House of Cards (12 page)

Alex had married his girlfriend, Anita, in a church in Mangalore, and Mridula and Sanjay had gone for the wedding. It was a big event. Dignitaries from the government attended the marriage. Alex had come from the Middle East and spent money like water. Anita and Mridula liked each other at their first meeting and decided to keep in touch.

Shankar had been transferred to Mandya.

But life in Aladahalli and T. Narasipura had not changed even after four years.

When Lakshmi heard about Sanjay’s permanent job with the government, she was upset. ‘What’s the use of academic intelligence? My brother is wasting his time. He spent two years in Bombay and four years in Bangalore and now he’s happily working for a low salary in a government job. If he were practical, he would find a good location to open a clinic.
Then, he would make money. But Sanjay hasn’t learnt to be smooth and charming, which is essential in private practice. And Mridula is even worse. She believes everybody. After all, she has been raised in a village. If I were her, I would control my husband and push him to start a nursing home of his own. There’s nobody in our family who can advise this impractical couple. My mother is in her own world and I really don’t understand why she wants to run a small shop. After all, how much profit can she really make?’

Lakshmi felt ashamed. She remembered how her sisters-in-law made fun of her. Shyamala, Mahadeva’s wife, had sarcastically remarked once, ‘Oh, Lakshmi! You come from a rich family—your brother’s a doctor and his wife’s a government schoolteacher. Your mother owns a shop. But look at me. My father’s only a revenue inspector and we have just one source of income.’

Lakshmi had known that Shyamala was not really complimenting her. At the time, her veiled comments had hurt Lakshmi like a high-heeled sandal wrapped in a silk shawl. She wondered now, ‘How much money can my mother earn from moneylending, the fields and her shop?’

If she asked Sanjay about it, she knew that he wouldn’t answer her. Sanjay was impractical. But not her husband, Shankar. She was proud of her street-smart husband.

So she turned to Shankar and asked, ‘How much money do you think Amma has?’

Shankar was distressed because the stocks he had invested in were not performing well and his wife’s question irritated him. He snapped, ‘Why’re you asking me? Neither your mother nor your brother shares their financial matters with me. The only way to get any information is from the village gossip.’

Lakshmi realized that if she continued talking, it would end in a domestic quarrel. So she kept quiet. She thought about Mridula. ‘She doesn’t understand the real world. If someone says nice things to her, she thinks that the person is good. There’s a difference between what we say and what we actually mean.
Mridula is transparent and absolutely naive. She thinks about others and how they feel instead of what she herself wants.’

Whenever Lakshmi met Mridula, she praised her saying, ‘Mridula, you are fortunate. You give education to poor children and your husband gives medical treatment to poor patients. You are made for each other.’ Mridula happily thought that the praise was genuine.

But Lakshmi actually thought, ‘These days, Bangalore is growing fast. There are more tuition classes than schools. Many teachers have resigned their jobs and opened tuition centres where they earn much more than they did when they were teaching in schools. Why does Mridula continue to work in a stupid government job? She can take tuitions instead and earn much more money. But I can’t tell her that. She’s the perfect daughter-in-law for my stingy mother. Mridula doesn’t buy anything for herself. She uses every penny for the home. She hasn’t bought a gram of gold after marriage. All of Mridula’s ornaments from her wedding are heavy. If I were her, I would have bought many sets of thin jewellery. Poor thing, she has only one silk sari. My mother did not give her any gifts when she was expecting her first baby either. My mother is shrewd. She will say, “Oh, we don’t have that custom” if it means giving a gift to someone. It doesn’t matter whether that someone is Mridula or me.’

The clock struck twelve.

Lakshmi remembered that she had not done any household chores since the morning. Her son, Anil, was still sleeping. Last night, all of them had gone for a late-night movie. She felt lazy and did not want to get up, clean the house and cook. She had an idea. She told her husband, ‘I’ve been getting backaches recently. It pains when I bend forward. Shall we go out to eat today? I want to rest until Anil and you get dressed to go out.’

Shankar had just finished reading his paper. He said, ‘Okay, you rest. I will wake you up once we’re ready to leave.’

Lakshmi smiled to herself. ‘Nobody should be able to read a woman’s mind, including her husband. If he gets to know that
she is acting or is too lazy to cook, he might pass a sarcastic comment or compare her to his dead mother and say, “See, my mother was a great cook. She could cook for thirty people at a time.” A husband must feel that his wife is delicate and has a medical problem. These are techniques to control one’s husband. You should never instantly say yes to whatever your husband says. If he finds out that his wife is obedient and a workaholic, then he’ll give her more work. Then the wife will have to work in the office and at home. I’m not like Mridula, who can work all the time.’

Shankar told her repeatedly, ‘Lakshmi, you are a graduate. Why don’t you apply for a job in the bank? Then we’ll get additional income. We can take more loans and maybe build a house.’

Though Lakshmi got offended at this, she did not show it to Shankar: the husband must think that his wife is listening to him. Instead, she gently said, ‘I wish I could but Anil is too young for me to leave him alone at home. Had your mother been alive, she would’ve looked after our child and I would have happily found a job. Let Anil become independent. Then I’ll surely work.’

This way, she smartly praised her dead mother-in-law and also sent the message to Shankar that he did not have anyone in his family to help look after the baby.

12

Different Values

Minister Nagalingegowda had been in politics for a long time. But he was a quiet and gentle person and avoided giving
public statements. Many people did not even know that he was a minister. His family had plenty of land near a town called Kunigal, which was also his constituency.

Nagalingegowda had three sons. The eldest son looked after the farms and the second one owned a business. They were both married and did not interfere in their father’s political work. Nagalingegowda’s wife, Ningamma, wanted her third son, Suresh, to become a doctor. So she told her husband, ‘Many ministers’ children study in a government college and then go abroad. You’ve been in your political party for a long time. Why don’t you get Suresh admission in a private college through the government?’

Even though Suresh did not want to become a doctor, he listened to his mother. He completed his MBBS, got a government scholarship, went abroad and returned to India with a foreign degree. He got married to Sushma and now, four years later, he was working as assistant surgeon in a Bangalore government hospital.

Ningamma had grandchildren from her first two sons within the first year of their marriages. But Suresh and Sushma were not so lucky. Sushma had become pregnant a few times but she miscarried every time. So Suresh took her to a lady gynaecologist Dr Kamala who worked in the same hospital.

Dr Kamala was a senior gynaecologist and the head of the department. She recommended a lot of tests. After the test results came in, the doctor carefully gave her opinion, ‘Sushma, your uterus is quite delicate. It doesn’t have the capacity to bear a child for nine months. So, when you become pregnant, you’ll need a special stitch called the Shirodkar stitch. Moreover, you should take complete bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy.’

Suresh was a colleague and Dr Kamala was hesitant to get involved. Sushma was a VIP patient. If things went well, a few words of appreciation may come her way but if something went
wrong, nobody would care to find out the truth; instead, there may be an inquiry or a transfer. She was aware that the case itself was not complicated but the consequences were heavy and may affect her working relationships or her future at the hospital.

In her thirty years of experience, Dr Kamala had seen many cases where she had assumed that things would not go wrong, but they had. So she thought that it was better for such cases to go to a doctor with whom the patients felt comfortable. She paused and said, ‘If you want a second opinion, please feel free to consult another doctor.’

Suresh had a high opinion of Dr Kamala. He knew that she was not corrupt and was excellent at her job. He had done a year of residency under her guidance. He said, ‘No, madam, we don’t want a second opinion. I have complete confidence in you. I want you to handle this case.’

When Sushma became pregnant, she came to see Dr Kamala every month. At the right time, Dr Kamala stitched Sushma’s uterus and told her, ‘Don’t lift heavy things. Take complete bed rest. You must come and get admitted in the hospital one month before your due date.’

Sushma was nervous and asked, ‘Doctor, do you think that I will need a C-section?’

‘That’s difficult to predict. Things like that are usually decided at the time of delivery. But don’t worry. You will be fine.’

Dr Kamala had two assistants—Lata and Sanjay. Dr Lata’s father was a senior IAS officer. She had grown up in Bangalore, came from a rich family and had never been to a village. She was good in studies, spoke good English and could impress anybody. She had done her MBBS in Bangalore, then gone to England for work and come back a few years later. She had joined the hospital as a lecturer. Dr Lata usually did not take any responsibility but pretended to work hard. Her husband
was an income tax officer. Her father had given them a big bungalow in Sadashivanagar as a gift and she came to the hospital in a car.

Dr Kamala preferred Sanjay over Lata. When Dr Kamala went out of town, she made Sanjay the person in charge. Though he did not talk much, Sanjay was good at his work. Even the hospital staff liked Sanjay over Lata.

Today, it was Dr Lata’s shift at the hospital. At 8 p.m., there was a call from the minister’s house that Sushma was on her way to the hospital and that she was in labour. Unfortunately, Dr Kamala was in Chennai. Dr Lata was scared because Sushma was a VIP patient and there was no senior doctor around. She went to Sanjay and caught him just as he was about to leave. She said, ‘Sanjay, this is an important case. Madam is out of station. Please don’t go.’

‘I’m sorry. They must want a lady doctor. So I may not be of any use to you.’

Almost immediately, Sushma came in. She was in a lot of pain. Dr Suresh told Dr Lata, ‘Madam had told me to admit Sushma one month before her due date. I’m sorry that I didn’t do it. There was a by-election in our constituency and we got busy. We remembered only after Sushma had the labour pain. She can’t feel the baby move.’

Sanjay thought, ‘What kind of a husband is Suresh? His wife had such a difficult pregnancy and being a doctor himself, he knows the importance of the Shirodkar stitch. How can he be so busy that he forgot about his wife’s medical needs?’

Dr Lata wanted to escape. She said, ‘Madam is out of town. You can take your wife to any other private nursing home. We don’t have any objection.’

Suresh insisted, ‘No, we don’t want to go anywhere else. Her case history is here. You’re also well trained.’

Lata did not know what to do. She took Sanjay aside and requested him, ‘Sanjay, you have much more experience than
me. I can’t manage this VIP case by myself. Will you please help me?’

This was not a difficult case for Sanjay. He had handled similar cases in Bombay. Dr Jog was a great teacher and Sanjay had been exposed to different types of cases while working for him. He thought, ‘Lata is well qualified. Why is she so scared? I wonder what she learnt in England.’

Then he thought of the patient and forgot about everything else. He nodded his head and agreed to help Lata. Sanjay realized that Sushma needed a C-section quickly because the cord was around the baby’s neck. So he prepared to operate on Sushma; Lata assisted him. They performed a C-section. When the baby was taken out safely, he felt happy seeing the newborn. A few minutes later, he went to wash his hands and change his clothes.

Dr Lata took the newborn and went outside to show the baby boy to the father and grandmother. Ningamma was very happy to see her first grandson and became emotional. A short while later, the minister also reached the hospital. Ningamma turned to her husband and said, ‘Lord Shiva has been kind to us. This lady doctor worked really hard and has taken good care of Sushma and the baby.’

Lata took advantage of the opportunity and replied, ‘Yes, sir. This was a very difficult case. In the end, I had to do a C-section.’

‘How long have you been working here?’ the minister asked with concern.

‘For the past five years. Sir, you may know my father, Mr Balasubramaniam.’