The Reverter

Sudden Genius

"Also, where am I?" I asked.

Akriti seemed to be astonished at hearing that question, but the astonishment soon turned into laughter, as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Oh, yeah, no one told you that! Well, you are at the Chamunda hospital."

"So not very far from home. That's cool. This is a good hospital."

"Yeah, my grandfather put in every effort to make this place great. So you live nearby?"

"Yeah, glory heights society. Where do you live?"

"Dude no way! I live in marigold!"

"What? That's literally next to my building!"

"Small world huh?"

How is that possible? So all this time, I have been living right next to her! How did I never come to know about this? Did I travel into a parallel universe or something?

"But how do you come to school? I have never seen you on the bus."

"My father manages his clinic, which is near our school. So he drops me off while going to the clinic every morning."

"Wow. You're rich huh?"

Akriti giggled.

"Yeah, you could say that, but only sort of. My father opened up his clinic along with his friend last year. My grandfather asked to help him out with the money, but my father refused. He wanted to be his own man. So although my dad does make a lot of money, it goes into paying for the loans. But my grandfather is very rich. Before this, my dad used to work as a doctor in a hospital in Agra, but he always wanted to start a business. So we moved to Mumbai when he finally got the chance to start one. Grandpa had been calling us here for a long time anyway. Also, everyone in my family is some kind of doctor. So yeah you could say I am rich."

"That is so cool! So this is why you want to be a doctor! Since the rest of your family is one, they must have inspired you a lot!"

Akriti's face showed a touch of sadness. She was still smiling but that cheeky, mischievous Akriti, suddenly seemed downcast. She looked at the heart rate monitor and then told me something I wasn't prepared to hear.

"When I was seven, my mother had taken me to a fair. She drove our car to it. On the way back, something hit our car and my mother lost control of the car. I survived saved by my mother who herself...if only I were a doctor or had even a little medical knowledge, I could have saved her. Sure, I was but a little girl: there was not much I could have done. But that is the real reason I want to be a doctor. I don't care about what my relatives have achieved with their practice. I want to be someone, who can save anyone in any kind of medical emergency."

She was only seven! I can't imagine what she went through! Her eyes seemed to hide an abyss of pain. No one deserves to go through this. I know what it feels like to lose a loved one. Moreover, to a certain extent, she even blames herself! I suddenly felt an urge to protect her. To shield her from anything that could happen to her, hug her and never let go.

"But hey! I have my Father, my grandfather, everyone in this hospital, and now I have you too!" she said, with that heartwarming smile of hers back on her face. I felt so good the moment she said that. It was like a sense of relief.

"And that was the fastest I've ever made friends!"

She simpered and said, "Oh, me too!"

All of a sudden her phone buzzed. She picked it up: It was from Dr Shishir. They were ready to do more tests on me.

We got up and headed to a room that seemed to have large equipment. They did an MRI again, an EEG (electroencephalogram: a test used to measure electrical activity in the brain) and a bunch of other tests. By the time they were done with the tests it was lunchtime, and my mother was already here with lunch. Akriti said she had to go eat with her grandfather, so she gave me her phone number in case I needed anything, and left me with my mom, who then took me to my room.