It was a rainy day in July. In the morning, I looked out of the window and enjoyed the rain while sipping my coffee. I was really busy that day, with many meetings scheduled. My secretary had arranged the meetings back to back, leaving no gap in between. She had allowed me only a lunch break. I had mixed feelings about it. I enjoyed being busy, but at the same time, I was not really happy about not having even a few minutes to relax.
In between, Sarangi reminded me about the meeting with a high profile team from a nationalized bank. For the past month, they had been requesting time to meet me. Recently, I had agreed. Since the business involved was substantial, I expected that a management level team would arrive for the discussion.
Suddenly, my secretary, Sarangi, knocked on my cabin door and entered.
“Dr. Janaki has come. She is requesting a meeting with you,” she said.
I replied, “She did not take an appointment. But…?”
“Yes, but this is urgent. Anyway, you have wanted to meet her for a long time,” she replied.
I recollected.
“Yes… She had been absent from the hospital for quite some time. Since then, I had been asking my team to find out about her.”
Dr. Janaki had been working with me for the last few months. Even before she joined me, she was someone who came for an interview. Later, we became friends. Eventually, she joined me as a doctor. Since then, we had been friends as well as foes. For reasons I never really understood, she constantly picked fights with me. Even when there was no issue, she somehow managed to create one. Gradually, I started keeping my distance from her.
Then one day, we had our final argument. After that, she simply disappeared.
Now the same doctor had come to meet me without an appointment.
Initially, I hesitated. Then I agreed to meet her.
I asked Sarangi to allow her in. She looked confused because another team was expected any moment for a scheduled meeting.
I said, “That is fine. Let her come in. Today, I will meet her.”
She knew how unhappy I had been with Dr. Janaki after our last argument. She simply smiled and walked out.
Within a few seconds, Dr. Janaki entered the cabin.
Without looking at her, I pointed towards the chair.
She probably understood the anger on my face and quietly sat down.
For a while, I deliberately kept moving my fingers over the laptop keyboard to show that I was busy. Still, she remained silent.
That surprised me.
Dr. Janaki was someone who always found reasons to argue. Even when she had no valid point, she somehow managed to start a debate. Before we realized it, we would end up defending ourselves while she became the victim. That was her art.
The same person was now sitting silently in front of me.
Finally, I broke the silence.
“What?”
She remained quiet for another few seconds.
Then she softly replied,
“I am sorry for my unprofessional behavior.”
That was equally difficult for me to digest.
She was always the person who pushed everyone else to defend themselves. Hearing an apology from her was something I had never imagined.
I lost all my weapons the moment she said “sorry.”
Still, I asked,
“Why did you come now? The clinic is already closed. What is the point?”
She replied,
“There is no point. I know. But I am taking moral responsibility.”
After a few moments, she suddenly started crying.
I felt embarrassed.
“Please do not cry. I am not going to fight with you,” I said.
She replied,
“No… no… You are not the reason I am crying.”
“Then what?” I asked.
She continued weeping.
“Something wrong happened to me. Someone did something terrible to me.”
I said,
“Okay… Do one thing. I will come downstairs. Then we can talk peacefully. Please wait at CCD.”
Immediately, she got up, washed her face in my bathroom, and left.
Only then did I remember the bank meeting.
I called my assistant and asked about their arrival.
Her voice was low.
“Sir, they are already one hour late. Please wait for a few more minutes.”
I replied,
“Fine.”
Even after another thirty minutes, the bank officials had still not arrived.
Outside, the rain had become even heavier. It poured relentlessly, as though it had no intention of stopping.
By then, Dr. Janaki had already been waiting for me for nearly forty five minutes.
I got up from my chair.
Sarangi immediately understood what I was about to do.
She rushed towards my cabin with a worried expression.
“Sir… they have reached.”
I asked,
“So what?”
I opened my cabin door.
The team was standing outside.
They greeted me with artificial smiles.
“Sorry, Sir. We are a little late.”
I looked at them.
“Not a little. You are late by one hour and thirty minutes.”
One of them immediately replied,
“Heavy rain outside, Sir.”
I calmly responded,
“But your office is only within walking distance.”
Nobody replied.
They simply looked at each other and smiled awkwardly.
I said,
“Sorry. Now this meeting will be possible only next time.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the shock on Sarangi’s face.
Without saying another word, I walked out of the office.
As I left, I could almost feel everyone’s eyes following me. Even without turning back, I knew they were standing there in complete disbelief.
I drove my car towards the CCD.
Dr. Janaki was still waiting.
I stopped the car beside her, unlocked the passenger door, and she got in immediately.
Without wasting another moment, I drove away.
For several minutes, there was complete silence inside the car.
Finally, I broke it.
“Now tell me, Doctor… what happened?”
She struggled to speak.
Then she repeated,
“Someone did wrong to me.”
I became slightly irritated.
“You are repeating the same words, Dr. Janaki.”
She nodded.
“Yes… I know. I am sorry.”
After a long pause, almost without a voice, she whispered,
“I was raped.”
I was stunned.
“What?”
“My brother’s friend…”
she murmured.
I became curious because I knew this woman very well.
She had never allowed anyone to know exactly where she lived. Even during all this time, I never knew her complete address. I had dropped her home several times, but she always asked me to stop before reaching the building. I had never actually seen where she stayed.
Now she was saying that she had been raped by her cousin brother’s friend.
For a moment, I found it difficult to understand.
I asked,
“Why did you not complain to the police?”
She remained silent.
I asked again.
Very softly, she replied,
“It was my own brother.”
I became speechless.
After a few moments, I slowly said,
“Still… you could have…”
Before I could complete the sentence, she broke down completely.
She cried uncontrollably.
“You know he is younger than me. I fed him from childhood. I never knew he had become addicted to drugs. How can I watch him being taken into police custody? What will I tell my aunt?”
She continued crying endlessly.
Only then did I truly look at her.
Until that moment, I had been so occupied with my own anger that I had not even noticed her condition.
I slowly turned towards her.
Her ears had deep red wounds, and one of them was still bleeding. Her lips were bruised and almost black. Her forehead was swollen and red. Since she was fair, every injury stood out clearly. Yet when she had entered my cabin, I had failed to notice any of them.
I looked at her again.
She was staring through the windshield, not at me. It was as if she was looking at something far away, something that still refused to leave her mind.
After a long silence, almost in a whisper, she said,
“I was cooking his favorite dal and aloo paratha.”
She did not say another word.
Neither did I.
Some silences are too painful to be interrupted. Some sentences do not need an ending. They leave behind questions that no answer can ever satisfy.
I kept driving.