A dentists’ life is usually perceived to be monotonous and dreary, sans excitement. For those who think so, must lend a second thought to this perception of theirs, as Ranjani Iyer Armugam, with her latest work, ‘It’s all about smiles,’ takes us on a journey of her memoirs, which is not only exhilarating but also hilarious, with a pinch of romance.
A dentist by profession, Ranjani has always loved and lived her life with great enthusiasm, and it is this gusto that led her to stack all her memories into words and give the world a sneak peek into the life of a dentist.
Her book is a perfect blend of personal and professional life. It presents humorous glimpses of wacky patients and uproarious situations that dentists get into.
Ranjani unfolds her memoirs through the central character of the story, Aditi Raman. Aditi is a fun-loving and carefree girl, the youngest of her siblings, hence spoilt rotten. She doesn’t want a nerve-racking career of a doctor, lawyer or an engineer as suggested by her father. Instead, she wants to be in a completely different league.
Then bumps in her uncle Mr Subra, a dentist himself, in a posh Mercedes with fables of exotic lands he had travelled and course-corrects the confused and puzzled existence of Aditi, who then makes up her mind to be a dentist.
Her imaginings of a flowery college campus turns out to be delusional as she finds herself in a gloomy, archaic and noisy place.
Here knocks in Indu, her roommate in hostel, who comes to her rescue and spices up her life at college. An enlivening character, Indu is one-in-zillion, who knows all the tricks to squeeze fun out of a boring life.
But the real fun in the story begins after she starts her career, a terrible launch, where she almost goes bald. She witnesses idiocracy being personified on a daily basis during her stint at Dr KS’ polyclinic. She receives patients of all sizes and shapes, in vivid shades of emotions, some funny, some narcissistic, a few, epitome of dramatics and furthermore male chauvinists and feminists and the list goes on. Aditi is sometimes enraged and many a times carried away by the behaviour of her patients.
Amidst all these, in the background of her professional life, there exists a thin air of romance. Her senior from college, Nikhil Rajgopalan, towards whom she has always had a mixed feeling of less love and more hate during college days, once again crash lands into her life. This time for good, Nick has a change of heart and eventually in his attempt to help Aditi achieve her great American dream, falls for her. Aditi too feels the same, and finally when her American dream is about to capitalise, she realises her happiness lies not in the USA, but in Nicks’ arms.
Ranjani has brought out the story so well, her experiences of joyance and hilarity knitted in such a way that it is sure to bring a smile on the readers’ face.