House of Cards (25 page)

He did not show his true feelings, however. He smiled and said, ‘Mridula, you did the right thing.’

Then he looked at Dr Saroja and said quietly, ‘Please feel free. I was your assistant once.’

Mridula excused herself and went to the kitchen. Dr Saroja started talking to Sanjay. She said, ‘Sanjay, I’m proud of you. You were in my unit once and it’s my honour to have had you in my team.’

Both of them knew that it was not a heartfelt statement. Sanjay did not waste any time. He asked her, ‘Doctor, why did you think of me now?’

Sanjay did not call her ‘Madam’ and Dr Saroja noticed it. She said, ‘My niece has delivered in your nursing home.’

‘What’s your niece’s name?’

‘Kamalakshi.’

‘Then I’ll go and see her. I must give her more attention now that I know that she’s related to you. Doctor, names and people play an important role in life. I haven’t forgotten Kempunanjamma’s name.’

Dr Saroja had either forgotten or pretended to have forgotten. She asked, ‘Who is Kempunanjamma?’

‘Do you remember the case where two babies were switched and my name was suddenly added in the case without reason?’

‘Oh, sometimes these things happen in government hospitals.’

‘But I learnt a great lesson from it—the name of the doctor who takes care of the patient before, during and after delivery must always be written down.’

‘That’s an excellent practice.’

‘Okay, Doctor, see you.’

He cut off the conversation because he did not want to talk to her any more. As she watched, he drove off in his Mercedes-Benz. Hearing the car leave, Mridula came out with a gift and a coconut for Dr Saroja and helped her get an autorickshaw. She thought it was rude of Sanjay not to offer to drop Dr Saroja to an auto stand at least.

When Sanjay reached the nursing home, Rosemary was arguing with a patient about money; he called her to his room. He did not discuss money matters in front of patients. Rosemary explained, ‘This patient called Kamalakshi says that her aunt met you and you agreed to give her a discount. I told her that I couldn’t give any discount until I saw a slip. So she’s arguing with me.’

‘That’s smart, Rosemary. The case was complicated. Please charge them more than the usual.’ This was the best way that he could vent his anger and make Dr Saroja pay for her breakfast.

Rosemary nodded and left his room.

When he returned home that evening, Mridula said, ‘Prakash Kamat has called three times for you. He says that it’s important and you must return his call.’

Sanjay pretended not to hear. So Mridula said loudly, ‘Why don’t you respond? He’ll think that I haven’t told you about the call. What’s happened to you?’

Without getting upset, Sanjay replied, ‘Nothing’s happened to me. You just don’t have any sense. I don’t know how you got an academic rank.’

‘What did I do?’

‘Please know that neither Prakash Kamat nor Dr Saroja are personal acquaintances. They had business with me. Prakash wants business from me and for that, he’ll call me thirty times; you, on the other hand, serve them breakfast and lunch as if they’re your relatives.’

Mridula kept quiet, went into the kitchen and brought coffee for Sanjay. She said, ‘They may be your acquaintances outside this house but when they come here, they’re our guests and I have to do my duty. I overheard your conversation with Prakash yesterday. Isn’t it wrong on your part to take financial benefit from a drug company as an incentive to prescribe their medicine?’

Sanjay slowly sipped the hot coffee. He said, ‘Nothing is black or white in this world. The cow gives milk for its calf. But we drink that same milk. Isn’t that wrong? Trees have life. But we cut them down and use their wood. Isn’t that wrong too? Mosquitoes and bugs are also living creatures. Don’t we kill them because they trouble us? A big fish always eats the small fish. Is that right?’

‘I can’t argue with you. I just know that it’s wrong to prescribe medicines like this.’

‘Prakash Kamat doesn’t help me out of the goodness of his heart. If he gives me a discount of one rupee, he still makes a profit of thirty rupees. Once the business is over, Prakash won’t look at me until the next deal comes along. If you’re an idealist, emotional and sensitive, then you can become a schoolteacher and nothing more. You need toughness to succeed in the real world.’

Sishir came down the stairs. He said, ‘Dad, my friends and I have decided to go to Kodaikanal in our car. Is that okay with you?’

‘Of course, you must enjoy yourself. But don’t take our car.’

Mridula added, ‘I don’t like the thought of you boys driving the car for that long to Kodaikanal.’

Sishir did not bother to answer her. He looked at his father for approval. Sanjay said, ‘Sishir, I’m not refusing to give you money for the trip. I’m not stopping you from driving a car either. But your friends shouldn’t think that they can get everything from you. Never allow them to take you for granted. You should pool in money, take a train to Kodai Road and hire a taxi from there and share the expenses. That’s the practical thing to do. However, the decision is yours.’

Sanjay knew that whenever he left a decision to Sishir, he did what his father told him to do. But if Sanjay forced him, then Sishir did the opposite.

Sishir thought for a second and said, ‘Dad, you’re right as usual!’

Sanjay paused and continued, ‘Sishir, I know that in a few months you’ll be going to England for higher education. There, you’ll have to manage everything on your own for the first time in your life. You should be simple, but not a simpleton. In a sacrifice, it is a goat that is always chosen—not a tiger. That’s because the goat is a small and meek animal. Nobody dares to touch the tiger because it’s powerful. In this world, every relationship depends on its usefulness. If a person is useful to others, people will mourn the death of that person. Getting an academic rank is good but it doesn’t ensure success. If you don’t have common sense and aren’t shrewd, people will walk all over you.’

Mridula did not like Sanjay’s advice to their son. When a child leaves home for the first time, it is important to give him
love, teach him compassion and the value of good habits. She could not hold herself back. ‘Sishir, when it comes to family, you need to give and receive love to have peace in your life. In any relationship, compassion binds people together. A successful person dominates others and people obey him only to keep the peace. That’s the reason great emperors were headstrong. They were powerful and people were scared of them. But the Buddha stood out from the rest because of his selfless and compassionate nature.’

Sishir was confused and irritated. He said, ‘Amma, I can’t understand your lectures. I don’t care for a history lesson, so please don’t try to teach me. Dad, will you drive me to Neeta’s house? She’ll drop me back later.’

Sanjay and Sishir left like two friends and Mridula was left standing all alone on the porch.

23

A House of Cards

A few months passed. Anita had stopped visiting Mridula. She had become depressed, quiet and moody. Mridula was worried for her and tried her best to reach out to her. But she failed to bring her back to normal. Anita spent most of her time reading the Bible or going to church. She had turned vegetarian and lost all interest in the upkeep of her home. Julie had finished her twelfth grade and got admission in LSR College in Delhi. So Anita moved to Julie’s room and did her prayers there. Alex and Anita hardly talked any more. Conveniently, Alex spent more time on his new company and travelled a lot. Even when he met Sanjay, they did not talk about their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lakshmi and her family continued to live in Bangalore. But Lakshmi hardly ever met Mridula. Mridula did not know if this was on purpose. But whenever they did meet, Lakshmi did not wear any jewellery at all. Frequently, Mridula would tell Sanjay, ‘Lakshmi and Shankar are getting old. They may have their shortcomings but they must own a house in Bangalore. Or maybe an apartment. Sanjay, you may not give them the entire amount for buying a home. But let’s give them at least 75 per cent. Anil and Shankar can take a loan for the remainder so that they’ll be forced to save and pay it back. They can’t continue spending all their income on vacations and gold. God alone knows how much is real and how much is fake!’

But Sanjay never showed any interest. He would say, ‘Anil has a good job and they must learn to help themselves. We mustn’t make them too dependent.’

One day, Shankar came on a scooter to take Sanjay’s signatures on some official documents for the nursing home. Mridula felt bad and said, ‘Sanjay, I don’t know when they’ll be able to buy their own house. Why don’t you buy Shankar a car? The hospital is quite a distance away from his current residence.’

‘Well, why don’t you buy him a car and gift it to the family? They’ll be delighted.’

Mridula did what Sanjay told her and it made Lakshmi ecstatic. She said, ‘Mridula, you’re more than a mother to me. My mother doesn’t care about me this much. I don’t know how to thank you. Now, Anil can use the old scooter.’

It is human nature that when you help someone, a few kind words in return make you very happy. Mridula was easy to please and she was overjoyed at Lakshmi’s response.

One day, Mridula was waiting for her driver at the Jayanagar 4th Block shopping complex. Unexpectedly, she saw Anil driving a car that she did not recognize. Anil had not seen her.
When she came back, she told Sanjay, ‘I saw Anil in a different car today. I didn’t know that he had a car. Lakshmi didn’t tell me.’

‘It must be the company car. That’s between Alex and him. I asked Alex to hire and keep Anil if he works well. I don’t want Alex to feel any pressure to retain him just because Anil is my nephew. You know how I am in business. But Lakshmi may not know about it.’

Mridula thought that this must be true and dropped the topic.

Life went on. Sanjay was away for four days attending an international conference in Malaysia. Mridula received an urgent call from the nursing home regarding some documents for the new pharmaceutical company. She told the clerk, ‘I don’t know anything about the documents.’

‘Madam, this file is usually with Shankar sir or Anil. When both of them are unavailable, it is with Doctor sir who keeps the file in the nursing home. May I get it today? It’s important.’

‘Well, in that case, you can ask Rosemary and take it.’

‘Madam, Rosemary is not allowed to open Doctor sir’s cupboard. She has the keys but doesn’t operate it on her own.’

Usually, Mridula did not go to the nursing home except on Ayudha Puja day. But she felt sorry for the clerk and said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll go to the nursing home and search for the file.’

A few years ago, Anuradha had had a baby in their nursing home. After trying to conceive for a long time, she had finally become pregnant and had a normal delivery. Everybody was happy. Sanjay had assisted in her case. Mridula had told Sanjay, ‘Please don’t charge Anuradha anything. When we had no money, they looked after Sishir without any expectations. I never felt hesitant to leave my child with them.’

‘Of course, Mridula. Whatever you say. I won’t charge them a rupee even though a normal delivery costs fifty thousand rupees. I respect your feelings.’

Mridula was happy that Sanjay was listening to her, at least this time.

At the baby’s naming ceremony, she had given a gold chain to Anuradha’s baby boy. Kantamma had welcomed her and made ragi balls especially for Sishir. When Mridula was about to leave, Kantamma had thanked her and said, ‘Your husband’s a nice person. In spite of being such a senior doctor, he came for the delivery in the middle of the night. He also gave us a concession of ten thousand rupees.’

Mridula had been taken aback. To reconfirm, she had asked, ‘How much did you pay?’

Muniyappa had said, ‘The actual bill was fifty thousand but Sanjay gave us a green slip with ten thousand written on it. So I paid forty thousand rupees.’

When she sat in the car, Mridula had felt disgusted. She had thought, ‘How can Sanjay take money from them? At this stage of life, forty thousand doesn’t mean much to them. It was just to show them our affection. Doesn’t Sanjay understand?’

When she had come home, Sanjay was talking to Rosemary over the speakerphone. Rosemary was asking, ‘Doctor, how much discount should I give the Transport Secretary’s daughter? She’s getting discharged tomorrow.’

‘Rosemary, don’t charge them anything. Write a complimentary slip and send them a nice bouquet. He may be of great use to us later.’

Mridula’s anger had known no bounds. After he had finished his call, she had asked him, ‘Why did you charge Anuradha for her delivery?’

Without batting his eyelids, Sanjay had said, ‘Because Anuradha wanted the bill.’

‘Of course, she would’ve asked for it, but you should have refused. You have done wrong.’

‘What’s wrong in taking money from them? Anuradha and Arun have senior-level jobs and each of them takes home at
least one lakh rupees. And their company will reimburse them this cost. I have still reduced ten thousand rupees.’