The conversation

The conversation

Now, I have described the characters involved. They are all strangers to each other. Here is the interesting conversation that took place: - (It took place in Marathi language, but I will translate it for you guys….apologies, if the translation lacks that punch! he he he)

Mrs. Thomas (…to the receptionist): - “Has he (doctor) come?”

Receptionist: “Yes…please have a seat! What is your name?”

Mrs. Thomas: “Thomas…Mrs. Thomas. ehem!”

Receptionist: “First time?”

Mrs. Thomas: “Yes!”

…Mrs. Thomas takes her seat which is in between Mr. Navrange and Me. We are all sitting on three different benches. After some time, Mr. Navrange initiates a chat with Mrs. Thomas…

Mr. Navrange: “You are new patient?”

Mrs. Thomas: “aan??”

Mr. Navrange: “I mean, are you from here…this town, coming here for first time?”

Mrs. Thomas: “Yes …yes… I mean I am from here only, but first time here!”

Mr. Navrange: “You are here for an appointment with Mr. Doctor or his wife?”

Mrs. Thomas: “I have an appointment with Mr. Doctor”

Mr. Navrange: “hmmm… he is a good doctor, in fact a very good doctor. What is your name?”

Mrs. Thomas: “Thomas!”

Mr. Navrange: “Aaah…ya ya, I heard that…I heard that when you said to the receptionist! …hmm, so you are Christian?”

Mrs. Thomas: “Yes!” (…she smiles…don’t know if she was smiling with pride to tell she is Christian or she was smiling on the stupid question of Mr. Navrange!... I was all listening to this conversation silently and bend my head low to have my hearty laugh stealthily.)

Mr. Navrange: “I had some of my colleagues …Christian you know! They use to wear Frocks…you don’t wear frocks?”

Mrs. Thomas: “huh? …(she is shocked with such a question from a stranger!) … aannn….No!”

Mr. Navrange: “No no…I mean my colleagues use to wear frock in our office…that was the time around…mmm… in the late sixties...but now hardly any Christian woman wears a frock!”

Mrs. Thomas: “No no…we…I mean they do wear! It depends!”

Mr. Navrange: “aan?”

Mrs. Thomas: “If… if the Christian is Goan, that is, …with Portuguese background you know…they, …they do wear frocks, even now! We don’t! I am not from Goa, I … I am from Kerala. We are Christians of Kerala!"

Mr. Navrange: “Ohh…I see, …yes yes….you are right! So, your native place is Kerala or you stay there and come all the way from there ... to here!”

Mrs. Thomas: (…really scared…since he is asking about her home and all such things….with fumbling words and due respect to that elderly looking man, she says) “No,…I have home here in Dombivli.” ... she paused for a while, thinking something and to put herself in safe position of this conversation, by saying, “I am staying here with MY HUSBAND” … probably she thought this man…the stranger is dangerous.

Mr. Navrange: “I see… so you are from here only. But here in the clinic for the first time!...what is the problem?”

Mrs. Thomas: “ehem!...tooth problem probably, came here for check up!”

Mr. Navrange: “…oh tooth problem!...how old are you?” (actually his question was out of curiosity, since teeth and age has got a good relation. But…

Mrs. Thomas: “aaa…” she was fumbling for words again. She was more of shocked, may be because, generally no one asks women their age, and this stranger straight away asked…how old are you. I Felt like I should rescue her by intervening, and diverting the topic and giving some relief to the poor woman, but at the same time, two more women, came in. Again, these two women were in their 50s or 60s. They sat besides Mrs. Thomas. Both of them were Maharashtrians and both of them were wearing bindi. One of them was in Saree like Mrs. Thomas and the other one was in Punjabi dress. The other woman, was more dressed up with all that powder and lipstick and the attractive make up…she thinks she is still young…huh!

I had nothing to do but observe all these characters, their interaction especially. In the mean time, the receptionist said “Mrs. Thomas, your turn is now…please go inside!” A smile sneaked on Mrs. Thomas’s face, after all she was really rescued, by the doctor. I was still waiting for Mrs. Doctor, Mr. Doctor’s wife who was going to perform the surgery. And while I was waiting, another conversation was initiated, (…yes!...you are right!...Mr. Navrange again … with the two new comers! Let us call them Mrs. Kavita and Mrs. Seema)

Mr. Navrange: “Tooth problem?”

Mrs. Kavita: “yeah…in fact surgery!”

Mr. Navrange: “Ohh…don’t worry!...he is a good doctor….very nice!...i had one few months back. It was impossible for others…but this doctor…he is wonderful. In fact he is great! … don’t worry!”

Mrs. Kavita: “Ohh ok!”

Mr. Navrange: “… ok, so who has problem? You (pointing to Mrs. Kavita) or… you (pointing towards Mrs. Seema)?”

Mrs. Seema: “That’s me…need to take out wisdom tooth. She has come just for check up!”

Mr. Navrange: “Ohh…so how old are you?”

Mrs. Seema: “huh?....i ….well….i….actually, I am 49!”

Mr. Navrange: “ok…ok…what is your date of birth?”

Mrs. Seema: “aaaan???....waaa…..bbut…..wh….why do you ask date of birth and age and all this?”

Mr. Navrange: “no no…don’t get me wrong!!! I also tell future as far as possible, so if you want you can tell me your date of birth.”

Mrs. Seema: “…aaa…well…aa…actually….” (she is interrupted by Mrs. Kavita)

Mrs. Kavita: “It’s ok Seema, you need not tell him…I will tell him, … my date of birth is 15^th September 1959”

Mr. Navrange: “1959… hmm…..and September! What is your birth sign …I mean the horoscope sign?”

Stupid question again…eh? A person who claims to be astrologer with the help of numbers, shouldn’t he be making out the horoscope sign on his own, on the basis of birth date?

Mrs. Kavita: “Virgo!” (… of course she said in Marathi, I don’t recollect what is the sign called, since the Marathi horoscope signs are based on Moon I guess!)

Mr. Navrange: “Ohh Virgo!!!....do you…do you… have any kind of cross…on your palm?...it can be a very small sign or quiet a visible one…do you have one?”

Mrs. Kavita: “…ammmm (she looks at her palm)...there are so many lines….annn”

Mr. Navrange: “let me see….” he stood from his seat and walked towards Mrs. Kavita, who was holding her hand out. He did not held her hand, but just bent over to take a closer look at her hand.

Mr. Navrange: “There….there it is…can you see now?”

Mrs. Kavita: “Ohh yes, …yes I can see…but this one is very small!”

Mr. Navrange: “That’s ok…as I said earlier! The cross mark that you have on your palm has got a meaning, you know what?”

Mrs. Kavita: “what?...”

Mr. Navrange: “It means, people with such a cross mark, generally fall into trouble most of the time, and most of the time, someone or the other comes to rescue them! … however critical situation might be, but there is someone to help them out of such situation.”

Mrs. Kavita: “…hmmm! How do you know all such things?”

Mr. Navrange: “Actually, I am a numerologist as well as an astrologer…I learnt all this, almost all from my family pandit. He was the one who told my dad to get me married early. I was 21 years old and my wife… mmm….she was 16 years old. Nowadays, no one believes in early marriage, ever since education, job, money etc., has started getting more importance!”

Mrs. Kavita: “…hmm….ya”

Mr. Navrange: “But …it is good that you did not tell me your date of birth (pointing towards Mrs. Seema) … because, if you believe, some information of yours will be misused by others it should not be disclosed. But you can trust me…”

Mrs. Seema: “…ohh ok”

Mr. Navrange: “No… seriously, I had a similar incident in my life. One of my office colleague, he had plans to buy a land plot for himself, and after few years her daughter was soon going to get married. He, very carelessly, used to discuss and share every bit of information related to the plot and his daughter’s marriage plan, amongst others. There were certain criticizers who would say discouragingly at his back, “Aree…Navrange, I tell you …this man….he will not be able to get the plot. And I don’ think he will be able to get his daughter married in time, even if he gets the plot!!!”…and after few years my colleagues parent’s fell ill. Very serious illness…all the money he had accumulated for the land plot and her daughter’s marriage was all spent on his parent’s illness. When I consulted my guru …our family pandit, he said, sometimes the evil influences are so strong that no one can escape its effect. That is why; you should only disclose your very confidential and personal information…to only those, whom you believe.”

Mrs. Kavita: “…hmmm…right! …ya ….there are such people in the world, who out of jealousy, will think bad about the other person….and due to impact of strong evil thoughts, the other person has to suffer!”

And while this conversation was going on …Mrs. Doctor came in, along with her daughter. Looking at them, Mr. Navrange said “Namaskar Madam, I was waiting for you Doctor. Hey…hi, how are you beta?" (he said that looking at her daughter who must be around 10-12 years old.)

I observed, Mrs. Doctor, she brought a heavy, uneasy, difficult smile to express her greetings for the elderly, Mr. Navrange. (… this was very much readable from her face for me.)

Mrs. Doctor: “Namaskar! … Had to bring her along, today she has taken leave from school!...so I got late.”

Mr. Navrange: “ohh…ok!...”

But, before Mr. Navrange could say anything, Mrs. Doctor walked inside the main room, may be to avoid, any boring useless conversation with him. He turned towards, Mrs. Kavita and Mrs. Seema, and said…

Mr. Navrange: “I tell you, she (Mrs. Doctor) is equally good! Both the Doctor and his wife, their work is just wonderful! …”

And just at that time, receptionist, who had went inside, came out and said “Mr. Patkar! Please go inside! … and yes please, switch off you mobile phone.”

Me: “Ok!” … I switched off my mobile phone and went inside. Mrs. Doctor gave me local anesthesia using an injection, near the gums of the affected wisdom tooth. Yuck...it was awfully bitter in taste!!! Who on earth, invents all such things…huhhn!!! After, she gave me that anesthesia; she asked “Are you feeling giddy?”

Me: (… in mind I said, “SHIT!!! …what is GIDDY?” So I said,) “aannn???”

Mrs. Doctor: (… She thought, I did not hear properly, so she said,) “I said, are you feeling giddy?”

…now, I had no option but to ask her what is the meaning of “giddy”….so I asked her

Me: “g…giddy?...means?”

Mrs. Doctor: “Giddy means…mmm…are you feeling like you are getting unconscious or loosing your balance…something like that!”

Me: “No no …nothing like that!”

Mrs. Doctor: “Ok fine! … generally some of them do. You wait outside for few minutes until; the anesthesia takes its effect!”

Me: “ok!”

I went out, another woman patient had come in by now, and to my surprise, Mr. Navrange was still talking to the two ladies, and the new one was not involved yet. I went and sat back at my old place. Mrs. Thomas had gone by now. In the clinic, there were only, 5 people, Me, Mr. Navrange, Mrs. Kavita, Mrs. Seema, and the new lady …let us call her Mrs. Gaikwad.

Mrs. Gaikwad (name changed) was :-

• Short, around 5 feet and 3 or 4 inches
• Dark and dusky complexion
• Overall, looking exhausted
• She was dressed up in a Punjabi dress
• She must be in her 40s or early 50s

I just sat on my place, and the receptionist, said to Mr. Navrange…

Receptionist: “Mr. Navrange… you are next, please go inside! … and Mrs. Kavita and Mrs. Seema…Sir will see your problem now, you can also go inside.”

Mr. Navrange went inside. The moment he closed the door of the main room of the clinic, I asked the receptionist:

Me: “Madam, the gentleman who went inside just now… is he a regular patient?”

Receptionist: (she smiled…as if she was expecting me to ask this) “yeah!”

Me: “Madam, can you please tell me his name…I was listening to all the conversation so far!”

Receptionist: (she smiled again…as if she knew exactly what I was thinking about the people involved in the conversation.) “Navrange! … Now that he has gone inside, he will go on chatting with Mrs. Doctor”

Me: (…I smiled back!) :)

Mrs. Gaikwad: (…suddenly from nowhere) “Yes...even I was listening to their conversation. Seems like, their wavelengths had matched. After all, the three of them were Brahmins naa!!! It Seems like Mr. Navrange is very talkative. He was talking so much…Ohh my god!”

and after that Mrs. Gaikwad, the very same woman, who was annoyed with Mr. Navrange being so talkative …took on Mr. Navrange’s role unknowingly … and from there on, it was just all, “Blah …blah…blah” coming from her.

Now, in the next part you will get to know about actual surgery experience, but before I end this post, I do know, many of us like to “READ” people…yes ….i mean it. We like to “READ” other people. Some of them do it by observing the gestures, style, way of talking, way of walking, physical appearance etc., whereas others who don’t like to do this lively, will read a novel, and try to READ and PICTURIZE the person. In the end, we do READ others!!! May be that is a general human tendency. For me this was live, for you, this is just like some story, … I want a very frank opinion about your understanding of these characters, based on the way they have been described. Please!!! I want your comments on: -

• Nature of these characters
• Their possible backgrounds
• Their beliefs
• Their real and fake faces or personalities, if at all they have

My next post is on the actual dental surgery experience...