I contemplated asking Rupesh about Arjun. But I was still angry with him and didn’t feel like talking to him. I could go to the canteen and send a message for Arjun and wait for him, or I could use my time wisely and go to the library and read few more articles about splenomegaly.
I wanted to talk to Arjun.
Kiss and make up.
I smiled thinking about that.
I felt guilty thinking like that.
So I did what I should be doing and walked towards the library.

I left the library around 6.30, took an auto and went back the the hospital. it was visiting hours at the hospital and unlike morning, there were lots of people in the wards.
The first bed had a elderly lady with ascitis. Her daughter was sitting next to her on her bed and talking to her. She saw me and quickly got out of the bed and came to me and asked in Kannada.
“Doctor Madam, When will you discharge my mother? She is been here for 2 weeks now. My brother is getting married next month and I want to take my mother home”
I didn’t know what to tell her. I don’t deal with admission or discharge.
“You will be able to take her home soon ma” I replied.
“Please Doctor madam, please heal her fast. My brother is her youngest child and she is really looking forward to going back home”
“I know” I nodded my head. ” I promise I will do everything that I can”
She looked relieved, as though I just took away the burden from her shoulders.
“Thank you doctor madam” She smiled
I nodded my head again.
I read through all the case files.
5 minutes before 7, the head nurse came and chased away all the relatives from the wards, so Dr. Bhatti could do his rounds peacefully.
Dr. Bhatti came in to the ward. He saw me and asked me to follow him.
“So what do you know about ascitis?”
Ha, that was easy. I knew everything about ascitis.
So I told him the 5 F.( fluid, foetus,fat,faeces and flatus)
He nodded his head. But didn’t say good, good, good.
You should be proud of me Sir, I thought of telling him. I was only a second year student!
“So what do you think this patient is suffering from”
I rattled on and on about all the diseases that can cause the 5 F. meanwhile Dr. Bhatti was busy talking to the patient. He asked her Who came to visit her today, how is her grandson doing, ? Does he still have fever and cough, Did he go and see a doctor yet?
I didn’t think Dr. Bhatti heard anything that I said. I spend almost an hour reading about ascitis today.
“Temperature chart” Dr.Bhatti asked the nurse.
She flipped through the case notes and found the temperature chart and gave it to him.
He looked at it, then looked at me
“Did you check the temperature chart?” He asked me.
I shook my head. I didn’t bother to check the temperature chart, because the patient didn’t look like she was having fever and besides I was sure she was a classic case of ascitis.
He passed the temperature chart to me and I noticed the peaks in the graph.
Damn!
“Do you know who is Ptahhotep?”
“Yes sir, Maxims of Ptahhotep“
I no longer felt bad for missing out on the temperature chart, Instead I was excited. I finally found someone who knew things that I knew. “So you read”
“yes sir, I do” I grinned.
The nurse was looking at me and then she looked at Dr. Bhatti. I knew she had no clue what was going on
“Follow your heart as long as you live madam” Dr. Bhatti spoke.
I looked at him to see what he meant.
“knowledge doesn’t make you a good doctor. You need to feel it in your heart, then you will see things that are right in front of you”
He looked at me through his soda kannadi to see if I understood what he said.
I did. and it all made sense to me.
“So now what do you think?” He asked
“Infection sir”
“And?”
“TB?” I looked at him
“How did you guess that?”
“You asked about her grandson sir”
“Good, good, good” Dr. Bhatti nodded his head.
“Do you want to see the tapping tomorrow?” He asked
“Of course Sir”
Dr. Bhatti told the nurse to prepare the patient for tapping after the morning rounds.
“Tomorrow, you watch me, ok? The next time you can do it yourself”
My heart almost skipped a beat. Apart from doing very minimal dissection, I have not done any procedures. That too on a patient who is alive. My hands started to shiver thinking about it.

We walked to the next patient
“So what kind of books you read?”
“Anything and everything sir”
“oh, I see”
“What is your favourite book?”
“Prophet by Kahlil Gibran Sir”
“Oh, why?”
Why? I didn’t really know why.
“I don’t really know sir, it is just that I can read it over and over and every time I find something new, something that I didn’t notice before”
“hmm” Dr. Bhatti nodded his head
I really wanted to ask him what was his favourite book. But how to ask such a question to the Associate professor of Medicine, when all I am is just a second year student?

Rounds got over by 8.30 and I took an auto back to my hostel. There were so many stars in the sky. I looked at all the constellations.
I remembered my father.
I remembered my grandmother
I closed my eyes and I could see Dr. Bhatti looking at me through his sodakannadi.