Preeti was just 40 years old, but she walked into the office holding her elder brother for support. Her right leg swerved around the ground with every step, the kind of walk you see in people who have had a stroke. Nonetheless, she sat down comfortably with a surreal smile on her face, rearranging the dupatta of her purple salwar kameez for propriety. Her speech was slow, but purposeful and penetrating, as she insisted on telling her story rather than allowing her brother to do it. 

“I was operated for a brain tumour in 2006,” she started, mentioning the name of her previous doctor and hospital. “They told me it was benign,” showing me the biopsy report of a grade 1 meningioma—a tumour that arises from the outer covering of the brain, the meninges. Not a malignant tumour for sure, I confirmed. “But one year later, it came back,” she continued with a disarming smile. “I had my second surgery in 2007,” she confirmed, the precise date clearly etched in her memory. “For two years I was alright, but it recurred again,” she noted, without any sense of alarm. “This time, my doctor suggested we give it radiation after removing it,” she said. “Even though it is benign, he told me, it seems locally aggressive,” she repeated his exact words. “So, after my third operation, I underwent radiation in 2009,” laying out all the reports in front of me.