Love, Death and Vodka | A FEATURED STORY

Chapter 26

Tanvi wanted to complete her work and leave the rest to her senior. But Vikram would return only on Monday. She wanted to close the whole issue in a neat little package. That was her style of working. Ramana was, of course, there but something was nagging her.

Though Ramana was a senior in the project and sort of supportive, he was an ambitious man and couldn't be trusted easily. He could very well turn the tables around and take credit for their work. The risk of being sick was high too. She contemplated all the way to office and decided to finish her work completely.

Both she and Sanjay deserved the credit and it would help her to further her career. She told Sanjay that she would nap for half-hour and then work. Sanjay was alert and she took a nap at her desk for half hour.

Once she woke and went to get some more coffee, water and then took the pill. The effects of the pill kicked in and she was alert again. Her mind ran like a bullet train but her body wanted to rest, she cared little about it.

In her present stimulus, she doubted if she would ever fall asleep again. It was around 7 pm and Sanjay was hopelessly tired.

"Tanvi I'm calling it a day. I can't do this anymore. When are you leaving?"

"I think I'll stay for another hour. What about Naveen?"

"Naveen already left for the day. Just finish up and you too go ok."

Sanjay sadly did not notice how alert she looked.

"Sure Sanjay, have a good evening. Catch you on Monday then?"

He nodded and left. It was just Ramana and her now. She manually triggered each job sequentially. There were other warehouses designed on AbInitio too. Ramana spoke to her about other teams and asked her to work on few simple fixes. Slowly, the other teams approached her directly.

She was so focused and sometimes was irritated when people asked her to explain twice. She somehow controlled her emotions and patiently repeated her responses. Her manual jobs were long since done and Ramana took over.

Sometime later, he too left for the day and planned to login from home. But Tanvi was busy with other teams. Her Senior Manager personally spoke to her about a certain team and wanted her to help them. She just did what was asked of her without complaining and offering only very few technical possibilities. It paid off. Many were impressed with her work.

It was 3 am, Tanvi was more than tired. It was more than twenty-four hours since she woke. The pill wore off long back. She wanted to flop on her soft bed. She searched for her Senior Manager to inform him that she was leaving.

She found him at the coffee machine and spoke politely, "Raghav, I'm planning to leave for the day."

Raghav sipped his coffee, "Sure Tanvi, thank you for all your help. You did a good job. We'll take it from here. See you on Monday or sometime today?" he asked with a sly smile.

She smirked, "Monday Raghav. I need my beauty sleep. Thanks to you too."

He acknowledged her with a nod. She turned around to go but sensed something was wrong with her. Her audio functions stopped and there was a buzz in her ears. Her vision turned black and white then she lost her consciousness and dropped with a thud on the floor.

Raghav was alarmed. He tried to grab her before she hit the floor but couldn't. He immediately called for help and they took her to the nearby hospital.

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"It is a singular case. I've seen few students and some professionals experimenting with Modafinil to fight sleepiness and sleep disorders.It's not a prescription drug in India. I personally do not prescribe it to perfectly healthy people who want to stay awake for multiple reasons. Fainting,jitters, anxiety are some of the side effects that occur only with prolonged use."

The psychiatrist looked through her notes and continued, "First things first, Tanvi drank heavily on Friday night and went to sleep. But within three hours she had to wake up and go to office. Around 2 am she took her first modafinil pill. She took it after eating something.

"She kept herself hydrated throughout the day. That's a positive there. The entire day she hardly ate anything, well that's a side effect of the pill. Once the effect wears off, we'll feel hungry, tired and sleepy. Around 4 pm she ate food. Tanvi took the second pill after she took a nap post her meals. She did not allow her body to regulate and relax on its own. She should have rested more before she took the other pill. She took too much of coffee post her second pill that added to her alertness."

She closed her notes and continued, "Well, from all this and after talking to her colleagues, I can only say she did not faint because of the pill. Nobody faints after just one use of these pills. It's relatively a safer drug than illegal drug stimulants. But not prescribed to healthy individuals."

She paused and explained academically, "When someone drinks, their immune system becomes weak and their body is sedated. Modafinil is more a stimulant. So, when the body actually needed to rest for the liver to flush out all the alcohol she had stimulated it. Can you see what happened? Instead of resting after the effects wearied off her first pill, she took one more pill and stimulated the body again. Then she went without food the whole evening and through the night.Going without food was also a reason for her collapse. This is bad judgment about a substance she was not aware off. More like substance abuse."

She took a deep breath and released it slowly. She looked into his eyes and added gravely, "We need to wait till she wakes up. You can take her home after that. We are keeping tabs on her BP levels. Her blood sugars are normal so we are good there. But she has very high levels of alcohol in her bloodstream and urine samples. She needs professional counseling for her alcohol problem. I consult here or you can visit me at my personal clinic at this place. I'm yet to talk to her to know if its addiction. Anyways, that's up to you. She could be a high-functioning alcoholic but she might need professional help."

Abhi listened to her attentively and took her card. He came out of the consultation room and sat outside Tanvi's room. She was shifted from ER to a special room just a few minutes earlier.

Abhi received a call around 4 am from Tanvi's father. He sounded distraught and told him Tanvi blacked out in office. Abhi instantly came awake and rushed to the hospital.

When he saw her in the emergency room lying unconscious almost like a corpse, his universe came to a halt for an instant. He recovered and took over from her colleagues. He spoke to her Senior Manager too. He learnt that she worked for 24 hours at a stretch and with no proper food.

He was all about pushing the limits. He wouldn't have sustained on a board of directors filled with old cronies if he did not prove his mettle all the time. Arjun did smart work and he was a natural heir to all that. The board would've accepted him as such. They all felt Abhi was charity case when Mr Prasad invited him to the board blinded by his love for his lost son.

Abhi was wealthy by his own means and had a much bigger empire to take over from his mother but he tolerated their silent barbs for Mr Prasad's sake. He had high endurance limits but his life was disciplined.

He never took spirits even if he had to just stuck with one glass of drink. He shook his head at her stupidity for putting her health at risk just for visibility. He kept Mr Rao posted of her progress. He, somehow, stalled her parents from coming to Bangalore on the next flight. Now it was not necessary for them to be here. But it was their choice.

What had she been thinking? He was sure to have a nervous breakdown with her behaviour. He wanted to take her to task and share his piece of mind. He calmed himself and heard voices from her room. He was curious to see who was with her and slowly went in.

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