aquesttomeet

A Quest to Meet

It was a late November afternoon with warm sunshine and clear skies. Vishal Joglekar had received an envelop from University of California, Los Angeles. What the letter contained was his dream. He had applied to do a summer internship at the UCLA under Dr. Arjun Joshi. It was unlikely that anyone from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay would ask for an internship in a medical university. However, Vishal's special interests in life critical embedded systems and his related project had convinced his guide and the faculty advisors that this Computer Science student genuinely required to visit the Cardio-Vascular facility at UCLA.

Vishal wanted to develop real time software and hardware for pacemaker which would warn the person of any irregularities in the heart's operations. Transmission of wireless signals from within the body and particularly from so close to one of the vital organs was a great challenge. This research would require a facility with test beds of pacemaker fitted rodents at a scale that was difficult to have in India. Vishal had thus applied for a three month internship at UCLA.

Behind this academic urge was a completely different thrust. His guide and the faculty advisors would have suspected this had they known who he had applied to work under. Dr. Arjun Joshi had married Ashwini Phatak--a prominent actress in Bollywood. Vishal was a staunch fan of Ashwini. Of course, Ashwini was much elder to him and Vishal had no intentions to love her or marry her, but was always desirous of meeting her once. Ashwini had settled in the US and was not seen much in India. The only way, Vishal thought, he could meet Ashwini now was through her husband. It was this utmost desire to meet Ashwini that had made him think of an elaborate plan. He was a good student and would be invited to some US university for whatever he applied. But applying to medical school in UCLA was strange and he had to build up a good case.

He worked very hard reading a lot of research journals about the subject he had selected. The anatomy of the heart, functioning of the various nerves, expansion and contraction muscles and the other intricate details of pumping blood were almost the only things he could think of for months. Along with that, he had studied the mechanism of many pacemakers, the problems people faced with them and the problems doctors faced understanding the condition of the heart without opening the chest. All this study was profusely important for his initial letter to UCLA. His idea of what he wanted to do was so clear in the letter that UCLA not only gave him permission to do his internship at their facility, they actually funded it.

The very pretext of meeting Ashwini Phatak was so strong that he could easily push himself to the limits. Not once while he was studying for this new found passion did he actually think of Ashwini. The means were the short term ends. The long term ends were vaguely pushed back in memory. This long term end came rushing back to his memory when he read the letter from UCLA. He knew that the task is not done yet. He shall not arrive at the Cardio-vascular facility and demand Dr. Arjun to arrange a meeting with Ashwini. Such things are just not done. He will have to completely conceal his intentions and create a great image for himself in the eyes of the good doctor. Then, through affection and respect for Vishal, the doctor would call him for a dinner at his home. In India, it is not unlikely to happen. Many discussions do take place at one of the participant's place with dinner prepared by his wife. Men take a lot of pride in the cookery skills their wives possess.

This means three long months of toil at the UCLA. But it meant a lot of things in the near future. It was late November and Vishal would require to buy his tickets, get his VISA stamped and buy a lot of clothes. He did not have a suit and during his stay in US, he would require at least 3 suits, multiple ties and good quality shirts. Along with all this, he had to complete his studies for the spring semester and be proficient in all the details of his research. Time sped like a rabbit and Vishal was astonished at how much can be done in a four month timespan. He had performed fabulously in his semester exams, flopped a course project, done three other projects on good terms, and done all the necessary shopping. He read and reread the journals he had referred and then prepared notes on his observations.

His flight date was close on heels of his exams and he would not get much time to do the packing. His parents had landed in Mumbai and stayed at a relative doing the packing and last minute shopping for their son. They were completely aware of Vishal's reasons for taking up this research. But they were happy for all the effort he was putting in. "After all, some kind of motivation is absolutely necessary", his father used to say. His mother taunted him saying, "My son might arrive with a wife when he returns. Vishal, Ashwini is a good girl but is also happily married. Do not run off with her! Of course I know you won't do such a thing." Vishal consoled his mother saying that he just wanted to meet Ashwini and give her the review of one of her old movies that he had recently written. That was his sole goal.

Finally, Vishal's exams were done with, and he had carefully packed his paper work, bunch of CDs and inspected all the packing that his parents had done. After carefully removing a dozen of eatables from the various pockets of the huge bags, he told his parents that the US was not starved and this food would anyways be thrown in a dustbin at the airport. His mother knew all this and still had packed all the stuff for her boy. They all then left for the airport and bid Vishal goodbye when the time was ripe to do so. Before this, he had to promise that he shall take good care of himself, eat properly, sleep properly, study properly, socialize, make new friends and concentrate on his research work. Vishal had no time to think out how many of these things were mutually exclusive.

During the long flight from Mumbai to Los Angeles Vishal got peaceful time to think about the dozen or so films he had seen which starred Ashwini Pathak. He was proud that he had seen so many of her movies. The possibility that he was clutching now gave him a chill down his spine. It was now possible that he would meet his favorite heroine. It was difficult to think of what he would speak with her. He also had to show his capabilities to Dr. Arjun before all this. It would take a lot of effort. He had not been among doctors ever. He was a computer engineer and not a medical student. Suddenly a terrifying thought passed his mind. Was he correct in what he was doing? He was actually setting up a meeting with his favorite heroine hiding behind her husband's back. His intentions were different from what he had made public. But his intentions were not bad. They were simple and impossible without any put-up at the same time. He could have surely not been able to meet Ashwini had he written to her husband that he wanted to do so. Moreover, he was truly doing the work he had written to the UCLA about. At length, meeting Ashwini was just a motivation to do the pacemaker research. Rather, it was the other way round, but it did not matter whilst both the ends were met.

His reception at the Los Angeles International Airport was simple and professional. One of the Indian interns at the UCLA had come to receive him on the airport and took Vishal from the airport to the UCLA Medical Center where he was shown his workplace at the Department of Surgery. Vishal was thrilled. There was a proper place for everything. His computer console was up and the username and password was written in black ink on a yellow paper and pinned to the board next to the monitor. He unpacked his study material and placed it in the drawers. After carefully locking everything and logging off his terminal, he went to lunch with his Indian guide.

Chatting with him, Vishal understood that Dr. Arjun was very busy all the time. He was neat and meticulous in all that he did. He was friendly once you know him and had great respect for people who knew their areas well. He did not have a prejudice against other professions and in fact that was a reason Vishal could be here. He had made special recommendations since he felt that it is time that other branches of science get more closely involved in medicine. Computers, Dr. Arjun thought, were going to make medication and diagnosis easier in the near future and that was their rightful purpose. Vishal instantly knew how lucky he had been. It was an application sent to the right man at the right time.

For a few days after Vishal had gone to UCLA, he never saw Dr. Arjun. Vishal's work was investigated by an array of other interns, residents and doctors. They all told him the same thing. Dr. Arjun was busy in some surgery or in some meeting. Vishal did not know that he was actually been evaluated by all the associates working with Dr. Arjun before the doctor would waste his time with the young lad. It was a couple of days after Vishal had already started working on his idea that Dr Arjun met him in a laboratory. After exchanging pleasantries, Dr. Arjun fixed an appointment with Vishal at Vishal's workspace and left. Vishal was used to his professors wandering about his desk whenever asked for help. However, he had not thought same would apply in the US too. He had expected Dr. Arjun to ask Vishal to come to his own office rather than the other way round.

Later, Vishal met Dr. Arjun at regular intervals to report his progress. Within a month the basic idea was prepared and the feasibility was studied. The basic novel idea was that the pacemaker would not continuously emit signals thus reducing the danger of electromagnetic exposure. Instead, when an equipment like the ECG machine was trying to measure the heart's electrical activities, the machine can activate a log reader. The pacemaker will then download important information, if any, through electrical signals akin to those recorded by the ECG machine. Modifications would be required in the ECG machine to trigger the pacemaker to start sending the data and also to record the downloaded data. In case of emergency, the pacemaker would use both electrical pulses as well as wireless signals. The wireless signals will be in the cellular mobile spectrum so that a mobile phone nearby will be informed automatically.

The idea was new and daring. It would require much more time than three months of internship to get a prototype done and working. Arjun smiled at Vishal when he mentioned this concern. Arjun said, "Vishal, success in all fields of science are a combination of immense work by many people adding small bits and pieces to our collective knowledge. A particular idea can be thought out by only a single individual, but ideas put together make big leaps. And, that definitely takes time. It is for us to make a bit of progress here and a bit there. Someone else will take up your work maybe in some other part of the world and someone else will probably successfully prototype it. Your initial work will have created solid foundation blocks for these people. It is not for you to worry that you may not be able to complete what you set out with. Your task is to take it to the next stage. During your stay here it should definitely be your intention to take this stage as close to your end goal as possible. But remember, your idea will not be lost. You will publish a couple of papers about your work here and those will motivate others to move ahead with your project. I recommend however, that you spend time on your papers only after going back to India. Here, while you are at it, make the best use of the facilities we have to provide. But, keep a journal about your findings, frustrations, surprises and anything you feel interesting. It will help when you sit down to write your papers."

This might have been the longest monologue Vishal had ever heard from Arjun. Vishal's respect for Arjun as a person increased many fold. In later months, parts of the original idea could be tested. The pacemaker was connected with an additional device that could send electromagnetic waves when triggered. The pacemaker would trigger this device when it observed abnormal activities. It was not possible to test this apparatus with rodents in its current form due to size constraints. An external wireless device could have been created but it would take a lot of time. Close to the end of the internship, few other complex parts were also in mid-progress and would not be completed. Still, Vishal's idea seemed feasible. He made plans about the remaining parts of his project. He decided to focus on whatever real time software requirements that his idea will have. Though parts of his idea were tested, they were not done using real time scheduling. After returning to India, he would have little chance to work with hardware and hence, he would work on the software component alone. Of course, testing software without the actual hardware is very difficult and he will have to ship the code back to the US to test it. But he did not know if it would go that far.

With all this, Vishal was very exhausted from having worked virtually round the clock, sleeping at his workplace most of the nights for last few days. It suddenly occurred to him that his primary motive was not yet satisfied. He wanted to meet Ashwini and he knew he was just half an hour's drive away from her. He hoped Dr. Arjun would invite Vishal for dinner before he left. After all, they had become quite friendly and were increasingly spending more and more time together. Other interns were jealous that Vishal got to see so much of the doctor lately. Vishal was once also invited to a cardiac surgery. Vishal politely refused since he had not seen any surgery earlier and this would be too much for him to bear. He jokingly added, "Let a computer engineer remain a computer engineer." What he really wanted to say was, "How about changing this invitation to one in which you ask me to come with you for dinner at your home?"

Vishal was thinking sadly about his misfortune as to how close he was to meeting Ashwini and would now surely miss this opportunity when his father's words crossed his mind. Indeed, meeting Ashwini was only a motivation that made him take this difficult project and bring it up to this stage. She was a means to attain a completely different end--one which involved academic complexities and not just emotional ones. Meeting her was not the end. This was. Still, he hoped it could be some sort of a side-end or a side-effect of his visit here.

On his last day in the US, he bought a beautiful gift for Dr. Arjun. It was an exquisite piece of smoked glass in the shape of a muscular animal holding his head high, probably in response to the honor he so rightfully deserved. For Ashwini, he printed out the review about her old movie that he had written few months before. He felt that this was the most appropriate thing to do. Even if he could not himself reach Ashwini Phatak, his writing would reach her. And, anyways, he had planned to give it to her if he did meet her in person. Near the end of his last day, Vishal went to Dr. Arjun's cabin and thanked him for the support, guidance and everything Dr. Arjun himself and the department had given him. At this point, Dr. Arjun said, "I wanted to actually call you for dinner at my home sometime, but you were always so dedicatedly busy with your work that I did not feel like disturbing you. We will do that the first thing whenever you come back here." Vishal was spellbound. Of course he had been dedicatedly working on his project, but that was so that the doctor would have a good impression about him and invite him to dinner. But it now was clear that his dedication was actually the reason he could not meet Ashwini. Quickly overcoming this mild hysteria Vishal gave the gift he had bought for Dr. Arjun and also presented the envelope with the printed movie review. He asked the doctor to do a favor and pass on his review of the film to Ashwini. Arjun was surprised that Vishal could produce such a thing, but promised Vishal that he would give it to his wife.

Vishal left for India later that evening. He was completely exhausted and deprived at the same time. He was exhausted because of little sleeping for the past few days and deprived because he had lost the chance to meet his favorite heroine. Though the printed review was some consolation, it was nothing compared to a one to one meeting. A little bit of apprehension also hung in the air as to whether Ashwini or Dr. Arjun will write to him about the review. With all these mixed feelings, when Vishal landed in India, a new much more dominant feeling overtook. The strong desire to meet his parents and to tell them all his experiences over and over again. Indeed he had had a great time in the US. His study was a small breakthrough in the field and his papers that he planned to finish by the next couple of months would make him really famous in the community. He wanted to tell all this to his mom and dad. He spent all the time during the long drive from Mumbai to his home town telling his parents about the various small things about his stay in the US.

After reaching home, Vishal freshened up and checked his email account. A new email from Dr. Arjun read:

Hi Vishal,

This is Ashwini Pathak. Since you may not have my email address, I thought it best to ask Arjun to send you my email. Thanks a lot for the glass showpiece. It has decorated our living room display like nothing else.

We both read the review that you gave to Arjun. He had to view the entire movie once more to believe that all those details you mentioned are, in fact, present in the movie! You have done a fantastic job, Vishal. Kudos to your literary skills! (And I understand that your academic skills are great as well.) I would have liked to meet you. Do visit us if you come to the US anytime later.

Best Wishes,

Ashwini Pathak

P.S. If you write a good script, I will be willing to do the movie.

Home | Blog

Ashutosh Dhekne