Story no. 2

The Parting Gift


Gifting has been a human nature ever since mankind evolved. Kings gifted their beautiful queens expensive gifts much before even Jesus Christ was born after when we started modern method of calculating date.

It has been 20 centuries of known and documented history. While most of the gifts have been around jewelry, land, clothes or money. There have been other gifts that show how much thinking has gone behind the selection of gift and that sentimental value is sometimes higher than the monetary value of the gift.

Gift brings pleasure and smile to both the giver and receiver.
A parting gift is generally given by some one to ensure that receiver remembers him or her after departing.

Here we will talk about a special parting gift.


Two Friends


Upon returning back from Manila, I sat with Arvind, my best friend and told her about my encounter with Ella Lopez.

He heard and did not say any thing. Very Unlike him.

Let me tell you little more about my friend Arvind.

Arvind and I used to live in adjacent houses. We attended same schools and same class. For some reason, I secretly lived in a perpetual state of competition with him. My mother often spoke about him while teaching me. After every exam, when I came home, there was usual question. “How was your exam” followed by usual answer “Fine”. But on the day of results, the question slightly changed. Upon arrival at home, my mother used to see my report card and the question shot at me, “How much did Arvind get”

40 years back, India was not blessed with so many fast cars, zooming scooties and 100 cc bikes. Arvind and I used to walk to school in our khaki half pants irrespective of weather. The school bags were much lighter then and there were hardly 15 – 17 boys in each section. Yes, I grew up in all boys school and there was hardly any co education school in Jaipur, then a small town of Rajasthan.

In today’s world, A Teacher working in a private school can even be fired trying to discuss the child’s area of development in Parent Teacher Meeting, if the teacher is not diplomatic enough.

During those days, Guru Ji, as we called our teachers knew each one of us by first name and even knew our parents by their respective first names. Those days PTM (Parent Teacher Meeting) meant when Guru Ji visited homes of all students and were offered Tea / sherbet and snacks. Discussion happened about each kid at their residence with whole family around. Grand Pa, Grand Ma, Uncle, Aunt, Father and mother used to gather, whenever Guru ji visited. There was no need for Guru ji to be diplomatic. More Candid the better.

The only difference was that in my case the audience also meant Arvind’s family and vice versa.

I was always reminded that I am being compared with him. There never was a day, when he was compared to me. This never caused any hard feeling against him, but this instilled a perpetual hunger in me to prove myself. This imbibed a spirit of competing with my friends, my peers and more than any thing else myself. In some way, I am thankful to my circumstances otherwise, I might have not come thus far in my career, personal life without that hunger.

Current Indian school education system follows a pattern of 10 + 2 + 3. Ten grades of general education, two grades of main stream education like Science, Arts, Commerce followed by three years of college education. A person then officially can call himself or herself as Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science or commerce. In those days, we had to chose our stream of education in 9th grade and had to study those subjects for three years before entering the college.

Arvind had chosen Science stream with physics, chemistry and Maths as his majors.

I was left with three days to chose my subjects and was not able to make up my mind, as something was missing somewhere in my thought process. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I knew I could not compete with him in those subjects of science and would remain at constant disadvantage. I had to make the decision, that would chart the course of my life.

It was a lazy evening at around 7.00 PM when the sun stopped shining over the desert town of Jaipur and the sand cooled faster than solid earth allowing cool breeze to blow in our courtyard. We had a mango tree in our house beneath which, my grand pa used to relax every evening on his cot (charpoy).

I went and sat by side of my grand pa, my best friend, guide, coach, mentor whatsoever I may call. I explained him my dilemma and he thought for moment and gazed in my eyes. Whenever he gazed in my eyes, I felt like being x-rayed or CT Scanned. I still believe that he had ability to scan thru my mind, like virus scanning software scans the hard disk of your advanced computers. This scanning never made me uncomfortable and even when I look back and assess, my belief is always re confirmed that he always got me right.
After a long gaze, his trade mark smile appeared on his lips revealing his one missing teeth on upper side. I always compared this smile with the green light that turns on at the panel of current days CT Scanners, indicating that scanning is over and results are being printed.

His advise always came in form of short stories. And that’s how he started. “Let my tell you a story my son” I moved closer to him.

“Once upon a time, in a jungle, there was a rabbit and a tortoise.” He paused

I protested , “I know this story grandpa”.

He again smiled and raised his hand indicating me not to interrupt.

“The rabbit was very proud of his ability to run fast and used to challenge every other animal. Challenge, that no one dared accept. During an annual festival, Tortoise announced that he wants to take the challenge.

Rabbit reminded him of the old story and said that this time tortoise should not expect the rabbit to fall asleep. Rabbit told that he intended to finish the race in one stretch leaving no chance for tortoise to catch up.

Tortoise was very calm as all the animals gathered around the two Contestants. Tortoise however put one condition before agreeing to race. His condition was that he would choose the route of the race. Seeing no harm in it, Rabbit agreed to the condition.

The whistle blew and rabbit ran like fire in his feet constantly reminding himself that he will not stop, not rest and for sure will not fall asleep. He followed the path decided by tortoise and was wondering why tortoise agreed to race.

After running for some time thru the winding path taking twists and turns, rabbit came across a steep turn. Immediately after the turn, rabbit found himself 100 meters away from the finish line. The only thing that separated him and the finish line was a deep river flowing from his left to right.

Rabbit had no choice but sit and think, how to cross the river, as neither he could swim, nor was there any other way to cross the river eg. Bridge, boat or any other help. For almost an hour, he impatiently looked around, scratched his head and thought through this over and again. There was no solution in his mind.

That is when, he saw dwindling tortoise slowly coming the same path. Tortoise looked at the rabbit and smiled but said nothing and slipped into the river. Tortoise crossed the river and at his own leisurely pace crossed the finish line while rabbit watched in frustration on the other side of river.

The moral of the story, my son, is if you can’t beat your opponent at his game, re write the rules of the game. Choose the path, that is to your advantage.”

The answer was very clear. I had chosen commerce stream. There was no point trying to beat Arvind at his own game.

We both passed our schools with good marks and for a change the comparison got complicated. It never was eliminated, just that only some one, who knew both science and commerce well could indulge into comparison. My mom and my grand ma were now dependent on my father’s opinion to pass their judgment about comparing me with Arvind.

We both went to different colleges and chose different courses for higher education but the comparison went on. He went on to become a mechanical engineer and I ended up being a software engineer.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Arvind also was aware of this competition but never did a single thing, that would hurt me. That is what you call a true friend.

We started our careers and working life after completing our higher education in different cities and agreed that we would meet every year on Diwali. A tradition, that we followed for first 5 years of our careers. Each year, Arvind’s mother will make my favorite sweets and my mother would do the same for Arvind.

Diwali had gained different significance in our families, as this provided my parents to compare me against Arvind. This also provided me and Arvind an opportunity to catch up on developments in each other’s lives as those days there were hardly any internet, emails or social networking sites. Even long distance calling over phone was considered expensive and waste of money.

The comparison was not restricted to study and career. Arvind was certainly a good sportsman and excelled in many sports. He had stronger physique than me and was a bit taller and fairer in complexion.

Over last few Diwali meetings, I experienced a change. While both of us were going through the transition from being boys to men, we both were not yet married and most of times, his topic of discussion would go towards his relationship with his co workers of opposite gender.

As it would naturally happen, this was the trigger for me to raise my interest in other gender, which by far did not exist inside me. Although, I never was as smart as Arvind and was reasonably confident, that I am not cameo, who can be tall, dark and handsome prince charming on white horse for any beautiful girl. This meant that I had to look for virtues, values and skills in my partner instead of wealth, beauty and physical attraction.

I married to my life partner from a family whose grand ma was friend of my grand ma and the first meeting between me and my wife was set up by these two wise ladies.

After another year of short relationships with very interesting descriptions from Arvind in his letters to me, he also decided to hang up his boots of bachelorhood and decided to marry one of his co workers in his office.

Following Grand Pa’s advise of sticking to the rules of the game in my favor, I continued to avoid sharing path with Arvind for another 5 years. This does not mean, I was not being compared with Arvind any more. The comparison still went on in my family. The only difference was that my wife joined the band wagon with my ma and grand ma.

In this duration, both Arvind and I expanded our respective families. I got blessed with two beautiful kids and Arvind too had a son.

As every thing changes, this situation also changed. Both of us ended up in the same company after having worked for 10 years in different fields and different organizations in different cities.

Both of us ended up working on same project in a multi national company in UK, which was setting up plant in Philippines. While Arvind’s role was to gather the business requirements for setting up plant and machinery, I led the team of integrated circuit designers, who designed and implemented factory automation software embedded into the chips. These chips would run the factory one day.

Arvind and I took adjacent houses on rent and were very happy to be together. While our evenings were spent bitching about our bosses and shaking our heads over in efficient procedures of our company, our wives cooked dinner together and our kids played together.

Two years passed by happily and that is when one day, we were sitting in my balcony on rocking chairs with crystal glasses in our hands filled with Chivas Regal rare scotch, water and lots of ice. Suddenly Arvind got a fit of coughing. The coughing was very hard and didn’t stop for almost 3 – 4 minutes, that is when my eyes went wide open in astonishment, as I saw Arvind spitting blood in the wash basin.

There was sudden silence for few moments as Arvind’s coughing stopped after spitting blood and every one in the room was shell shocked to respond.

Regaining my conscience, I held Arvind with his shoulders and helped him sit down on couch in the room and offered him to take to hospital for a check up. It was third Friday of August month and I took him to one of the biggest hospital of the city.

“There is nothing I can see wrong” Dr. Khurana said while removing his thick glasses and wiping sweat from his forehead, which stretched upto back of his neck, courtesey his male baldness.

“I would suggest you go for an X-Ray of your chest and CT scan of your neck and upper abdomen.” He said while putting back his torch, with which, he was examining the three organs Ear, Nose and Throat.

Dr. Khurana was ENT specialist in the hospital and was the final word in the city on any ailment related to the three parts of our body (Ear, Nose and Throat).

The results were out next day and CT Scan and X-Ray confused Dr. Khurana more than ever. While the coughing persisted, some strange scars started appearing on Arvind’s face.

Dr. Khurana referred us to dermatologist Dr. Dhir, who suggested LFT (Lever Function Test).

Dr. Dhir was around 35 years of age and had a very dull complexion and unhealthy skin as if it was tanned and sun burnt over the years.

We used the Saturday to deposit blood sample and urine sample in the hospital.

By Sunday evening, we could see swelling in Arvind’s legs.

For last 15 years, I have spent my Sunday afternoons enjoying afternoon siesta after sumptuous meal and a strong dose of butter milk. All those years, my wife has ensured that kids do not disturb, the mobile phone is switched off, normal telephone put off the hook and we have even installed a disconnection switch in our door bell to ensure that no one irritates me in this heavenly pleasure.

And it was there, some one knocked the door. My wife opened the door and found Dr. Khurana and Dr. Dhir standing outside our house along with a stranger of their same age and it was obvious that he also was a doctor, perhaps very respected in his field.

While Dr. Khurana has been close enough a friend to know my Sunday afternoon ritual.

My wife, knew that he had valid reason to choose this time and definitely have some thing serious, that could not wait for next few hours.

It took me few minutes of washing the face with cold water to know, which part of universe I belonged to. I came out of my bed room with eyes still red and swollen to greet two gentlemen sitting in our drawing room with as serious faces as they god could have given them.

“What’s the matter doctor” I said without indicating which of the three I was addressing to.

They exchanged glances and nodded their heads to suggest that they had reached the unsaid agreement within themselves.

“We need to share some very serious news with you” Dr. Dhir said as Dr Khurana and another gentleman kept nodding his head silently.

“Is there any thing wrong with Arvind?” I asked.

“Can we talk to you in private” Looking at my wife Dr Dhir asked.

“Dr. you know her, she is my wife?” I quipped back.

The look I received back from Dr. Dhir was enough for me to signal my wife to leave the room, which she did like any other sensible person would do in such situation.

I looked back at Dr. Dhir and cocked my head expressing him to tell me news now that my wife was gone.

“Arvind has Aids !!!” Dr. Khurana spoke for the first time, as Dr. Dhir was still searching for the right words to break the news.

Dr. Khurana is known for his plain mouthing ability.

I sat motionless for a long minute, before I realized need for breathing and gasped for air.

“This can’t be true” I mumbled.

“We have confirmed reports from his blood sample.” Dr. Dhir said.

The responsible head of family in me prompted me to wake up and take charge of situation. So I asked “Have you shared this with Arvind?”

Both doctors shook their heads in negative.

I realized my stupidity, when I remembered that they had requested my wife not to be present before breaking the news. How on earth, could they tell Arvind upfront.

Every profession has some ethics and protocols. These take a very significant roles in delicate professions like of a doctor. Both doctors were being really good in trying to figure out the best way to share the news.

My friends in medical profession may disagree with me upon not protecting Arvind’s privacy and may argue that a patient’s personal and medical history can not and should not be shared with any one without prior written consent of patient himself.

I still think humanity, family and friends can not be measured by yard stick and should not be governed by code of conduct written by cold blooded lawyers.

Following that spirit, both doctors decided to break my 15 year long ritual and came to my house to see, how the situation needs to be handled.

“We need to immediately admit Arvind to hospital” Dr. Khurana said.

“What is the point doctor?” was my instant response.

This is not a usual response, Dr. Khurana would get, had it been any other case or ailment. He also was not prepared for such response. I also felt bad upon such response.

“I am sorry doctor.” I said.

“I do not intend to insult you, but is there any thing you can do in this disease?” I tried justifying my knee jerk reaction upon Dr. Khurana’s suggestion of admitting Arvind to hospital.

Dr. Khurana is a very senior man in his profession and must have seen crazier people than me during his practice. He remained calm and did not respond.

“We can not avoid his death and we can not cure him completely, but we can extend his life to some extent and can subdue his physical pain a little bit.”

For the first time, the third gentleman sitting besides Dr. Khurana and Dr. Dhir spoke.

I am Dr. Gupta and I specialize in HIV related cases.

Why do doctors not have their first names ? for an instant I thought, but the thought evaporated immediately realizing that my childhood friend was staring at death from a very close distance.

It is very difficult to describe the feeling that I was going through at that time. My mind was racing and thinking multiple things at the same time.

“Now a days there are medicines available, that can extend your life and comfort your physical pain.” Dr. Gupta said in his much practiced professional voice.

I could not hide my anger against destiny or god or whatever supreme force you believe in.

“Its like being in a five star hotel called hotel earth. Its easy to say that we will make your stay on this planet as comfortable as we can, and we can extend your stay for few more days than you thought. But ultimately you will have to check out of this hotel earth.”

I continued, “You can reduce the physical pain, but what will happen to the emotional pain, he and his family will go through. The stigma, that his son will carry for rest of his life. Do you have any medicine, that can bring comfort to this pain and stigma?”

Three wise men were silent and sat without responding. Thus giving me time to digest the news.

“I am really sorry doctor.” I realized the futility of my anger knowing that these gentlemen were only messengers and had no contribution to the current situation of Arvind.

“We understand it. Its Okay” Dr. Khurana put his right hand on my left shoulder in consoling way.

Dr. Gupta continued “We know you and Arvind are good friends, and we can understand your agony and pain but we have a duty to perform. We need blood samples of his wife and his son to assess, if any of the two have been infected or not. An early detection can improve chances of longer living if not cure.”

“How on earth, would he have contracted this disease?” I still was not listening to what Dr. Gupta was saying and my mind continued to race in its own direction.

“This is the worst thing you can do, is to add to his emotional stigma and mental pain.” Dr. Gupta warned me.

“What is the point in finding out the source of disease. We all know that this disease does not happen unless your blood or semen comes in contact with virus. We also know that what are possible ways of this contact happening. We know that he is not a drug addict and is wise enough to not have used an infected syringe to inject a drug in his body. We also know that he never got any blood transplant recently. We hope that he has not recently got his body pierced or tattooed, which is another possible innocent cause of infection. This all leaves us with one chance that needs no explanation.” Dr. Gupta helped me think logically.

“But !!!” I cupped my face with both hands with both elbows on my knees like a loser.

“We need blood samples of his wife and his son.” Dr. Gupta reminded me.

“Which means, I need to break this news to his family” I said.

“You have to. Sooner or later, you will have to. Better think about it, and remember that this will be too big a shock for them to handle. Most of people end up hurting and insulting their families and friends thinking they are helping, because they do not know that in shape of sympathy they would utter a few things, which would hurt already wounded patient and his family.” Dr. Gupta said.

“You must attend a counseling session on how to handle these situations. I conduct this session every week on Sunday evening at my residence. Can you please join me today evening?” Dr. Gupta asked.

“Is that the reason, you decided to come to my house on Sunday afternoon, Dr. Khurana?”

Dr. Khurana cleared his throat and said, “Well, we tried calling your mobile and land line, but they were switched off and we did not want to waste any more time on this case. We want you to attend the session with Dr. Gupta at his residence today evening, so that you can take care of Arvind and his family in the right way.”

For the first time, I saw an angel in Dr. Khurana and thanked him for assuming so much authority on me, that he did not mind invading my personal life to save a patient and his family from wrong handling of such sensitive case.

Come Sunday evening, I found myself with two other strangers in Dr. Gupta’s residence, who out of his human concern had decided to sacrifice his Sunday evening every week for the benefit of caretakers of HIV patients.

“You all have a big responsibility.” Dr. Gupta started.

“Understand that patient is facing a dead end of his life’s road, where death stares at him. In most cases, doctors can predict the remaining life expectancy and usage of medicines can make some change in their predictions. But more than that, Patient is burdened with guilt of having committed a mistake, that is going to cost him or her his life.

This situation worsens when the patient has inadvertently infected his spouse also. The burden of guild is immense.

The patient can mistake the sympathy of his friends and family into sarcasm.

The patient can see his whole world collapsing around him.”

Dr. Gupta looked at me “In Arvind’s case, think, he studied for many years to become an engineer, worked for 15 years to buy a house, a car, a loving wife and son. Now all he has is small bank balance, some insurance policy, which might have a clause of rejecting claim in case of Aids and a huge home loan, which he knows he will not repay before he dies.”

“What do we do doctor. How do we handle this situation?”

“ I hope, you are educated enough to know that you will not contract this disease by touching the patient or sharing the food with him.” Dr. Gupta looked at me quizzing to assess my level of awareness.

“I nodded my head in affirmative”

He continued, “Be honest, be positive. Do not assure the patient, that every thing will be okay, he knows it never will be. Do not over express the sympathy.. Remind him that you and his family still love him. Without saying it, express that you are not ashamed of him. Do not ask, how did he contract the disease. Chances are he himself will share this, when he is in right state of mind.

Encourage patient in planning to secure his family’s future, if possible. This will give him less painful departure from his life.

Do not leave the patient alone for long times. Encourage him to take medicine, even if patient argues if there would be any benefit, suggest that relief from pain is the only benefit, which he should not forego, even if his life is short, he deserves it to be comfortable.”

“Hmmm” It started making sense to me.

“would your company bear the medical expenses of Arvind?” Dr. Gupta asked me.

“I haven’t thought about it” I honestly replied.

“Most good companies do, most of medicare insurance policies continue the coverage of expenses in this disease. In case, you face any difficulty, please be aware that a hospital can not deny you treatment, an insurer can not deny settling claim on the pretext of contracting Aids by insured. The financial burden at this time multiplies the agony and you as a care taker need to be aware of your responsibility in such case”

“I do understand sir and thank you for sharing the wonderful knowledge with me” I would have touched his feet in gratitude, if it was another day.

“How much time he has?” I asked Dr. Gupta.

This reminded me of famous dialogue of Rajesh Khanna in “Anand” Movie, in which cancer was portrayed as a killer disease. Thankfully science has found conquered this disease to great extent and we hope that researchers spending their lives in laboratory will leave some good thing for mankind in form of finding cure of Aids too. Till then Prevention is the best cure.

“Not much, If only we had detected it earlier, the chances were he could have lived for many years.” Dr. Gupta said.

“This virus can lay inactive for years together and suddenly multiply itself at unimaginable speed leaving no chance for us to contain its growth or extending the life of patient. It seems that Arvind contacted this a while back and might have not known it himself.” Dr. Gupta said.

I replied “We do not have habit of regular health check up in India. People even do not get their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar checked regularly, how on earth, you think, he would have known it himself and why would he get himself checked for HIV without a reason.”

Dr. Gupta smiled and said, “He would know, when did he went out of his marriage and established physical contact with a stranger. No matter, even if one uses enough protection, one must get oneself checked after such contact.”

“Well at first place, never establish physical contact with a stranger” I said.

Dr. Gupta smiled and said nothing.

The session went on for another half an hour and I reached home enlightened to handle this situation in more competent manner.

I had to do this. I broke the news, collected the blood samples of his wife and son, received the response in few days. This was the worst week of my life.

I had to manage the initial shock in both his and my immediate family. The news sent tremors in our extended families, where his mom, dad, in laws, my parents and grand parents, our near relatives and our whole local acquaintance had different ways to receive the news and respond to it in their own unique ways.

Every time a difficult situation arose, I handled it with help from the knowledge I gained from one session with Dr. Gupta.

The most difficult situation was to handle his five years old son. We thought, all he knew that papa was not well and in hospital. Every one (including Arvind) assured the five year old child that every thing will be okay in few days. There was no answer to his innocent question, “What has happened to papa and in how many days, will he be back home”

I was relieved to know that his wife was not infected as they relied on condoms for birth control rather than a contraceptive pill or any other method. Chances of his son getting infected were very remote and so were results. His son was clean.

I used to sit alone in the toilet for long time crying alone, so that no one would see me in weak state of mind. Rest of the time, I spent sporting a sober smile on my face managing the affairs.

During those two months, there was a time, when we celebrate “Rakhi” festival in India and I made sure that this time, Arvind’s wife ties the sacred thread on my right hand pronouncing me her brother, who will make best efforts to protect his sister in difficult times.

Arvind had held my hand on that day and cried for two hours with his head in my lap.

After that it was easier to work with him.

I had long chats with Arvind alone sitting aside his bed in hospital. I encouraged him to talk his heart out and finally managed to get him to discuss financial plans after his departure. This was long and painful period.

All the while, he kept mentioning to me, “I want to talk about parting gift”

Every time, he mentioned the parting gift, I held his hand and assured him. “Sure, whenever you want”

“When the right time comes, I will talk about it.” He always replied.

I never pushed, probed and quizzed him following Dr. Gupta’s counseling advise.

This phase went on for two months and not once I or any one asked him on how did he contract this disease.

I must thank the company, I work for, as it never showed any resistance in offering all reasonable financial support, which was committed at the time of employment and covered under employment terms and conditions.

All the while his health deteriorated on daily basis.

One day, he asked me that he wanted to meet all his family members at 5.00 PM. I gathered every one outside his room at 4.30 PM and went in his room and told him that every one has arrived.

“I want to talk about the parting gift” He said.

I waited for him to respond. By now, I had known that never respond to a person in distress unless you are fully sure, of what is going on in his mind.

I sat besides him.

Dr. Gupta entered the room at that time and Arvind gestured him to sit down by side.

“Do you remember, Last year, I went to Manila on the project to gather the requirements.” He started.

I nodded my head in affirmative.

“I was sitting in a pub and that is where I saw this lady, who was very beautiful, young and with a very sad look in her eyes. We exchanged glances and smile in next one hour and departed.

Some how, I could not forget that lady and next evening again went to the same pub and found the lady sitting there again.

I started conversation and soon we became friends.
We met every evening for next four days in different pubs. Fourth day the pub was in same hotel, where I was staying.

I invited her to my room which she agreed to.” Arvind stopped to gather his breath

I held my self back from asking any question or interrupting him in any way.

Arvind continued, “Soon I got closer to her and made my first move to embrace her. She was too smart and too good to know my instincts and did not resist, but started participating.”

My mind was racing, I knew that he was confessing and telling me, how did he contract the disease.

But, this was little difficult for me to hold back. All the two months worth of patience in me was coming to an end and I was about to blast at him.

“How could you cheat on your wife. Even if you did so, why the hell, did you have unprotected sex with a stranger.” I almost shouted only to realize later that whole family was sitting outside the room and might overhear the conversation.

In whispering voice, I repeated my question, as Dr. Gupta kept his one hand on my shoulder using his other hand to gesture me reminding of family members sitting outside.

“Do you think, I am stupid?” he said with a very sad smile on his face.

“The moment, I took out condom from my pocket, she suggested, it is not required. I insisted that I will not have unprotected sex with her.

She laughed and said, she would like give me pleasure of oral sex, what you call is blow job and that is something, she can not do with condom.”

Arvind continued with his eyes lost as if imagining the scene and seeing the same visual again far away on horizon.

“I thought for a moment and realized that in this way, I will not be exposed to HIV, even if I am with stranger, as there is no possibility of contacting HIV thru saliva. It only happens with blood or semen coming in contact of infection.” Arvind said.

“Then how did this all happen, and where from you contracted the disease” I asked

“From same lady.” Arvind replied.

Dr. Gupta now intervened. “The only reason, I think it happened to me, is that she possibly had mouth ulcers. Which allowed her blood to contact Arvind’s semen.”

I was sitting there again with my face covered with my both hands and elbows resting on my knees like a loser. Exactly the same way, when I had heard the news from three gentlemen at my house on Sunday afternoon.

“What about the parting gift” I asked

“When the whole thing was over, she slept at my room and next day morning she got up, got dressed and ready to leave. I thanked her for previous night and she gave me the same trademark sad smile and said nothing.” Arvind recalled.

“I went upto the door of my room to see her off.

She took couple of steps in hotel’s gallery and then stopped before I could close the door behind her.

She turned back and smiled at me and thanked me for previous night and said that she is leaving a parting gift as a surprise for me.

I closed the door and searched the room but did not find any and forgot it later.

Now I realize that what parting gift she left for me” Arvind stopped

“What” I asked.

“AIDS !!!” Arvind said

I asked in trembling voice. “What was the name of the lady?”

Arvind replied in his last breath of his life, while the whole family waited outside.

“Ella Lopez”

I shuddered, as Dr. Gupta silently cried.