Chapter - One

Devrudra Banerjee

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February '24

An year had past, after the fateful event of life, everytime my subconscious mind reminiscent those horrific moment,my body erupts of goosebumps.

But I was wrong, wrong in judging myself, wrong in judging the situation, wrong in judging her.

Love, the blissful feeling is universal, everyone has right on it, but no one should force it, that only can bring destruction. And that was the moment,when I decided, I might not have right to make her love me, but no can forbid me to love her.

And my unrequited love would be the living testament of my trial towards the attaining forgiveness of my sin.
Maybe I was not made to be loved, but I could love and I would love.

It was again the annual inter-college competition, how fluid the time is , yet again it is eternal, such a opposite meaning it possessed.

I was standing at somewhere in middle, from where the stage was clearly visible, yet I am away from point of attention.

The names were being announced, her and him, they were partner yet again, and they would win this yet again. And I could not be more happy than this. I used to heard that, the day one would understand the real essence of love, he would not get any heart break from that day. Love is not about getting reciprocated, love is a feeling, where you adore a person without any written bond or relationship. It's everlasting, it's aeonian.

At the starting of the song, a silhouette of man and woman, dancing at the beat of music was visible. With the song progressing, a team of female dancers all dressed in sky blue traditional bharatnatyam attire was visible, syncing every mudra with every beat. With the hook line of the male portion, he turned towards the audience, and chorus of female swooning over him erupted from the spectators. No wonder more than half of the female students from this campus, even from post graduation and super-speciality block.

Decked in a yellow dhoti with traditional drape, his torso bore a red angavastram, coupled with traditional jewellery which often bharatnatyam dancer wore. His eyes were enhanced by application of Kohl, with the mudra of special part of the song, he looked regal, majestic if not.

With the continuation of song, the female hook line came, and a female dancer, who was in shadow of him, turned towards the audience, and as if my breath got caught.

It was her.

Dressed in a regal red bharatnatyam attire, she looked like celestial nymph. Her Alta adorned fingers were expressing every mudra of the said song. Her feel, coloured with Alta, adorning with ghungroo, matched every beat of the song. Her waist was wrapped with a majestic waist band, along with her splendid jewellery, she looked like a dream. Her hair was embellished with a three stepped tiara, which ended with a not so large mang-tika at her forehead. But the thing which caught my attention in a whim was her nose rings, each on one side, the one in the septum kissed her luscious red lips every time she moved.

I never saw her this regal,this much majestic. I might not have been in her all performance,but this three year, I had attended all of them, which took place in the campus.

Their duet danced like a reverie, so flawless. The amount of cheer erupted from the male counterparts of the audience, everytime she smiled with the song, could be ear-numbing.

Together they danced like divine duet,  Shiv and Parvati. No wonder they were in love.

It was blessing for eyes to watch them dance, an effortless saga of divine experience.

The competition ended with them being winner, as everyone already had predicted. Everyone were in trance after their performance.

It was already a week after the performance, Devrudra was busy with his recently started non-academic SRship, which he would be continue along with his research publications for DNB until his convocation of the masters.

It was bright day, with sun shining at the sky , spreading the warmth in the month of shivering February. The team of recently graduated masters students of department of Radiology were assembled at the lecture hall for the second theoretical class of the day, the session was productive with the professor teaching them about a complex MRI extracted from a patient suffering from dementia.

It was almost the end of the session, where the peon interrupted the question answering session with a knock on the door. Permitting him at the classroom, the professor proceed to take the notice the peon carried with him.

"Class, it is an important notice for you all" the professor chided with his deep rich voice.

"The students who applied for the inter college poster and research paper competition, you all got the top three of chosen students from the mentioned branch. Now on the basis of the performance in inter college competition along with the interview that has been conducted, a group of 12 students had been finalised, who would represent our college in the national level. And from the department of Radiology, Dr. Devrudra Banerjee has been selected in the team. So congratulations Dr. Banerjee. You have to report your name along with your department credentials at the administration office. At the second half of the day, the selected students would be called at auditorium of Shushrut block to inform them the further procedure. Having said that we are concluding our lecture here. Once again congratulations Devrudra." The professor concluded with affectionate grin on his face.

It was indeed a joyful moment for him, he worked relentlessly for this, and when he wa getting the fruit of it, it was obvious to feel the pride swelling inside the chest.

He was almost in the trance, when a loud sound caught his attention.

There stood his best buddy,may his soulmate, the brother from another mother, Dr. Raghav Singh Dewan, splinting towards him with a huge grin.

Nearing him, Raghav hugged him with a force, which beckoned both of them to take few steps back.

"My boy, you are selected, I can't express my joy, Dev. I am so happy" he almost shouted, expressing his joy.

The team, which Devrudra was being selected, Raghav was already a part of that. The notice was circulated to the department of Pathology at the very first working hour. And after knowing the Devrudra was also a part of the team Raghav could not hold his happiness.

Raghav Singh Dewan, an efficient doctor, currently is in 4th year of his integrated MD-Ph.D program at the department of Pathology. He was absolute ball of sunshine, always with happy grin in his face, radiating joy where ever he goes, with a extroverted chirpy nature, he indeed is a soul of cheerfulness.

Detaching from the embrace, Devrudra assembled her backpack, and along with his best buddy, he forwarded towards the canteen to have his launch. It was no hospital day, his day would mostly be consisted with theoretical classes along with visiting his mentor for the upcoming research publications.

Reaching at the counter he ordered a thali of rice and fish. Devrudra is a pure machhe bhate bangali, who cannot function without fish in his system and Rabindra Sangeet in his airpod.

Taking the bites of their food they were indulged in the upcoming journey of the mentioned competition.

It would be six months of hustle, where they'll be provided with mentorship along with further Knowledge about the competition.

"You got the list of the students" Devrudra asked, gulping his almost finished rice.

"Not everyone, I have the list of students who completed their masters and joining the team. There are 4 students were selected from the senior residents, three were selected from the PGY-3, three students from PGU-2 and two from PGY-1. From the SRs, one is you, another is me. There is Dr. Krishna from anatomy and guess who is the fourth one?" Raghav said, at the end of the sentence he wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive Manner.

"Who?" Dev asked, still relishing the taste of doi katla.

"Your number one fan, your ardent admirer Dr. Shetty from biochemistry" Raghav ended the sentence with a tone of naughtiness causing Dev to choke on the fishbone, he was relishing with oh so deliciously.

"Who?come again" Dev chided with utter surprise.

"You heard right, it's Dr. Shetty" Raghav reciprocated with equal tone.

Dr. Shrinidhi Shetty, a brilliant student with intelligent brain from department of Biochemistry, currently pursuing her DM from the same department. She and Devrudra entered the university at same year. She is a genius mind with equally hard-working spirit.

But the twist was, her undying crush or childish infatuation as Devrudra termed it as on Devrudra. There would be many instances where Dev found himself being forcefully engaged into a baseless conversation with Dr. Shetty which she would start with a excuse of some great topic. The portion of introvertness got triggered in such moments, forbidding himself to dismiss the conversation.

He was well aware about the growing infatuation of Dr Shetty,but he could do nothing, as she never directly proposed her.

Thinking about all the possibilities of crazy occurance in the future six months, Dev gulped a huge amount of water,which he got choked on when he saw a certain figure coming through the entrance of the canteen draping the white coat above the green short kurti.

For a moment he forgot every worries, every woes. Only he can witness the lady in green.

His lady in green, which he affectionately called her.

The lady of her reverie.

An efficient first year junior resident at Integrated M.Ch from the department of Neurosurgery.

Dr. Prashmita.

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Glossary

Integrated M.ch : it is super-speciality course of surgery, where the selected resident would spend his/her six year on the same department with a super specialization. Here as it mentioned neurosurgery. The resident would be directly joined with neurosurgery for six months, after which they'll be shifted to department of generel surgery for 18 months, after which they'll be going through some rigorous process and the one will succeed would go in senior residentship.

Integrated MD-Ph.D : Again an integrated course, where the student would complete his/her PhD along with their masters at a stretch. Timeline differs with the chosen subject, the capability of the students. Usually students from bon clinical branch go for this, if they have aim to pursue research in future. It is a popular course in abroad. In India very few institute may offer this.

Alta : A red liquid made from lac

Ghungroo: A heavy anklet consist of large metal ball which is worn by dancers in various traditional Indian dance forms.

Machhe -bhate bangali : which is translated as Bengali with rice and fish. Fish is considered as an undetachable part of Bengali cuisine.

Mudra : Gesture of hands and finger done by dancers during traditional Indian dance performance.

Dementia: A group of thinking and social symptoms that interferes with daily functioning.
Not a specific disease, dementia is a group of conditions characterized by impairment of at least two brain functions, such as memory loss and judgement.

MRI : Magnetic Resonance Imaging, a noninvasive medical imaging test that produces detailed images of almost every internal structure in the human body, including the organs, bones, muscles and blood vessels. MRI scanners create images of the body using a large magnet and radio waves.

Author's note

We are now at the starting of the journey of Devrudra and Prashmita.

Nagumo, the song by Hesham Abdul Wahab, which was originally composed by Saint Tyagaraja, who described his inner plea to Sri Raghav or Sri Ram. The version of this song depicts Start of something new , it's apt for Devrudra in his current situation, when he is equally thrilled for his upcoming expedition, whereas he cannot let go his oh so carefully nurtured love for prashmita.