“Sir, are you not going home?” the nurse on night duty asked me. I was standing beside bed no.2 in ICU. Adithi was lying on the bed surrounded by many wires, as if we had tied her with chains so that she should not leave us. There were many pipes inserted in the body, as if we were trying to pump life in her body. She was on artificial respiratory support. We tried to remove it, but her own respiratory efforts were too poor to allow removal of ventilator.
She was brought to the “Leela Hospital” for headache, not responding to routine pain killers and pain increasing in severity. Examination showed involvement of brain. Urgent CT scan was done, that showed bleeding in brain. She was unable to speak within few hours. The right side of her body got paralyzed and she went in coma. She was not responding to verbal commands. Swelling on her brain was increasing causing compression of nearby centers thus damaging vital function of body. We had to operate, and remove a part of skull to reduce the pressure inside. She showed some signs of improvement. I asked my assistant to write a prescription for her, he wrote “Mrs Aditi” “No, its not A-D-I-T-I, It is A-D-I-T-H-I, got it?
“Excuse me sir, its not A-D-I-T-I, It is A-D-I-T-H-I.” She had told me, when I had mispelled her name during our first meeting.
She was a kannadiga girl from a small town , Hubli near Bengaluru. She was very attractive, dark complexion, big black eyes, and dark thick short hair, tall and dressed in decent western attire. I met Adithi for the first time in uti bank. She was in customer care department. She had excellent communication abilities and a very sweet tongue . Though I was a ‘priority customer’ of the bank and the whole staff used to treat me very well, Adithi was very helpful and cooperative with other clients of the bank too. “Doctor, can I come to your OPD for medical advice?” she asked me one day.
“Sure! My pleasure!” I meant that. She started visiting my OPD at Sawai Mansingh Hospital. It used to be a pleasant change from loud, arrogant patients to sweet and cordial person. One fine day she introduced me to a charming, fair, 6 feet tall boy with straight nose, athletic body, wearing a polo shirt, six pocket jeans and Nike.
“Sir! Meet my special friend ..”
“Hello SIRJI! I am Prathames” he said politely.
I stood stunned, in my white apron clad dull attire, black leather shoes, thin black semi rimless specs, wheatish complexion, and a mediocre height of 5feet 8 inches.Looking at his personality, I almost dropped my pen and then maintained my composure with great effort.
“ Hello Prathamesh!” I stressed on sh part of prathamesh, we shook hands. They were a fantastic couple, anyways. The doctor was lost in the crowd of impatient patients.
She used to bring her relatives, neighbours or any needy person to me for the treatment. One day she was brought by her father. He told me that she collapsed on the sofa at her home and had convulsions. She was seen by a local general practitioner and the prescription declared her a patient of ‘HCR’.
I asked her “Did you have blackout, headache, nausea, vomiting?”
“I felt that the room was spinning and I went in a dark tunnel with no light or sound. I still have mild throbbing headache, didn’t have nausea or vomiting,” she answered, looking tired.
“Adithi! What happened? Please tell me, I can help” I enquired.
“Not now sir, I will tell you later”
“OK! I want you to undergo some blood tests and CT scan of brain, these are routine investigations for this type of complaint, nothing to worry” I could read anxiety on her face.
“I am OK with blood tests sir, but please sir, I don’t want that CT thing, it is like entering a tunnel with nobody around, I am scared of loneliness!” she was trembling.
“OK Adithi! Calm down, we shall do it later” I gave her some samples to relieve her anxiety and asked her to meet me the next day. I could see Prathamesh peeping through the door but not coming inside the chamber.
Adithi avoided the CT scan, I got busy in my routine activity. After some days my phone rang, it was her “Sir! I want to ask you about HCR, What is it?” “Adithi you come to my chamber I’ll explain you.” “ It is very crowded sir, with all your juniors, students and patients and…” “OK! Why don’t we meet after my duty, we shall have some coffee together.”
We met at MI road and decided to go to the Revolving Restaurant at Om Tower. It is a nice place to sit and watch the city through the bird eye view. Its like Him watching all creatures doing their stuff without interfering them.
“Now tell me sir…”
“ krrish, call me krrish”
“Tell me about HCR, KKkrrriishh..”she fumbled.
“Whenever a person is under stress, feels neglected, his or her subconscious mind prompts him or her to seek attention of others to gain sympathy. For this the person pretends to be sick, mimicking unconsciousness, convulsions, or the disease they know something about, it happens unknowingly. Women suffer more with this problem as they are under stress most of the times, besides they are very emotional. If they feel neglected or avoided, some of them may suffer with this disorder.” I completed the monologue.
“ Am I insane?” she was looking puzzled.
“No, I don’t think you are suffering with HCR. Can you tell me what happened with you? You are not the same Adithi I used to know.” I was looking at her, she was so beautiful and good human, I could do anything for her if that could bring happiness in her life.
“You remember Prathamesh..?” “Of course, nobody can forget that hunk”
“I can’t either”
“Whaat?”
“Prathamesh and his family are very conservative, they are all hardcore followers of their guru ‘dadaji’ ,his wish is their command. One day ‘dadaji’ suggested a marriage proposal to prathamesh’s father a for Prathamesh.” Now I was restless “then?”
“His family blindly said yes to the proposal, and when they told this to Prathamesh, he opposed it tooth and nail. He told them about me, they were not ready to listen to anything about it, they told him about our different cultural backgrounds, castes and most important thing that I am older by 2 yrs, they said it was inauspicious.”
“Prathamesh was taken to ‘Dadaji’ and he accepted the proposal as the ‘Prasaad’, I know he loves me but he is marrying Pinky tomorrow.” Her eyes were full of tears. I was helpless, no medicine could cure that problem and no surgery could relieve her pain. I held her hand softly and tried to console her. The Revolving Restaurant had come to its original position after moving in full circle. She was single again.
Adithi was still mentally coupled with Prathamesh. Prathamesh introduced her to Pinky as an old friend. Pinky used to call Adithi and she visited their place occasionally. Prathamesh never gave Pinky all the rights of a wife. They had two children, Indra and Sweety. Prathamesh loved the kids so much, he fulfilled all their demands. Pinky was not happy with Prathamesh, she always complained that he never introduces her as his wife. Quarrels started erupting on petty issues. They stopped talking with each other. Prathamesh started avoiding to stay in the house at nights. Adithi never allowed him to stay with her. I think that was the time canvas was unfolding for the new picture. Pinky left the house and went to her parents. All efforts of both parents proved futile to patch up between them. Prathamesh did not allow Pinky to take the kids with her. Pinky was also accused of having an extramarital affair. After a couple of months they settled for divorce, Prathamesh was awarded the custody of both the kids.
Prathamesh and Adithi married within a week of the divorce. They purchased a new flat and moved in with kids. Adithi looked after the kids untiredly, and kids were happy to have a new, caring and affectionate mother.
I left the govt. job and joined a corporate hospital “Leela Hospital” as a senior consultant, now which became the field of action (Karmabhoomi) for Dr. Krrish.
One day Adithi came with an odd request. She wanted to go for family planning surgery.
“ You don’t have kids Adithi” I tried to explain her
“ I have two, Indra and Sweety.I don’t want anybody to share their part of love and care, not even my own child.” She was glowing.
Next day she was operated for Tubectomy. I don’t know what should I call her, great mother or great woman.
“ Sir! You were telling me about some medicine for the bed no. 2” the assistant brought me back in the present. I told him the medicine. The day after was not a good day. Her BP fell, now we were playing with double edged sword. Rising of BP had the same risk as the fall of it. She was giving a great fight to destiny. We were hanging between hope and despair.
Prathamesh did not leave the hospital for a moment. His beard and tired look were not enough to tell his sad story. Adithi gave me the second chance in my life where I was feeling helpless. She was critical with no apparent brain activity. It was a tough decision, whether to pull on a person in this state or remove the ventilator. Unfortunately that judgment was left on me.
My vision became blurred; I removed my specs to wipe it. It was crystal clear, my eyes were overflowing. Some tears fell on her feet. It was a very long, dark night. I was awake and waiting for dawn.
Prayers worked partially, Adithi recovered a bit. Now she is not on ventilator but still in coma, like a yogee living in the materialistic world yet totally detached from it. She does not show any response to verbal or, painful stimulation. She was discharged from “Leela Hospital” and is being taken care by Prathamesh and kids at home for last 6 months. I will keep waiting for her to come and seek another consultation.
