although a mine of fresh information, excavated through thorough research on various topics, is brought forth, participants end up feeling saturated with the knowledge. In such dimly-lit seminar rooms, one is usually bound to find only two types of participants: the ones who are eagerly awaiting their turn, and those who are busy with their phones.

  Almost an hour after his presentation, Aakash found his interest picking up whe
n he saw the same girl on the dais. She adjusted her spectacles upon the bridge of her nose and smiled at everyone. Aakash looked stunned, as he had rarely seen a smile so heartwarming.

  The onscreen projector flashed the first slide of the presentation:

  On the Trail to Find an Extra Canal in a Root-Canal Treatment.

  Below the seminar topic, Aakash read her name written in small letters:

  By Dr Kashish Banerjee, intern, MGM Dental College

  Dr Kashish Banerjee enthusiastically went on to explain her presentation with the help of elaborate root-canal designs and videos. It was so meticulously presented and the data collection was so accurate that Aakash felt that she had a very bright chance of making it to the top three. The only glitch that marred her effort was that she exceeded the time limit of ten minutes.

  A few judges complimented her for the well-presented data content and a few panelists made some queries and suggestions, which she accepted wholeheartedly. Before she could finish her successful run, she saw someone in the audience had eagerly raised his hand. It was Aakash.

  She eyed him suspiciously, seeing a mischievous glimmer in his eyes.

  Pointing his pen at the projector screen, Aakash asked, ‘In your presentation, you explained the difficult morphology of a root-canal. In fact, the statistics you presented showed that most dentists end up missing this extra canal because of its inconspicuous location. How ethical is it for us dentists to go ahead with the completion of a root-canal procedure in case of an existing but missing fourth canal, which might lead to the eventual failure of the procedure?’

  As soon as Aakash asked this question, he grimaced as he realized the pseudo-intellectual nature of his query. Also, it was evident that he had simply thrown the question to get back at the poor girl. The judges were amused but looked at him disapprovingly.

  Aakash immediately lowered his gaze. A momentary silence followed before Kashish replied, ‘The ethical perspectives of a dental practitioner are highly variable, doctor. Nevertheless, it is not in the interest of the patient to leave a missing canal inside the tooth. A dentist can look out vigilantly for differences in the morphology. In this case, the dentist is aided by an accurate study of the x-rays and other variations clinically. If, in spite of his best efforts, a canal is still missed out, it would be highly unfair to question the intentions of the concerned doctor in carrying out the procedure. A doctor, after all, depends on his years of practice and experience to gain such an accurate eye.’

  Aakash nodded his head in agreement, looking somewhat apologetic. After three other presentations, the announcer announced an hour-long lunch break.

  Aakash got up and stretched his arms. Grabbing his laptop bag, he approached Kashish who was packing her handbag. She looked up and smiled warmly, assuring that there were no hard feelings between them. Aakash confessed, ‘Look, Kashish, I am extremely sorry about what happened. I guess, the naughty child in me took over my better self.’ He winked at Kashish, holding his ears apologetically. Kashish tightened her fists and threw a playful punch in the air towards him.

  ‘Aakash, right? Hey listen, my friend who was to accompany me for lunch just messaged me that she is busy with her dance practice. Are you hungry? Would you mind having lunch with me?’

  Aakash feigned disinterest and pretended to check his cellphone. When Kashish rolled her eyes, he mischievously said yes before accompanying her to the canteen.

  Dr Poonawala was having a really long day. He had got out of bed at 4 a.m. His sister was visiting from London and had an early morning flight back. He first dropped her to the airport and then drove from Nashik at 7 a.m. to reach the outskirts of Navi Mumbai by 9.30 a.m. Sitting through all the presentations had tired him out and he badly needed to stretch himself. He had forgotten a pile of case papers in his car, which he needed to look over after lunch, so he decided to fetch them.

  Walking towards the parking lot, he passed by a hall where students were practicing for the upcoming fashion show. College fests unleash the energy and enthusiasm of students. How Dr Poonawala wished that they would show even an iota of this zeal for their exams. He thought of having a cup of tea. So, after collecting the case papers, he walked towards the canteen. As he walked through the corridors, a few students wished him courteously. All the chairs in the canteen were occupied. The loud chatter and commotion made it difficult even to place an order at the counter.

  He was not only surprised, but also amused to see the two participants of the seminar, who had daggers drawn a short time ago, bonding over noodles and milkshakes. Did they know each other? Since there was no place to sit, he decided to join Aakash and Kashish at their table.

  Aakash was having a good time with Kashish. They were sharing their weird experiences over finding patients for their final-year practical exams. Aakash laughed and said, ‘The craziest was when I had to go looking for my prostho patient in the slum areas in Mankhurd. Only half of his treatment was done when he suddenly disappeared. Since he had told me that he was a taxi driver, residing in Mankhurd slum, I went there looking for him.’ Kashish was laughing so much that she had tears in her eyes.

  Seeing Dr Poonawala approach their table, Aakash immediately stopped jabbering. He was more than thrilled to have the top-notch doctor for company. Aakash and Kashish apologized for their childish behaviour in the auditorium, and over the next half an hour, they listened attentively as Dr Poonawala talked about the highly debatable topic of ethical conduct in dentistry. It was a discussion, which would be etched in Aakash’s mind for a long time to come.

  The next session turned out to be quite dull for Aakash and Kashish, since both of them had finished their presentations. Aakash almost dozed off a couple of times and Kashish kept nudging him to stay awake. At last, before the vote of thanks, the announcer urged the contestants to stay back for the cultural evening and invited them to be part of their grand celebration.

  Aakash looked at Kashish in anticipation. ‘I will have to ask my parents if I can stay back for the evening,’ said Kashish and Aakash silently prayed that her parents would say yes.

  It was an electrifying start to the evening when the famous rock band Nirvana performed the opening trance track. Loud whistles and cheers erupted from the young, swaying crowd. Most of the students of DY Patil were wearing red and black t-shirts, specially designed for the festival. Judges and special guests along with professors and their families were allotted seats in the front row.

  Sitting in the crowd, Aakash and Kashish were tapping their feet as they enjoyed the beats. With so much of energy around, it was impossible for anyone in the crowd not to feel the vibe. Next up were solo and group dance performances by various students, from first year to the final. Every performance was applauded wildly and rapturously. A few students seated in the back rows were passing comments on various performances. Every snide remark evoked a loud wave of laughter from the crowd. Lending ears to a few of these comments, Aakash leaned over to whisper in Kashish’s ears, ‘The famous stand-up comedians of tomorrow. Future passes meant only for adults! All hail, the new-age comedians!’ he said bowing down, as Kashish laughed uncontrollably.

  A deafening round of applause pierced the air at the anchor’s announcement of the next performance, refusing to die down. There were no prizes for guessing that a very popular student of the college was coming on stage.

  In the background played the song, Crazy kiya re… Sexy lady on the floor, from the movie ‘Dhoom 2’. As the curtains parted, one saw a girl standing on the stage, her back towards the audience. Suddenly, she turned around and threw herself in the air. She then started dancing gracefully, and the frenzied crowd went berserk when her eyes met the crowd. A wild volley of shouts erupted, ‘Neha…Neha…Neha…you rock!’

  Aakash, wide-eyed, felt his jaw drop! The gorgeous girl on stage was the same girl he had met in the morning at the water cooler!

  Kashish did not miss the evident blush on Aakash’s face. She softly cupped his chin and closed his
mouth, giggling playfully.

  Kashish whispered in his ears, ‘Neha Agarwal, third year!’

  A chorus erupted from the crowd behind them, ‘Neha…we love you!’

  It was almost 8.30 p.m. when Aakash and Kashish descended the stairs of Nerul station. Both had a large takeaway coffee mug in their hands and a packet of Little Hearts cookies.

  Aakash looked visibly annoyed, ‘What, yaar! You literally dragged me out of the college while the final year ka fashion show was going on! We could have at least stayed till it got over. I would not have insisted on attending the DJ party after that; although I don’t deny I would have loved to.’

  Kashish immediately shot back, ‘Try to understand, Aakash. My parents have already called up thrice, enquiring about my whereabouts. I was supposed to reach home by six. It’s late for me, but you should have stayed back. I didn’t insist that you come along. I don’t mind going home alone.’

  Aakash looked at Kashish and said in low voice, ‘It would not have been proper on my part. I mean…we were together the whole day and to leave you now would be…’ he let his voice trail off.

  Both of them looked at each other. Passing by a dabeli stall on the platform, they eyed the butter melting on the pan. Kashish broke the silence and said, ‘Thanks for coming, Aakash!’ Aakash immediately broke into a wide smile. Kashish actually felt safer with Aakash accompanying her.

  As they walked ahead, Kashish turned back to hungrily look at the dabeli stall as the hawker added a dollop of squashed red vegetable gravy on a slice of generously buttered pav. She whirled around only to realize that Aakash was gone!

  Terrified, she nervously scanned around, trying to spot him. There he was! Aakash winked at her as he paid the vendor at the dabeli stall. Kashish could not help smiling, her fair cheeks turning red just as the next train pulled in.

  ‘Tell you something? I did not like the theme portrayed in the fashion show of the second year students. They represented Gen-X, but walked the ramp pretending to be high on drugs and booze. C’mon ya, Kashish, there is more to Gen-X than drugs and booze.’