Guest Column: Down The Memory Lane..

Volume 6 Issue 10 October, 2016

‘He that fights and runs away, may live to fight another day’

It is quite common for all of us who have chosen psychiatry as a specialty, to have unusual and sometimes unpleasant experiences with our patients. One such experience remains fresh till today! I had been into my DPM course for a year. Being posted in adult psychiatry, and that day being our out- patient follow up, I was busy in one of the cubicles evaluating a patient, with his attender. Having seen the patient, I stepped out into the corridor to meet the senior resident. As I was walking towards his room, I heard a loud, harsh voice behind me say ‘where is Lakshmi Pandit?’ I turned around to see a big built man, aged about 50 years or so, and I had never seen him before. He was ill kempt, and his shirt was unbuttoned till almost his waist. The sight of this person, who was obviously a patient, frightened me! I turned and took to my heels, towards the then Child Guidance Clinic Out Patient Department. Dr Shobha was sitting with some Residents and discussing a case. I ran into the room and sat down on a chair with the others. She was
surprised, to say the least, and wanted to know what the matter was. I whispered and told her I was being followed by a patient who was looking for me, and that I had no clue who he was. She asked me to sit quietly, and not move. The patient walked down the corridor and returned. He stepped into the room, and Madam asked him what he wanted. I wanted Lakshmi Pandit, he said. She questioned as to why he was looking for her, and he said ‘she is my wife’. My heart was pounding with fear! Madam told him that she had no idea where I was. With that, he left the room. He obviously had no idea who I was, and had somehow come across my name. I left the OPD after a while and he was nowhere to be seen. I heaved a sigh of relief and headed back to the adult OPD. I spent the rest of the day in constant fear of the patient returning! This was most definitely one of the most frightening experiences I have ever had after entering the discipline of Psychiatry, and this event probably proved the famous quote by Oliver Goldsmith – ‘he that fights and runs away, may live to fight another day’. I always wonder what might have happened had he discovered me that day!