MANAN FF - TILL THE END OF TIME

Nandini Meets Dr. Dhawan

Elegant and attractive with long and sleek chocolate brown hair, Nandini Murthy, walked in through the doors of 'The Dhawan Institute of Psychiatry & Past Life Regression'.

She stopped for a moment and looked around nervously. It was a busy day and the chairs were filled up already. Though the waiting room was crowded, there was pin drop silence as patients waited for their turn.

Nandini proceeded to the reception desk.

"Good morning ma'am. How may I help you?" The receptionist greeted her with a warm smile.

"Good morning. I have an appointment with Dr. Dhawan in a while. Number twelve."

The receptionist ran her eyes through the electronic register. "Ms. Nandini Murthy?" she checked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Please be seated ma'am. Dr. Dhawan will see you in a while."

"Thank you," Nandini smiled as she proceeded to settle down on one of the chairs outside the doctor's cabin.

Nandini chose to let her eyes wander around the soothing white walls of the clinic as she waited. Her eyes were large, beautiful and melancholic. It overpowered her loose navy blue business suit.

The walls of the clinic had several photographs of a suave gentleman in his fifties. He wore thick rimmed glasses and an elegant suit as he flashed his bestselling publication called as "What Lies Beyond". He was Dr. Cabir Dhawan. A celebrated psychiatrist and past life therapist. He was the man Nandini wanted to meet.

Nandini felt compelled to see him, searching for hope after reading his work "What Lies Beyond", and identifying with Mukti, the book's heroine and his most famous patient, on many levels.

"Miss Murthy?"

Nandini looked up at the receptionist's call.

"Dr. Dhawan will see you now," she announced.

"Thank you," Nandini mumbled and got to her feet. Her legs wobbled as her nervousness hit its peak. She was very anxious to meet Dr. Dhawan. She had only heard of him on the news. Seen him on television. But it would be her first meeting of several others that will follow. She didn't know what to expect.

The door creaked when she opened it.

The first glimpse of Dr. Dhawan gave her shivers of anxiety. He sat at his table and browsed through what looked like the information sheet which she had filled out earlier last week when she had walked in to book the appointment.

He looked up at the shuffle of her feet. "Ms. Murthy?" he checked warmly.

"Yes," she replied.

"Come in please," he urged. "Please be seated."

Nandini settled down on the large, white reclining chair in his office.

"I don't know much about why you're here," he commented, breaking the usual impasse at the beginning of therapy. He had briefly glanced at the information sheet all new patients fill out. Name, age, referral source, chief complaints and symptoms. Nandini had listed grief, anxiety and sleep disturbance as her major maladies. As she began to talk, he mentally added "relationships" to her list.

Dr. Dhawan's POV -

"My life is such a mess," she stated. Her history began to pour out, as if it were finally safe to talk about these things. The release of pent-up pressure was palpable.

Despite the drama of her life's story and the depths of emotion lying just under the surface of her telling it, Nandini quickly minimized its importance. "My story is not nearly as dramatic as Mukti's," she said. "There won't be any book about me."