INDI A

SINGAPORE

M A L AY S I A

Notion Press Media Pvt Ltd No. 50, Chettiyar Agaram Main Road, Vanagaram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu – 600 095 First Published by Notion Press 2021 Copyright © Dr. Vaibhav Motghare 2021 All Rights Reserved. ISBN 978-1-63957-413-1 This book has been published with all efforts taken to make the material error-free after the consent of the author. However, the author and the publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. While every effort has been made to avoid any mistake or omission, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that neither the author nor the publishers or printers would be liable in any manner to any person by reason of any mistake or omission in this publication or for any action taken or omitted to be taken or advice rendered or accepted on the basis of this work. For any defect in printing or binding the publishers will be liable only to replace the defective copy by another copy of this work then available.

Dedicated To Is writing my cup of tea? I never felt so... Until I met Srajan Srivastava (Dd), whose constant appreciation and encouragement made me to write this novelette. I want to dedicate this book to all those individuals who helped me to realize my potential. Special Thanks to Srajan and Hemlata for always encouraging and standing like pillars during this journey. I want to thank my schoolmate Akhila and Mr. Thomas for guiding and helping me in this new world of book publication. My heartfelt gratitude for Dr. Subhasree Chaudhuri and Dr. Soumya Lal for preparing the sketches for the book. At last, I want to dedicate this book to my family, friends and to lovely dental students.

Contents

Preface7 1. A Step Into the Unknown

11

2. Curiosity: Blessing or Curse

17

3. Time is a Merciful Killer

21

4. A Bike Ride of Expectations

25

5. Life’s Unclear Choices

30

6. Met By Chance

36

7. Education Can’t Change Orthodox Thinking

41

8. Blind Love Leads to Foolishness

46

9. Destiny is Decided By Humans, Not by God

51

10. The Final Fate

57

5

Preface

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”. – Martin Luther King, Jr. When I heard this quote, it echoed in my ears for a long time. I found this quote to fit perfectly in our society. We as a society have judged people in terms of their looks, appearance, and dressing style. Terms like ‘Fair’, ‘Beautiful’, ‘Handsome’ are common words used in the advertisement industry to attract people to buy their products. If we look at the sales graph of these products we can say that these words represent the underlying thought process of society. A society obsessed with fair color and judging people for their skin color. I wonder when will we start looking for the content within people rather than their skin color. In this story, the main character is judged by people for her skin color since her childhood days. Commenting on the looks of a person might not be considered a serious 7

Preface

issue when compared to other social issues prevailing in our country. But, the deep psychological impact it creates on the mind of the victim is unimaginable. When a child lives in a society where he/she is judged for their looks rather than their talent, they modify their behavior to please people for acceptance. This pleasing attitude hampers the overall growth of their mind. That child then later fights with the inferiority complex. Throughout their life, they work to get acceptance by society without realizing the fact that societal views changes with time. The pleasing attitude they adopt makes them more vulnerable and anxious. Thus it is really necessary to stop judging children for their looks. Do family members judge their children? Well, I cannot answer this question. This has to be introspected by parents who want their children to excel in every field. They need to introspect their behavior when they intentionally or unintentionally compare their kids. They never realize the underlying consequences of those negative comparisons. Mothers play an important role in development of a child and if a mother negatively compares her children with others, then it affects the mental health of their children. A child of any age group requires motivation. Encouraging a child can boost the confidence of a child. So, the parents should understand the personality of their kids and should always motivate their children. 8

Preface

I hope in the future people get appreciation for their hard work and not for their looks. Building a strong nation starts by building a strong family. So, let’s stop judging people on the basis of their skin color.

9

CHAPTER 1

A Step Into the Unknown

Again came a stormy and heart-stopping night for an alluring, dusky-skinned nightingale. With constant deep breaths, she tried hard to distance herself from the ineffable thoughts of her past breakups. The insecurities acquired through these breakups had piled up in her mind like an avalanche of snow that threatened to swamp her mind beyond recovery and, in their wake, always spawned a host of inauthentic thoughts. While such thoughts could, and often did, render many anxious and vulnerable, this “pure-soul-nightingale” always managed to overcome them and their depressive and anxiety-inducing nature. This sweet but taciturn introvert is Anjali, a renowned oral and maxillofacial surgeon of the steel city. But a few years down memory lane, no one believed Anjali would one day become a surgeon, owing to her slow learning skills, average looks, and non-talkative behavior. Her adorable but simple looks were always obscured by her dark skin tone. Her deep, round brown eyes and sharp facial features were considered unattractive when compared to her fair-skinned elder sisters. Since childhood, she’d 11

Love Story of an Introvert Medico

always heard overwhelming praise for the beauty of her sisters from everyone. A judgmental society blinded by the “aura” of a fair-skinned complexion deliberately ignored her. Her relatives found immense pleasure in comparing her with other girls, on the basis of skin color. While growing up, Anjali took all this in her stride, but what does one do when one’s own mother makes such insensitive comparisons, and that too among her own children, the offspring of her own womb? Anjali was shattered. Like every child of her age she was immature, but she somehow controlled her emotions and put on a brave face. To find peace and solace, Anjali periodically withdrew into her own inner world, a fictitious world of love, care, and attachment. Even so, from time to time, she did step into the real world, her tear-filled, yet hopeful, eyes searching her surroundings for the acceptance of her individuality. But the divine watch her silent tears helplessly as she continued to live her life with a gaping wound in her unfulfilled heart. She spent her teenage years in a constant search for love and acceptance, but she always got disappointment in her search. She studied hard to get acceptance from her family, and her academic prowess helped her qualify to attend dental college. But her scholastic brilliance never fetched her a compliment and acceptance from her family. Even in college, she had to confront male chauvinism. One day, a prominent professor of the college looked her from top to bottom and remarked 12

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at her, “Surgery is not for girls.” Very few girls take this branch due to a patriarchal mindset running across generations. This patriarchal mindset had made the professor an egoistic surgeon. Although toxic patriarchy is meant to be overthrown, the Divine never imagined that Anjali was courageous or even competent enough to break this stubbornly persistent illusion. This longrunning generational patriarchal attitude has not only tended to dissuade young, capable girls from pursuing surgery as a profession but has also birthed a toxic male chauvinism that denigrates females in the belief that they are inferior to males. Words can injure, not the flesh perhaps, but definitely the spirit. And that professor’s thoughtless statement did injure Anjali, like a supernatural sword that penetrated to the very core of her immortal soul. Having learned over time to take such things in her stride, she only responded with a silent smile. When the postgraduate entrance exam results were announced, all who knew her were shocked to learn that she had not only passed the exam but was ranked among the top fifty candidates. People’s perceptions though are often immune to even such remarkable achievements. But Anjali, as if tempting fate, chose to pursue oral surgery as her profession. Her family did not think she’d survive such a harsh male-dominated department. Her so-called friends praised her up front but laughed behind her back. But the naive diva that Anjali was, she felt that one day everyone would recognize and appreciate her achievements and she’d receive the love 13

Love Story of an Introvert Medico

and acknowledgment that she’d desired from everyone for so long. But her dream again got shattered as she never realized that some people around her are born narcissists. Anjali was now at a stage of life when most, if not all, of us begin to notice our sexual urges and struggle to restrain our seemingly out-of-control “love” hormones. It’s so easy to give in. And so did Anjali—she was after all looking for love, pure, unadulterated love, which had been denied her all her life. Well, she found “love” all right, but it was pseudo love. The men she met only desired flings, not her. In their eyes, none of her achievements could outshine her complexion. Some even rudely tagged her as “a girl not fit for marriage.” The relentless heartbreaks she suffered through the course of her failed relationships, over a period of time, transformed the sensitive soul into a strict, emotionless surgeon, who refused to show her desolate heart to anyone. Of course, now she was judged as a person of flinty expressions, but deep inside, there still remained that sweet, taciturn girl who only longed to be loved unconditionally and irrespective of her skin color. After waiting for many years, she finally agreed to an arranged marriage. Her parents breathed a sigh of relief, as their thinking matched with Indian soap opera mentality: “A girl cannot get a handsome boy after crossing thirty years of age.” Yes, such ridiculous opinions persist even today. While she wasn’t thrilled with this arrangement, she agreed to it. “Perhaps,” she reasoned within herself, 14

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“it was time to accept the harsh reality of the world, that skin color and age indeed determined the fate of Indian women.” She decided to surrender herself to her fate. But an otherwise unremarkable night, just a few months before her engagement, was to bring more misery into her life. In an attempt to escape the thoughts of her past, she decided to lose herself in light dancing. She remembered the good times she’d had with her endodontist boyfriend; he had seemed to be a perfect professional match for her. But the male ego can be difficult to pacify, and when it erupts, it can burn even good relationships like a piece of paper. Finally, she determinedly told herself, “Enough is enough! Stop it. That was in the past... time to forget him.” She took her mobile and once again opened her fake Tinder account, which she’d created to fulfill her sexual desires. Many a time, she had promised herself to delete the account, but she could never muster enough willpower to do so. It was an avenue for her to escape her tortuous reality. She found a random guy and started chatting with him; without wasting any time, she asked for his mobile number. After a brief introduction, both of them engaged in erotic conversations. The titillating chat aroused her sexually, and she moaned aloud. Within a few minutes, she also started pleasuring herself. Her counterpart, also aroused now, started working toward climaxing, when Anjali orgasmed and simultaneously felt waves 15

Every person on this planet, whether introvert or extrovert, is in search of a true partner. A partner who can understand his/her feelings, who could make a person happy and emotionally stable. Some find their soul mate at an instance, while others have to wait for a long time. Some get happiness in a relationship while some undergo emotional trauma. Everyone’s journey to find a compatible life partner is unique and at the end of that journey, some people learn important lessons in their life. This story is the journey of an introverted dentist, who is in search of a person who could accept her identity and essence in a true sense. She wants to fall for a person who could love her unconditionally, irrespective of her looks. Will she be able to get a true soulmate in this life? Explore the love story of this introverted dentist along with the harsh realities of life.

Born and bought up in the steel city, Bhilai, Vaibhav Motghare hails from a family of doctors, and he is often known for doing things in an unconventional way. Born on 30th June, Vaibhav inherits characteristics of the Cancerian sun sign and has always been a shy and introverted child. Being an introverted person, he finds it easy to express his feelings and emotions through writing. With a passion to help people, he chose dentistry as a career and did his post-graduation in public health dentistry from I.T.S. Dental College, Greater Noida. He had been awarded a gold medal for his outstanding performance during post-graduation. He also got the ‘Best Outstanding Post-Graduate Student Award’ in 2015. Presently, he is the director and co-owner of Motghare Health Care, a multi-speciality clinic in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh where he is working along with his parents to provide the best treatment facilities to the patients. Also, he is associated with Maitri Dental College as an associate professor in the department of community dentistry. He has 18 research publications on his name and this book embarks on his journey as a writer who is keen to bring various social issues prevailing in society. The incidents described in the story are closely observed by the author during his life, and he hopes that everybody should get the opportunity to find their authentic connection. Price 99