The phone rang!
"Hi L, this is Lisa calling from Dr. Wun's office to confirm your appointment for 4 pm tomorrow", she said. "4 pm? I'll be there Lisa, thanks for the call", I said. "You bet. See you tomorrow", she said and hung up...
I could feel myself smile even as I put the phone down. Dr. Wun is not only my Dentist but also one of the finest men in the community. The smile plastered on his face forever is not just his advertisement, it's real. I really look forward to the visits to his office and even feel sad that they happen only once in six months...
On the next day, I cut short a meeting with my boss that was scheduled for the 30 minutes prior. "Now, if you'll pardon me, I got to run to a Dentist's appointment, I said at quarter to the hour and was out in a jiffy waiting in the cold for my wife to pick me up (returning from work) and drop me off at Dr. Wun's office...
Lisa was ready for me even as I walked in the door. Once I had hung my coat on the coat rack, she asked me to follow her, but instead of taking me to the examining room, she asked me to step into a small enclosure in the pathway and said, "We're first going to take a few pictures of you before we go on back"...
She draped a heavy armor like thing around my torso and then asked me to turn around and face a swanky, new machine. It was like one of those airport security scanners except it had an adjustable chin-rest. Once she placed my chin right, Lisa asked me to bring my hands forward and hold on to the two handles...
"I'm going to ask you to move in a little closer, bring your body in", she said. As I did that, I suddenly had a familiar feeling. I was in position, ready to Tango, only the music was missing. "Hold tight for just a second", Lisa said as she turned on the machine and sure enough, the music began...
It was not a zesty tango, but a soft, mellifluous tone that matched the movement of the plastic blades that went back and forth around my head, surely scanning my oral cavity from East to West. But it sure felt great! Alas! It was done in a jiffy too and before I knew it, I was following Lisa into the examining room...
As I sat / laid down on the chair, I was beaming like a kid who had just had candy, and just wanting more...
"LLLLLLLL, How are you my friend", came Dr. Wun's voice as he walked into the room flashing his inimitable smile. He stood erect and shook my hands like he does every single time and added, "what a pleasure L, what a pleasure". I just couldn't help myself, but as I noted, I was now smiling from East to West...
He sat himself down on his stool and started looking at the scans on the 26 inch monitor that hung at his eye level. He paused for a second as though he was ruminating something, turned around to me and said, "Now, tell me. Mahatma Gandhi. What religion was he? Was he Hindu or what's the other one, Jain"...
He gets me every time and sure enough he got me again. Not only does he have this uncanny ability to make one feel so at ease with oneself, but simply amazes me with his vast knowledge of things. I don't remember even one visit to his office where he has not talked to me about something Indian or thereabouts...
In the next few minutes, even as he had checked the swanky new scans and seen my past reports, we had talked through MK Gandhi's birth state, why he could have been Hindu or Jain and why Dr. Wun thought that the history books for 4th and 5th grade were not right about Indian or Chinese history...
"Hinduism fascniates me", he said, before he slid his mask over his face and finally started to work on me...
The next few minutes were those of intense focus. Not a word was spoken until he had conducted his procedure of ensuring all my teeth were in order, flossed, cleaned and until he had handed me a cup of water to rinse it out. "That's it, we're all set", he said as he removed his gloves to shake my hand again...
But he was not done yet! In the middle of the hand shake, he paused, held my palm for a second and said, "How are P & T? I forgot to ask". He was referring to my wife and son. And he talked for the next minute about one of my son's classmates whose family was known to him and how highly he thought of my son...
He didn't let me go until he had given me the customary toothbrush in the plastic bag and then he walked me out. This is the point where I usually start feeling, "What just happened? Was I just in heaven?" And then reality hits me. I notice I'm walking out into the lobby and have to put my coat back on to leave...
I spent an additional minute at Lisa's desk trying to set my next appointment, six months away, no sooner and he popped his head out again. "Oh! L, tell P I said Hi", he said. "I will, thank you Doctor", I said. "Pleasure L, pleasure", he repeated before walking down the pathway to his next waiting patient...
I slowly started walking out, pulling open the double doors, absolutely mesmerized and not wanting to leave. Not just this time, but every time I go to his office, he leaves me feeling like this. And not just me, he does just the same to my wife, son and every other person I know who is his patient...
My wife had gone for a meeting that day and I started the slow ten minute walk back home. Even as I crossed US Route 38 to get on to Larchmont Boulevard, my mind travelled to Columbia University in New York. To Prof Michael Feiner's class on Executive Leadership...
He tells a story about 2 famous British prime ministers of 19th century. In his own words, "Of Gladstone, it was said that, after you had dinner with him, you would leave that dinner thinking HE was the smartest, the most interesting, the most important man you had ever met"...
"But after you had dinner with Disraeli, you left that dinner thinking.....YOU were the smartest, YOU were the most interesting, YOU were the most important!!!"
"I should call him Dr. "Disraeli" Wun, I thought, as I stepped on to the sidewalk...
P.S. I think the swanky tango scanner is also part of his grand plan to make his patients feel like Kings...
"Hi L, this is Lisa calling from Dr. Wun's office to confirm your appointment for 4 pm tomorrow", she said. "4 pm? I'll be there Lisa, thanks for the call", I said. "You bet. See you tomorrow", she said and hung up...
I could feel myself smile even as I put the phone down. Dr. Wun is not only my Dentist but also one of the finest men in the community. The smile plastered on his face forever is not just his advertisement, it's real. I really look forward to the visits to his office and even feel sad that they happen only once in six months...
On the next day, I cut short a meeting with my boss that was scheduled for the 30 minutes prior. "Now, if you'll pardon me, I got to run to a Dentist's appointment, I said at quarter to the hour and was out in a jiffy waiting in the cold for my wife to pick me up (returning from work) and drop me off at Dr. Wun's office...
Lisa was ready for me even as I walked in the door. Once I had hung my coat on the coat rack, she asked me to follow her, but instead of taking me to the examining room, she asked me to step into a small enclosure in the pathway and said, "We're first going to take a few pictures of you before we go on back"...
She draped a heavy armor like thing around my torso and then asked me to turn around and face a swanky, new machine. It was like one of those airport security scanners except it had an adjustable chin-rest. Once she placed my chin right, Lisa asked me to bring my hands forward and hold on to the two handles...
"I'm going to ask you to move in a little closer, bring your body in", she said. As I did that, I suddenly had a familiar feeling. I was in position, ready to Tango, only the music was missing. "Hold tight for just a second", Lisa said as she turned on the machine and sure enough, the music began...
It was not a zesty tango, but a soft, mellifluous tone that matched the movement of the plastic blades that went back and forth around my head, surely scanning my oral cavity from East to West. But it sure felt great! Alas! It was done in a jiffy too and before I knew it, I was following Lisa into the examining room...
As I sat / laid down on the chair, I was beaming like a kid who had just had candy, and just wanting more...
"LLLLLLLL, How are you my friend", came Dr. Wun's voice as he walked into the room flashing his inimitable smile. He stood erect and shook my hands like he does every single time and added, "what a pleasure L, what a pleasure". I just couldn't help myself, but as I noted, I was now smiling from East to West...
He sat himself down on his stool and started looking at the scans on the 26 inch monitor that hung at his eye level. He paused for a second as though he was ruminating something, turned around to me and said, "Now, tell me. Mahatma Gandhi. What religion was he? Was he Hindu or what's the other one, Jain"...
He gets me every time and sure enough he got me again. Not only does he have this uncanny ability to make one feel so at ease with oneself, but simply amazes me with his vast knowledge of things. I don't remember even one visit to his office where he has not talked to me about something Indian or thereabouts...
In the next few minutes, even as he had checked the swanky new scans and seen my past reports, we had talked through MK Gandhi's birth state, why he could have been Hindu or Jain and why Dr. Wun thought that the history books for 4th and 5th grade were not right about Indian or Chinese history...
"Hinduism fascniates me", he said, before he slid his mask over his face and finally started to work on me...
The next few minutes were those of intense focus. Not a word was spoken until he had conducted his procedure of ensuring all my teeth were in order, flossed, cleaned and until he had handed me a cup of water to rinse it out. "That's it, we're all set", he said as he removed his gloves to shake my hand again...
But he was not done yet! In the middle of the hand shake, he paused, held my palm for a second and said, "How are P & T? I forgot to ask". He was referring to my wife and son. And he talked for the next minute about one of my son's classmates whose family was known to him and how highly he thought of my son...
He didn't let me go until he had given me the customary toothbrush in the plastic bag and then he walked me out. This is the point where I usually start feeling, "What just happened? Was I just in heaven?" And then reality hits me. I notice I'm walking out into the lobby and have to put my coat back on to leave...
I spent an additional minute at Lisa's desk trying to set my next appointment, six months away, no sooner and he popped his head out again. "Oh! L, tell P I said Hi", he said. "I will, thank you Doctor", I said. "Pleasure L, pleasure", he repeated before walking down the pathway to his next waiting patient...
I slowly started walking out, pulling open the double doors, absolutely mesmerized and not wanting to leave. Not just this time, but every time I go to his office, he leaves me feeling like this. And not just me, he does just the same to my wife, son and every other person I know who is his patient...
My wife had gone for a meeting that day and I started the slow ten minute walk back home. Even as I crossed US Route 38 to get on to Larchmont Boulevard, my mind travelled to Columbia University in New York. To Prof Michael Feiner's class on Executive Leadership...
He tells a story about 2 famous British prime ministers of 19th century. In his own words, "Of Gladstone, it was said that, after you had dinner with him, you would leave that dinner thinking HE was the smartest, the most interesting, the most important man you had ever met"...
"But after you had dinner with Disraeli, you left that dinner thinking.....YOU were the smartest, YOU were the most interesting, YOU were the most important!!!"
"I should call him Dr. "Disraeli" Wun, I thought, as I stepped on to the sidewalk...
P.S. I think the swanky tango scanner is also part of his grand plan to make his patients feel like Kings...
