ECHOES BEHIND THE MASKS
(A Mosaic of Stories Etched Into The Heart of A Doctor)
Dr. ZARIN PILAKKADAVATH

This book, ‘Echoes Behind the Masks,’ is a glimpse into that hidden world – a mosaic of stories etched into the heart of a doctor. It’s about the tear quietly held back during a heart breaking prognosis, the joy of seeing a child healed, and the silent joy of witnessing a patient’s recovery.

Through these stories, you’ll discover that doctors, too, are vulnerable to the fragility of life. They carry the weight of others’ pain while balancing their own. This is a narrative of connection, empathy, and humanity – a gentle echo that behind the mask and clinical demeanor, a doctor’s heart holds every patient’s story

Foreword

Echoes Behind the Masks is not just a compilation of clinical encounters. It is a collection of quiet revolutions, deeply profound moments that unfold behind the sterile walls of a hospital. Through the eyes of a compassionate doctor and a loving friend, this book becomes a mirror reflecting the most intimate vulnerabilities of those who come seeking healing – not just of body, but of spirit too.
As we embark on this journey of short stories, we meet an elderly couple learning to navigate their fragile days without the immediate presence of their children, a poignant reminder of the lives we’re all caught up in, the guilt we often carry, and the relationship with our parents we may be unknowingly neglecting. We also walk alongside exhausted new parents, their fears and sleepless nights echoing the silent need for community, reassurance, and the truth that asking for help is an act of strength, not surrender.
We are then led gently into the hushed corners of abusive marriage, the chaotic swirl of teenage years often overshadowed by the pressure to prioritize academic achievements above all else; and into the dark, lonely struggle of a young boy battling drug abuse, who finds, in this doctor, not just a physician, but a listener and an ally. And amidst all this, we’re gifted a rare reminder to pause, to truly breathe, and ask ourselves what matters most in this frenzied rush we call life.
What makes this book extraordinary is the author’s unwavering commitment to see people. Not as cases, not as token numbers, but as stories waiting to be heard. The willingness to go beyond the prescribed duty – whether by learning sign language to connect better with patients with hearing impairments, or walking alongside a patient in their most desperate hours – speaks volumes of a heart that heals through empathy just as much as through medicine.
The stories of Ethan, Carlos and Aanya will stay with you long after the last page. They are soulful, stirring, and profoundly humane, as is this entire work.
To my dear friend, Zarin, Thank You – for reminding us that medicine, at its best, is both a science and a soul-touching art.

Mehnaz Ashfaque,
State President,
WINGS
(Women’s Initiative to Nurture Growth of Society)

Chapter 1

Hope in the Wake of Despair

It was a brisk January morning when I first met Nisha Malhotra. The sun had barely pierced through the high-rise buildings outside my hospital window, casting long slants of light across the floor. Inside, the usual rhythm played on-the rustle of case files, the beep of distant monitors, nurses exchanging quiet updates. But my mind was already with my next patient. Her name had been printed in the morning schedule: “Nisha Malhotra, 39, palpable breast lump.”
It was a clinical entry, just like hundreds I had seen over the years. But something in the neatness of those words always bothered me. They had a way of reducing a storm into a sentence.

(Continue…)