Once when I was Loved- Chapter 1

Coney Island Hospital, New York, 1988

The smell of medicines, all over the Hospital only makes the moment more tensed. I was waiting for the doctor to come out of the intensive care unit more than anything else but at the same time wants him to take his full time so as to make sure he study the patient well. Why my heart is beating so fast, why it feels that something bad will happen. I’ve been giving trainings for positive thinking for the past 10 years & now I’m being the most negative person.

Dr Shane Dawson, a reputed & highly qualified Neurologist, who has been given the responsibility to check the patients, specially mentally traumatic, in a Government aided Hospital, was looking after a friend of mine whom I met after 8 years now. Yes, a friend………..who changed my entire life!

“How is she, sir”, I asked.

He paused for couple of seconds, & I missed my heart beat by then.

“Well, the case look to me is quite confusing, thou she is fine, out of danger but….

“But what…..”

“Well, you can see the patient if you want, she is asleep & I want you to meet me in my cabin, I’ll see you there”, said Dr Dawson.

I wanted to go to the cabin of Dr Dawson immediately after he called but the urge of seeing her killed my thought.

She was asleep. Eyes closed. Bruises all over the face. Mostly red but few are blue in color, may be cos’ of blood clotting. Her head was dressed properly with bandages. The light red color of bruises were matching the pinkishness of her lips. Right side of cheek-bone was swollen. I could easily see those dried red spots all over her ears. That was because of the bleedings. Its unimaginable how much pain she must have gone through. This disastrous face of hers made me think of her face, so beautiful, years ago…..

January 11, New Delhi, India, 1980

My first day at MediCare Pvt. Ltd, a pharmaceutical company I’ve just joined as an Internal Trainer. These days most of the companies hire people like me to train their employees for personal grooming. They want to make sure that till the time an employee is working under them, s/he should be groomed so well to make the environment good enough which is in companys’ benefit too. I’ve been selected all alone for this key role as of now but they are hiring to make a team of four people so as to cover the whole bunch of existing employees for trainings.

As I was sitting at my desk, surfing the internet looking for some stuff in motivational sites to give material for my first presentation but my all concentration broke when I heard the sweetest sound of giggling so far. As I chased the sound by turning my eyes from motivational stuff up in the screen to inspirational stuff to the left & I see her. The face was prettier than the sound itself. And as she was standing with a group of colleagues & laughing, her opening of mouth to shrinking of eyes gives a refreshing sight to my eyes. I wondered if she looked like a model for some tooth paste ad or might be brushing her teeth’s 24 times a day. Her laughs immediately made a grin on my face by suddenly I stopped as I thought of my frequency of brushing once a day. The odds of her falling for me are 24:1, I thought.

And I realized that the last few seconds were something heavy & disturbing like an earthquake.

As she waved to someone entering the floor area, I watched the mixture of red & white bangles* in her left hand & a mangalsootr* around her neck. I felt sad & continued with my motivational stuff but now with a little inspiration.

Mixture of red & white bangles- Worn by Indian woman after marriage, for few months.

Mangalsootr- Its a necklace worn by Indian woman after marriage, the whole life.