As Abhijit – or Abhi, as everyone called him – had forewarned, he began to show Tulasi what hell truly was from the very next day.
Tulasi would arrive at the hospital by ten, and Abhijit would follow by eleven, immediately commencing his unique brand of torment. He would stride his long legs, covering ground effortlessly, while she, much shorter, found herself constantly jogging to keep pace. Should she falter even slightly, his sharp voice would cut through the air,
"What? Can't you walk at twenty-five? Are you an old woman already?" or simply, "Shorty!".
Tulasi quickly realised that enduring the physical strain of jogging after him was preferable to the relentless torrent of his insults. After a mere two days, she abandoned her regular footwear, investing in proper running shoes, a silent testament to her resolve.
The nurses, observing this peculiar dynamic, would often share knowing looks of concern, leaving Tulasi to ponder the injustice of her situation, her woes unspoken.
Abhi's instructions were a continuous stream, one after another, delivered without pause during their rounds.
Tulasi yearned for a moment for his words to travel from her ears to her brain and actually register there, but he offered no such respite; his commands were a rapid-fire assault. Heaven forbid she forgot even a single detail; his tirade would begin anew,
"You don't even know that?". His rounds commenced the moment he arrived, a whirlwind of directives:
"Do this for this patient, do that tests for that patient," he'd instruct, giving her no time to even jot them down.
Afterwards, during outpatient consultations (OP), he would interject with a barrage of questions. Should she fail to answer, his scathing query, "How did you even pass your MBBS?" would invariably follow. Before Abhijit even stepped into the operating theatre, Tulasi was expected to have thoroughly checked and prepared everything. A single missing item would unleash another torrent of his fury.
She often wondered why her ears didn't bleed from the sheer volume of his scolding, as if they, too, had grown accustomed to his harshness. The nurses and other doctors around them would glance at her with pity, witnessing Abhijit's ability to reduce everyone to trembling silence. He spared no one, but since Tulasi's arrival, his focus had narrowed almost exclusively to her, granting others a rare, albeit brief, moment of peace.
"What karma is this, God? I've truly fallen into hell, at the mercy of this demon," she would lament in her heart.
One day, she made a minor error in the operating theatre. Abhijit, disregarding the solemnity of the room, unleashed a torrent of abuse, instructing her to "go and learn from the nurses" if she didn't know something. The humiliation stung, and tears welled in her eyes.
As soon as the operation concluded, Tulasi retreated to her room, where she dissolved into sobs. A short while later, her newly found friends, Assistant Doctors Shashirekha and two others, joined her to offer comfort.
"Don't be sad, that's just how he is," a senior nurse gently advised, adding, "After a few days, you'll get used to it. You'll understand how to be and how not to be around him".
Tulasi, still weeping, murmured, "But why does he speak so fast?".
The nurse, with a knowing smile, replied, "That's just him, a little fast and rash. You're not like him; you're a bit slow, …..?".
Tulasi thought of protesting, "What do you mean, I'm slow?".
The nurse continued, "When he speaks, the entire block can hear him. When you speak, even we, standing next to you, can barely hear. He's fast, and you're slow. He talk so harshly and disrespectfully, but you talk kindly and respectfully to everyone. You two are a perfect opposite, like east and west!".
Despite her sadness, Tulasi found a strange comfort in having friends who empathised with her plight.
The senior nurse further explained, "Don't be sad. Abhijit's nature is strict, so he cannot tolerate even a small mistake. Not even one of his operations has ever failed, which shows how much attention he pays to everything. That's why he can't bear any errors".
She urged Tulasi, "Try to understand him a little, be patient for a few days, and slowly you will get used to it. Don't be disheartened. He has good subject ,why do you think all Directors are bearing his arrogance and tantrums? He is so good at what he does, with him as your senior, you will learn a lot.".
Just then, another nurse knocked, delivering a pile of case sheets. "Dr. Tulasi, Dr. Abhijit wants you to complete these case files. He'll check them before he leaves this evening," she stated.
Tulasi quickly stood, wiped her tears, and, grabbing the files, reminded herself, "Oh my god, I have to finish writing these case files, if not he won't send me to home today."
The work was incessant: OPs, rounds, surgeries, case files, and countless patient medical prescriptions. She had no free moment. To make matters worse, Abhi's questions followed her everywhere, even during OP and operations. If she failed to answer, he would launch into his familiar refrain, "Did you really pass in your exams?". Even after returning home, she would hastily cook something, then bury herself in her studies. She even revised notes at the hospital whenever she found a spare moment. Her friends often chuckled, observing her intense dedication.
"I didn't even study this hard for my entrance exam," one remarked.
Tulasi, with a sad expression, added, "Not just you, I didn't either. With these case sheets, My hands hurt, I have never written this much for my whole doctor education. I don't know if I joined as a doctor or a jogging coach. jogging after that giant man has left my legs aching and all this writing is making my hands aching, with his shouting and scoldings, my ears aching, and that mental torture my head aching.OMG every muscle in my body ace because of this sadist.He is sucking life out of me.. He truly is a demon!". Everyone laughed.