Mr Lal and the Court Case

October 1994

It's close to Send-Up time and I know I'm neglecting Physiology. Much of this neglect can be credited to Anatomy which is eating up most of my time now. Physiology as a subject is fine, much more interesting than Anatomy, but the book we read, although readable and brilliantly written, is not easy to reproduce in exams. This is Ganong and it is actually a detailed review rather than a core textbook.
That text is called Guyton and is written in simpler language and more like a nice, flowing text. The problem is that this book is easy to read, has a lovely flow and when one is done with a topic, it seems like one knows it all, but it just doesn't stick. It's like a story. You remember the general gist but the specifics disappear fast. And that won't do for exams.

Physio this semester is all about the Cardio, Respiratory and Nervous systems. There's a chapter on reflexes and how we all manage to stay upright in weird situations and what happens to us when our brains are (hypothetically) cut in a few different places. I learn words and terms like "Decerebrate" and at this point in my course, a lot of us feel decerebrate anyway.
I learn that the heart sounds are called "lub dub". And that Cardiac Physiology has a million parameters and graphs which are all supposed to correlate nicely, but don't.
Respiratory Physiology is confusing. I'm having a hard time imagining collapsing lungs and pressures in the chest and then lung expansions....And there are lots of "volumes" which range from "dead space" to forced volumes.....It's endless. The practical part of this had us blowing forcefully into a device which measured how fast and how much we could blow out. My values weren't too hot.
The Physio Dept is cool though. The Head bounces around more than walks and is a really sweet guy. Very nice in exams. Then we have Mrs V who has taken a few classes and although carries a sternish expression, is actually a nice lady. Prof T is slightly radical and has unique teaching ways. He loves to get yoga into his classes somehow.

Now that Spandan is over and exams are staring us in the face, there's not much action happening in the hostels. It's mostly a quick tea in Snappy followed by reading. Dinner is a time to take a break and get back to the books.

One day in Oct-Nov 1994
Our lawyer calls and we are told to be at the court one morning for our hearing. This is the big day. Courtroom, a hand on the Gita, the oath. witness box. I'm loving it already. Rahul, Shom and I will go. Manoj, who was also involved is not called and we are told that he may be called for a later hearing at some point.
The three of us discuss our testimonies and arrive at a consensus. While we know that we're all going to be saying the same thing, it's important to iron out any potential inconsistencies. We've only seen defence lawyers do their stuff on TV and the like and we all agree they can get pretty nasty.
So one morning, all 3 of us dress well (better than the usual college dress) and enter court.

The Court
Well, it's not really a High Court or something. The courtrooms are housed in chambers of a biggish building very near the beach road. I have to say it's mildly disappointing. There's lots of people milling about, some lawyers in black robes, some like us looking a bit lost. We find our lawyer who reassures us there's nothing to worry about. We also spot Mr Lal with who must be his lawyer.
The 3 of us are directed to sit outside one of the courtrooms on a bench and we do that, twiddling thumbs and I know I'm slightly anxious. I assume all of us will be called in together, but that is not the case. I am going first, followed by Rahul and Shom and we will not be allowed to hear each other's testimonies.

I enter. It's not like on TV. It's a room, big enough for about 30 people to sit, with a judge's desk and someone to take notes sitting by the side. I don't see a typewriter. Of course, there are the typical wooden witness stands.
I take one of them. Mr Lal stands in the other directly across and this time, I try my best to make eye contact.
The judge arrives, black robe and all, and we stand. (I was standing anyway since there as no chair in the witness box).
Judge: "Do you agree to tell the truth and only the truth"?
Me: "Yes, Your Honour"

Mr Lal also swears to tell the truth. There is no Gita, no sacred oath. Damn.

Our lawyer starts first. I narrate the incidents of the day and as I say "He BARGED into the room", there is an interruption. The judge (or the secretary) wants to know how to spell BARGED. So, in the middle of an exciting, flowing narrative, I stop and spell B-A-R-G-E-D. And proceed.
Lawyer: "What were you doing in the room at the time?"
Me: "Discussing Medical subjects".

We carry on. I am shown the knife which I identify as the one with the steel blade and the green handle. It's a smooth enough process and I'm quite happy with the whole thing.
Then, it's cross examination time. And it's not quite so smooth. I'll call Mr Lal's lawyer "LL".

LL: "I put it to you that you were drinking alcohol and not discussing medicine"
Me: "No, that is not true"
LL: " I put it to you that you did not see the knife or my client threatening anyone"
Me: "No, that is untrue".

....it went on like this. After a while I got bored of saying "untrue" and said "No, that is a lie". LL was getting a bit fed up with the whole thing and turned to the judge and said, "Your Honour, I'll have to treat this witness as hostile, with your permission". The permission was granted. I was now hostile.
Now, at the time, I thought this was a rather cool thing to be. It was like I was the aggressive, aggrieved man determined to set a wrong right and was being hostile to my opponent, Mr Lal.
Obviously, in legalese, "hostile" is not a nice thing to be, which, because I knew no legalese, is NOT my fault.

I finished, feeling a bit confused but relieved. Lal was expressionless throughout. Rahul and Shom went up after me and pretty much said the same things.
Manoj, we learnt, was going to be called a month later. We said our thank you's to our lawyer, got on our bikes and went back to college feeling like minor celebrities who were not going to pass Univ. exams if major reading was not done "sharp-sharp"

After this:
Reading continues. Life is normal again. Rahul is very panicky and is on the verge of giving up and leaving all to God. So am I and many others. However, I don't think God will come and impart pearls of wisdom in the middle of the exam so it's all up to us. Failing in this set of exams will be a disaster since I will move into the "Additional " Batch and not only will I have to repeat the failed exams in 6 months, but I'll forever be separated from my main batch. That is a big deal.

Shom is into Fast Forward mode. Pages are flying like never before. Each time I venture into his room, there is just silence as he is reading and gossip is not encouraged. Final Year is a whole different ball game, one I hope to play in 3 years time.
He is also short of attendance in Surgery, along with a few others, so they approach the Head and are told to attend Casualty (A&E) for 4-5 hours every day during their study holidays to make up. This seems better than getting stopped due to lack of attendance and this is what the bunch of them plan to do.
Vikrant is not one of this bunch. He's always been the regular, studious type although not a nerd by any means. He keeps reading only Harrison's, the bible of Internal Medicine, and is cocksure that he'll get through any exam. He is aiming for the Gold Medal in Medicine, an award that will be decided by performances in the Send-Ups.

I am simply aiming to pass.....My Send-Ups start really soon