‘It’s good.’

After a long pause, Madhav began to cautiously describe his rapid mood swings, delusions and insomnia. His appetite had steadily decreased and he was losing weight. He described his rollercoaster emotions, which had begun oscillating even more after he’d started college. He had taken to drinking and smoking, sometimes excessively. Without any warning, he would have periods of intense loneliness and depression, and then sporadic fits of exuberant happiness. He would burst out in rage at people unexpectedly. But he always evaded the topic of his childhood whenever Dr Batra tried to swing the conversation that way.

‘How was the party last night?’ the doctor asked. Madhav squirmed at his question. His parents looked at the doctor, unsure of what their son’s reaction meant.

Madhav started gnashing his teeth, which added to his parents’ wariness.

Then he replied, ‘It was amazing. I enjoyed myself a lot.’

‘I heard you had a tough time at your first placement interview,’ the doctor finally started probing deeper.

‘Hmm.’ Madhav tried to look nonchalant. He interlaced his fingers and started tapping his feet on the floor again.

‘It seems you don’t want to talk about it. Do you feel as if someone is controlling your actions?’

Madhav bit his lip, trying to control his anger. He felt as if the question was an attack. ‘What do you want to know? Be clear!’

‘Did you see anything that scared you? Did you see anyone? Did you hear anyone?’ The questions coiled in the pit of his stomach.

‘Who are you talking about? Whom should I have seen?’ He began to worry that the doctor had somehow found out about his past. ‘I don’t want to speak to you. I want to leave.’ Madhav stood up, abruptly. His father asked him to sit down but he pushed his hand away and tried to walk out of the room.

‘Calm down, Madhav. Please take this medicine,’ said Dr Batra, as he held out a pill to suppress his anxiety. Madhav refused but his parents forced it into his mouth.

Slowly, his body loosened up as the medicine coursed through his veins and he slumped into a chair, half-asleep.

‘I am really scared, doctor,’ his mother pleaded.

‘Mrs Mehra, his case is very different. I think he is suffering from a stress disorder.’

‘What is that?’ Madhav’s mother was hearing this diagnosis for the first time. ‘He was fine and completely normal when he returned to Delhi after that incident ten years ago. In fact, he excelled academically,’ she said. But she somehow knew that he wasn’t normal at all, even back then.

‘This happens sometimes, Mrs Mehra. Patients generally bury themselves in a task or goal and become obsessed with it. Madhav probably suppressed his emotions after the incident, but now it’s starting to return.’

Dr Batra recommended a trial run of antidepressants, which he said would hopefully help control Madhav’s manic symptoms and normalize his sleeping patterns. He assured them that in a few days Madhav would be ready for outpatient therapy.