Psychiatrist, be thyself - The Story of Abdul the Psychiatrist
by Sundaram Ramchandran  zenkalidas 



Abdul was a fairly promising psychiatrist who had recently graduated from an
interdisciplinary post graduate program on "mental health and brain sciences".
Interestingly, he was not from a medical background but from a cognitive
science and philosophy background with an emphasis on the softer "ontological"
aspects of the subject as opposed to the rest of his colleagues with medical
backgrounds.

Now, Sheila was a doctor with an affiliated hospital who specialized in
surgery. Their chance (and fateful in retrospect) encounter was brought about
by the case of a patient who had suffered traumatic injuries. Sheila had used
state of the techniques to bring about a miraculous recovery. But the patient
had not regained complete consciousness and seemed to have lost his memories.

Sheila had referred the case to Abdul's dept represented by Abdul and his
colleague. Abdul had suggested a holistic approach that would use the patients
memories and sense of self to help him regain consciousness instead of the
usual sequential approach. Luckily, this approach was successful and the
patient had regained consciousness. But as it happened, the credit went to
Abdul's colleague , Sheila having had to leave the room to attend another
emergency. This was both due to Abdul's "non-technical" specialization as well
as his nature which was perceived as soft, showy, verbose etc.

Sheila was in the early to mid 40's , was married and the mother of 2 school
going children. Her husband was a rare breed , an air force officer who was
both a pilot and an engineer. Theirs was a love marriage brought about by
similar interests. Both had interest in all things "techie", that is
mechanical, electronic, both could repair and operate all manner of vehicles
whether it be cars, trucks, boats or planes. She had been a naval officer and
in addition to being a surgeon, had also been involved in the engineering
aspects. Both were into adventure sports, including combat sports etc.

She stood at just around 6 ft, a voluptuous , curvaceous but superbly muscled
6 ft, her natural athleticism and toughness reinforced by her struggles, both
in her youth as an orphan and after her husband had gone missing.

Her toughness added to her sexuality instead of detracting from it , possibly
because she made no attempt to subdue the human aspects of her personality,
the later being heightened by her almost impish sense of humor / mischief
which could turn devilish when provoked made her all the more interesting.

Abdul's personality , on the other hand was almost "180 degrees" opposite to
hers. He was a flabby (almost soft ) 75 kgs, was 5 9/5.10 in height, was an
"armchair" sportsman at best (in fact he almost loathed all forms of physical
exertion except the obvious (no prizes for guessing !!), loved the good things
of life, was all thumbs when it came to anything technical (except for an
interest in the more theoretical / philosophical aspects), had a deep interest
in poetry, literature, aesthetics, consciousness studies and related areas and
had lived a sheltered lifestyle.

He had been attracted to her vivacious, larger than life personality from the
very beginning. She , on the other hand, had always thought of him as somewhat
of a silly goose.

Through discussions, debates, seminars and other fora (in which he played a
key part) , he was able to get her interested and involved and hence, get
himself noticed.

Her opinion of him changed. She now thought of him as a silly goose who was a
bit of a dreamer and had a good mind and whose heart was in the right place.

Now it so happened that Abdul was promoted to a senior position in the dept
where he cud influence policy , including allocation of funds etc.

Slowly, he pushed through the projects dear to his heart even to the point of
including such unfashionable subjects such as soul, mind-body link,
consciousness, spirituality etc

Though Sheila did feel glad at his success, she sincerely felt that he was not
the right candidate, a feeling that was heightened by his priorities.

He had also started becoming more demonstrative of his affection for her. Her
feeling of irritation was tempered by the fact that she did like him as a
person, though she may not have reciprocated his romantic feelings for her.

What really brought things to a head was an incident where Abdul received a
call from Sheila's ex-colleague from the navy. It related to the whereabouts
of Sheila's husband. It so happened that Abdul had more upto date and accurate
information on the subject (gathered from his contacts)

There was still some uncertainty regarding the whereabouts of her husband.
Hence he did not mention the call.

Abdul planned to broach the subject during a dinner date he had arranged with
Sheila where the medium would reveal her husband's whereabouts. Actually, this
was how Abdul had learnt about the same.

In any case, just as the medium had started revealing the relevant
information, Sheila received a call on her mobile from the same ex-colleague.

When she learnt that he had called up earlier, she was beside herself with
anger.

From the look on her face, Abdul realized that her colleague must have
contacted her. He saw her storm out.

The next morning, she appeared mollified but this was just the lull before the
storm.

She had planned something to teach him a lesson but she was poker faced as she
invited him to dinner that evening.

Evening arrived and so did he. Her effusivity should have made him realize
that there was something fishy but he was as excited as a youth going to the
house of the girl he secretly loves (without her knowledge) for the first
time.

He was pleasantly surprised to see her offering him drinks.

She kept urging him on till at last he passed out

In the morning, he awoke with a splitting headache.

Sheila greeted him with morning tea and breakfast.

Sheila "Wake up sleepy head !!. It's nearly 10 0' clock. Luckily , today is
Saturday".

Pleased at her warmth, he had a hearty breakfast and left the house in high
spirits.

The next Friday, she invited all the senior officers of the dept to an
informal party at her place in the evening highlighted by a séance session.

Abdul went to her house in the evening with a strange premonition of impending
catastrophe which he was unable to justify.

As the evening progressed, Sheila again offered him drinks. With a sense of
déjà vu, he again found himself groggy. But now, he found himself being
roughly man (or rather woman) handled by (he was shocked to find) Sheila. A
few minutes later, he awoke to find himself completely naked and astride a
rocking toy horse. He was mortified to find everyone in the hall. Suddenly,
voices seemed emanate from within him and or the horse.

"Sunil is not fit to be the head of the dept. U should be the head" in a voice
surprisingly like his

"I am not interested in politics" in a voice similar to Sheila

"I think i will arrange a séance to see what is foretold and what can be done
to remedy the situation" in "his" voice.

"You are too superstitious as well as ambitious" "Sheila"

He was sure he had never uttered these words though he had discussed with her
the possibilities of advancement and his idea of going to a séance to have his
fortunes told

Suddenly, there was a clamour of voices as if of a mob clamouring for his
punishment. As if in answer, Sheila came forward as if to cut his hair. After
a few minutes, she cried out "Look what he has arranged to be written . People
came forward and finally, Sunil read aloud "Sheila is a slut" !!

Sunil in a shocked tone "Gosh, how could u do such things"

Abdul "How can i write at the back of my head ? "

Sheila "You are not an imbecile that someone can write these 6hings against ur
will ?. Also, do you think that i am mad that i should write against myself"

Suddenly, there was raucous laughter both from the voices and from the
audience.

He suddenly broke out sobbing.

Sheila, with a smile "left hanging" and with tears streaming down her cheeks,
hugged him and removed some miniature transmitters and speakers from his butt.

"I planted this the last time u came . I just wanted to bring u down a notch
or two"

Abdul passed out from the stress.

Sheila "Wakey, you have to come to the seminar "

"Am i still in the dept ?" - Abdul

"U have been promoted. Now i realize that it was ur suggestion that helped my
patient regain consciousness. We also know that u have been sidelined for too
long. No more" = sheila

Sheila continued "On the personal front, ur efforts to locate my husband have
borne fruit. He will be joining us next month. Here's to the 3 of us !! "