House of Cards: A Novel Read online

  Mridula kept quiet. She was upset because Sanjay had not asked her for her opinion and had made a unilateral decision. For the first time, she felt uneasy in her marriage. It was not wise to bring a person like Shankar into their nursing home and expose their finances to a relative. Moreover, if they started staying in the same city, then it may lead to misunderstandings later. Mridula retreated to the kitchen and started cooking so that she did not have to think about it any more.

  18

  Money Brings Changes

  Fourteen years had passed since the nursing home had been started and Sushruta Nursing Home had now become one of the leading maternity homes in Bangalore. Many people had written Sanjay off before but now, he had become a role model. He had progressed in leaps and bounds, amassed a fortune and made a name for himself.

  Anita and Alex had shifted to a home in Palace Orchards in Bangalore; Julie was in her final year in high school. Maggie had got married to Joseph who had started working as Anita’s driver. Anita and Alex had given them separate quarters.

  Mridula and Sanjay had sold their Vijayanagar house and were now living in a beautiful four-bedroom house in JP Nagar. They had three cars. Mridula continued to work and had become principal of a high school in Jayanagar. Sishir was now in medical college and had a large circle of friends. He was intelligent but stubborn, and pampered by his father. Their driver, Nanja, and his wife, Chikki, worked for them. Mridula helped them to buy a house in Puttenahalli. The cook, Sakamma, came every day at 6 a.m. and left at 10 p.m. The three servants were honest. Mridula did not want to keep a stay-at-home servant.

  Sometimes, Sanjay made fun of her job. He said, ‘Mridula, why do you still work? I spend more money than you earn on our cars, cook and driver. If you stay at home, it’ll be cheaper for us!’

  ‘That’s impossible. You were able to start the hospital because of my salary. My pay has helped me in our difficult times and I enjoy and respect my work. I’ll never leave it. It is oxygen to me and not just a source of income.’

  Things had changed a lot in Aladahalli too. Rukuma Bai and Champakka were no longer alive. Krishna stayed in Hubli with his family and Bheemanna was left all alone. Krishna visited his father twice a month but Bheemanna was not doing well health-wise. The yield from the fields was not good either because there was nobody to till them. The villagers did not want to work there and preferred to go to work in the garment factory on the outskirts of Hubli, even if they got paid less. They looked down upon working in the fields.

  Champakka had willed all her property to Chandrakant Jog. When she died, Chandrakant came to Aladahalli, but he was not interested in the land because he was settled in Bombay. As he was leaving, he told Bheemanna, ‘Sell this property to good people. I don’t mind if they buy it at lesser than market value. I want to use that money to renovate the Hanuman temple.’

  There were many contenders for the house because of its good location. The rich Basavantappa Patil wanted to buy the house but Bheemanna rejected the offer on moral grounds. He thought, ‘Basavantappa and his friends will use the house for playing cards and other such activities. I don’t want Champakka’s house to be used like that. Her soul won’t rest in peace.’

  One day, Sanjay had gone for a minister’s daughter’s wedding. As he was about to make his exit, he ran into his ex-colleague Dr Lata. She seemed happy to meet him and wanted to talk to him. She said, ‘Sanjay, how are you? Do you remember me? We’re seeing each other after at least ten years.’

  ‘I’m fine.’ Sanjay did not want to talk about the past and fell silent.

  ‘Sanjay, I can’t believe the way you’ve grown. Just the other day, I was attending a seminar where you were presenting a paper. Your presentation was absolutely fascinating. I wanted to congratulate you but there were so many people around you that I didn’t get a chance.’

  Sanjay sponsored and attended medical seminars since they helped advertise the nursing home and him. He usually attended them for just ten minutes—either at the beginning or at the end. His talks were short and powerful. Hence, he was quite popular. Sanjay tried to change the subject: ‘You must have become a professor by now.’

  ‘No, not yet. It isn’t easy in government service. You’re lucky. Your name is famous in Bangalore. I’ve heard that people wait for as long as two months to get an appointment with you.’

  Sanjay knew that she was exaggerating. He said, ‘Maybe, I don’t know. My three secretaries manage my appointments.’

  Sanjay remembered how Lata had used her father’s connections at work and asked her, ‘Tell me, is your father still working?’

  She said sadly, ‘Oh, he retired a long time ago.’

  ‘Where all have you been transferred to till now?’

  ‘Once to Mysore and once to Hubli.’

  ‘You must not have liked leaving Bangalore.’

  ‘I had no choice in the matter. I would have had to quit this easy job if I didn’t go. But you don’t have transfer troubles like us.’

  ‘Yes, that’s because I didn’t have a godfather to protect me. I had to stand on my own. That’s how I learnt to take calculated risks and become successful. I have to go now. See you, Lata.’

  Lata wanted to talk some more but Sanjay turned around and left. It was the same Lata who had played games with him during his transfer and Sushma’s delivery. Lata used to make fun of his honesty and sincerity. Now, she wanted to talk to him, but he was not interested. He had seen and learnt many things in the last fourteen years on the path to success.

  A senior gynaecologist in Bangalore, Dr Rao, owned a big nursing home in an expensive neighbourhood but his son chose to work for a software company. So Dr Rao decided to sell his practice. By then, Sanjay and Alex had made enough money to buy the nursing home.

  Sanjay had no hesitation in taking a loan. He had taken several loans in the past, and expanded the nursing home and acquired the most modern equipment. Repeated success had made him confident. Though Alex was Sanjay’s partner, he rarely came to the nursing home. He was busy establishing new pharmaceutical companies on the outskirts of Bangalore. But the two of them split the profits and did not have any problems. Their friendship remained the same.

  Shankar lived in Malleshwaram now. Sanjay monitored him closely, so Shankar worked diligently at the nursing home. His son, Anil, had taken many years to complete his bachelor’s degree in commerce and was now working in Alex’s pharmaceutical company’s sales department.

  Sanjay had learnt a lot—things that one can never learn from any management book. When he was a child, he had been fascinated by his father’s words but with experience, he had developed his own philosophy about running a business. This philosophy contradicted everything that he had learnt from his father. People who came to private hospitals were different from those who visited government hospitals. Affordability was a major factor. Every patient had their weakness and Sanjay knew that their weakness was his strength.

  When Sanjay and Alex had first started the nursing home, Sanjay’s initial consultation fee was fifty rupees. One day, he overheard a conversation between two patients. One of them said, ‘SRK Nursing Home is very good. Their doctor is excellent.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘The doctor there charges one hundred and fifty rupees per consultation and you have to wait for appointments. The doctor is always busy. He spends just fifteen minutes with every patient.’

  Sanjay figured that if he took more money and said that there was a long waiting time to get an appointment, people would think that he was a better doctor. The very next day, Sanjay increased his fee to a hundred rupees—and just as he’d expected, the number of his patients also increased at once. He decided to revise his consultation fees every year. But he spent more time with his patients and that made him popular.

  When Sanjay was teaching at the government medical college, he used to tell his students, ‘A normal delivery is the best. That’s how nature wants it. We should do a C-section only if the