Page 78 - Till the Last Breath . . .

swallowed by the gigantic circular dome of the growling MRI machine. He

felt unsettled. His head ached and he wanted to scream. You’re a grown
man. The words came back and he stayed shut. He didn’t want to shout like
a scared pussy in front of her. Why did he care?

‘Did you always want to be a doctor?’ he said, just to distract himself.
There was no answer. A little later, a voice answered back. ‘More or

less.’ The voice echoed. He felt better.
‘This thing is bloody noisy.’

‘I know it is,’ Zarah said. ‘Let me concentrate on the unflattering images
of your brain.’

‘How does it look?’
‘It looks perfect to me. Though we will have to take Arman’s opinion on
this. I am no expert.’

Dushyant stayed shut for a while. The white shell made him
claustrophobic.

‘Are you okay in there?’ Zarah asked.
‘I guess.’

‘Just a few more minutes,’ she said.
He closed his eyes and tried to relax. He thought about Kajal and the

other guys in college. The guys he had got sloshed with that day. None of
them had called, let alone visited. The sound slowly came to a stop.
‘Done,’ she said and instructed the ward boys to pull him out from the

machine.
His eyes never left Zarah’s lithe body as her shapely behind sashayed in

front while he was being wheeled back to his room. Zarah was engrossed in
the few printouts she had in her hand. The stretcher was pushed into a lift.

Zarah followed; her eyes still hadn’t left the sheets in her hand.
‘Oh, by the way, your girlfriend called,’ Zarah said. ‘She sounded

concerned.’
‘I don’t have a girlfriend.’
‘Well. I just guessed. Kajal, if I remember correctly. Sister? Friend?’

‘We used to date. She called? Here? At the hospital?’
‘Yes, why?’