I knew without any doubt that Arjun would be pissed off with me. My group was doing the morning rounds with Dr. Bhatti and he was talking about Pyrexia of unknown origin. I really wanted to listen to what he was saying, instead I was busy looking around to see where Arjun was.
I checked the corridor and then looked at Dr. Bhatti.
He was staring at me, so was all my batch mates.
Walking in to trouble was my forte.
“What is your Name Ms?” He barked
“Nina, Sir” I whispered
“Nina What?”
“Nina Thomas, Sir”

I kind of knew I was kissing goodbye to my dreams of becoming a Doctor.
“What are the causes of fever?” he asked
That was easy
“Infection, sir”
he looked at me to see if I would elaborate, So I told him how Human body fights infection by raising the temperature.
“Tell me few of the infections that can cause PUO”
“Sir, it can be due to Viral, bacterial, fungal infections”
I gave an example for each kind of infection.
“Anything else that cause fever?”
“Cancer, sir”
Dr. Bhatti looked pleased. So was I.
“So what are the investigative test you would do for this patient?”
I looked at the patient.
Male,Early 20’s, emaciated.
“Blood test, Chest x ray, AFB culture”
“What are you looking for?”
“I want to rule out TB, sir”
“Excellent, you are right Madam. You must always rule out TB if your patient has PUO.”
“What did you say your name is?” Dr. Bhatti asked
“Nina Thomas, Sir”
“Good, good, good” He nodded his head happily and I knew my dreams of becoming a doctor is still intact!.
As we walked to the next bed, Ramesh, the most annoying guy in my batch asked
“How did you know that?”
“What?”
“About ruling out TB?”
“I had read about in Lancet”
“Which edition?” He sounded like Siddhartha Basu. Arrogant and Annoying.
I wondered if he also wanted to know the page number as well.
“I can’t remember” I spoke.
He shook his head and walked away. I watched him pushing his way through and finally managing to find a spot next to Dr. Bhatti.
I looked outside and saw Arjun walking towards the main door.
I ducked my head and hid behind Yussof, the tallest guy in my batch.
“Ms. Nina” Dr. Bhatti called and everyone moved away, so he could see where I was.
I looked at Dr. Bhatti, few feet behind his was Arjun. One looked happy and the other looked hopping mad.
Between the Devil and the deep blue ocean!
I knew I was doomed.
Arjun was leaning on the door and staring at me. I actually wanted to fold my hands and say I am sorry.
“Ms?”
Dr Bhatti was staring at me
“Yes Sir” I looked at him
“What is the common cause of Splenomegaly in India?”
“Malaria, Sir”
“Good, good, good” He nodded his head.
There is no words to describe the thrill I felt when Dr. Bhatti nodded his head and said “Good, good. Good”
I knew I was good in medicine and I knew Dr. Bhatti also knew that.
“Where did you read that?” As soon As Dr. Bhatti turned to talk to the patient, Ramesh leaned towards me and asked.
“I can’t remember” I hissed.
He was beginning to annoy me.
There were two more patients to go through and as soon as the rounds were over, I walked towards the main door.
“Ms” Dr. Bhatti called after me
“Yes Sir”
“I do the evening rounds around 7, I would like you to follow me!”
Wow.
it is a privilege to follow the prof for the evening rounds.
“Sure sir”
I was on cloud Nine. I wanted to jump and down and scream Oh Yeah.

“Here” Arjun passed a plastic bag to my hand and walked off
“Arjun, wait” I called after him.
He just walked away.
I thought of running after him, but I didn’t want my batch mates to know we are having a tiff.

I slowly opened the plastic bag.

A small clay pot that I knew contained Rasgulas inside, then there were three small boxes of sweets.
Arjun knew I loved KC Das sweets.

It hurt knowing that I was nothing but a royal pain in the butt.