Chapter 9 Dr Simmi Oberoi

• “Good morning interns, I am Doctor Arjun Grewal, head surgeon of Goenka hospital and the chief of interns. For the next one year you all will report to me. I will allot you all your departments and these duties will be in the rotation so that you can decide in which field you want to do your MS or MB in the future, did you all get me?”
• “Yes, sir.....” All interns said in unison.
• “It’s time for roll call, miss Maria please.” Dr. Arjun asked the head matron to take attendance of the interns.
• Head matron Miss Maria came forward with a file and started calling intern’s name alphabetically.
• “Dr. Simmi Oberoi.” Miss Maria called.
• “Present.....”
• A sweet voice jerked all the interns turn to Simmi to get the glimpse of the state topper and a very intelligent doctor of the decade.
• It’s a moment of pride for many doctors that the state topper is one of their co-interns and also the reason of being envy for many interns.
• “Interns disperse to the classroom, will see you there shortly.” Dr. Arjun ordered the interns after roll call and walked out of the hall with Samrat and the team of doctors and matrons.
• When all the interns were moving towards the classroom, Simmi noticed that the same group who were staring at Riya again looked at Riya with a teasing smirk and mumbling something.
• Simmi had a strong feeling that they all are trying to pick up on Riya and she can’t let any group of people bully a single person.
• “What is wrong with these interns?” Simmi asked softly in Riya’s ears. Riya looked in the direction Simmi pointed and felt nausea with the glimpse of that group. It’s quite obvious that she doesn’t like them, still didn’t reveal anything to Simmi and just nodded her head in no.
• Not only Simmi but Pari also understood that something was amiss in the atmosphere, but they can’t do anything until Riya will share the problem with them.
• Trio was moving when a girl from the same intern group blocked their way and looked at Riya with an evil smirk. “Oh ho, so finally, for the first time in life, miss Riya Grewal made some friends.” She commented on Simmi and Pari with disdain.
• Pari was about to retort when Simmi held her hand to stop her from picking a fight to any random person.
• “Hey guys, is she the same introvert, timid Riya who never used to talk to anybody?”
• “No, Mansi, we used to think her dumb, but she is very smart, can’t you see she made state topper intern, her friend?” Another girl came and helped Mansi in bullying Riya.
• “Yes, you are right, Sheila. Now I get it. She knows she can’t survive without the support of family privileges in this hospital, so she finally made Dr. Simmi the most intelligent intern her friend.” Mansi said with disdain.
• “Huh, height of double face.” Sheila added fuel in fire.
• “By the way, Riya, you wasted so much time in making friends, you even have family privileges in Goenka hospital too, isn’t it?” Mansi again said with so much hatred.
• The two girls bullied Riya, but she didn’t say anything in her defense, which was quite a surprise for Simmi and Pari.
• Simmi Oberoi and Pari Singh are smart and bold girls, they know to protect themselves from anyone. Nobody has ever dared to say anything to them because they can fight for themselves and that’s why they never faced any bully in their life.
• Riya just looked at Mansi and Sheila with hurtful expressions and moved from there with teary eyes, but Simmi held her wrist and didn’t let her go anywhere.
• That was enough of Simmi’s tolerance. She can’t see a timid person being bullied by a group of sharp tongue people.
• “Excuse me, miss....., hmmm whoever you are. I think you are quite used to take advantage of your friends and think everyone is like you. Hmm PS, what is the correct word for the people like her?” Simmi said ironically.
• “A thief believes everybody steals.” Pari chirped in with a teasing smirk.
• “Right.......” Simmi bobbed her head, looking at Mansi with her usual naughty smile.
• The bunch of bullies can torment others, but can’t take it when it comes to them. A guy angrily came to Mansi, circled his arm around her shoulder to retort Simmi on behalf of Mansi.
• “Excuse me, miss Simmi Oberoi, just because you are a state topper intern, don’t think so highly of yourself, you wench. I am Manav Mehta and she is my girlfriend. You can’t talk to Manav’s girlfriend like this.”
• “So what if she is your girlfriend, she doesn’t have a license to bully whomever she wants. And Mr. Manav Mehta don’t even try to throw a fit on me for no reason. You all are nothing but a bunch of idiots to me.”
• Simmi dragged the entire group in her taunt who were showing a teasing attitude to Riya since they entered in the hall.
• Not all but Simmi offended a few in that group by her taunt, another guy came forward with attitude, “Excuse me, you just mind........”
• The guy was all set to pick up the fight with Simmi, which she dodged flawlessly.
• “Alright, you are excused, now get out my way.” Simmi cut him out and walked from there, passed by him, without even waiting for Pari and Riya.
• The guy was aggravated by Simmi’s rude behavior and pour it out on Riya.
• “Riya, usually I don’t care what you do in your life, but if that audacious girl is your friend, then ask her to be in her limit.”
• “Oh god Laksh, don’t be so blind, can’t you see it’s Mansi and Manav’s fault, Simmi was only giving them taste of their own medicine. Why don’t you stop your friends, don’t you know me?” Riya was equally exasperated and retort angrily.
• “No, I don’t know you and it’s Lucky, not Laksh, how many times do I need to remind you?”
• If Lucky was gaining temper, then Riya also had enough of this insult, but before she could reply to Lucky, Pari held her wrist and dragged her towards the classroom.
• “Come on, Riya, stop wasting your time and energy on these idiots. Let’s go to the classroom, Simmi had gone long back.”
• Pari and Riya entered in the classroom and found Simmi was sitting alone in the first row, they both walked in and sat beside her.
• “Simmi, relax......” Riya sensed Simmi’s bad mood and said in a baritone.
• “Who were those idiots and what are they talking about, privileges and all?” Simmi shot the first question buzzing in her mind.
• “They were my classmates in medical college, and my dad, Dr. Anand Grewal, is the dean of the college. Because I was an average student throughout the MBBS, these guys assumed that I cleared my exams coz of my father’s help.” For the first time, Riya was opening to anybody because she found both these two girls as warm and caring.
• “The truth is, I don’t want to be a doctor, I like fashion industry and wanted to pursue my career as a fashion designer, that’s why I was never focused on medical as like other students and as a result my marks were consistently low.” Riya released a sigh after sharing her little secret with somebody for the first time.
• “Oh god, then what are you doing in the medical field, if you always wanted to be a designer?” Simmi asked in disbelief.
• Fashion designing and MBBS are the two opposite poles as career. It’s hard for Simmi to believe that somebody wants to be a designer, but that person is pursuing her career as a doctor.
• “Everybody is a doctor in my family and I have a great pressure from my dad and brother who always wanted me to be a doctor like all other elders. I was timid all my life to share my dreams with anybody.” There was sadness in Riya’s voice.
• Simmi and Pari felt bad for her and were also shocked to know that such kind of conservative family still exists in this modern era.
• “And what kind of privileges you will get in Goenka hospital, those idiots were talking?” Simmi asked.
• “Dr. Arjun Grewal is my elder brother; Dr. Isha Grewal is his wife and my sister-in-law, in Goenka hospital.”
• Simmi and Pari looked at each other with Riya’s sad face. Simmi put her hand on her right arm with a kind of support and warmness.
• The trio were sharing a friendly bond when Dr. Arjun walked in.
• “Interns, I am going to allot you all your duties and you all have to report to me every time. So........”
• “Hold on....”
• Arjun’s words were left unspoken when Dr. Samrat entered in the classroom and cut him off.
• He took the file from Arjun and did some changes in the duties of the interns.
• Samrat’s interference already surprised Arjun, but the change he made rendered him shocked.
• “Samrat, this is the first day of first year interns, we never appoint them emergency ward for at least a month and after that also it depends on their eligibility.”
• Arjun tried to stop Samrat from doing anything absurd unknown of his so-called plans.
• “This doctor is very intelligent and deserving to deal with tough jobs, trust me.” Samrat said solemnly, which made Arjun purse his lips.
• The classroom was in mourning silence and everybody was weighing in their hearts that who is going to get appointed emergency award, is it a kind of punishment or a reward??
• “Dr. Simmi, emergency ward.” As soon as Arjun announced, every intern got their breath back.
• Simmi lifts her crouched eyelashes and her gaze matches to Samrat’s sharp gaze.
• There was a kind of challenge in his eyes and a devilish smirk on his lips. However, though Simmi was flabbergasted by her duty, she took the unspoken challenge from Samrat and smiled widely in gratitude for the duty.
• Samrat was disappointed in his heart for not getting the look on Simmi’s face, which he was expecting. He walked out of the classroom with the poker face.