Prisoner of war: Sold for six lakhs

摘要

This story began on 27 December and ended on 1 January. On 27 December, I was attending a continuing medical education (CME) programme at Gurgaon when, around noon, the organizing secretary came up to me and said, 'Can I suggest your name to chair the next session? Our regular chairperson has not reached yet.' I consented and soon landed up on the dais. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw someone familiar walking up to the dais to co-chair the session. During this session, there was to be a guest lecture by a foreign speaker-Japanese, to be precise. Our guest speaker was a famous basic scientist who had done path-breaking research in the molecular biology of subcellular disease process. The conference had been organized by the hospital at which my co-chairperson was now working. I could understand very little of the complex and advanced techniques that our guest speaker was describing, especially since he spoke in a heavily-accented and droning voice. I felt it would be disastrous if the chairperson fell asleep, so, switching off my mike, I leaned towards my co-chairperson and said, 'Hi, BD! Seeing you after a really long time. How are you doing?'