(Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. Learn to take a joke; you’ll live longer.)
A dentist in Islamabad made an embarrassing spectacle of himself during the annual Pakistan day parade when he awkwardly fumbled around and failed to behave appropriately after he was seated next to an actual medical doctor during the proceedings.
“Oh God, wait, they’re seating me next to him? Do I say something? Do I call him ‘Dr sb’ and talk about his experience in med school? No that’s way to forward, what’re you thinking Arif!” his train of thought went as he approached his seat at the parade ground.
“Come on man, pull it together. You may be a dentist, but you’re President of Pakistan and you have a job to do” he said giving himself a pep-talk.
“Besides, you’re also technically a doctor” he whispered, for a second entertaining his wildest fantasies to gain a boost of confidence. However, the sliver of happiness he found crashed soon after the military secretary sitting with him in his carriage didn’t quite manage to conceal a laugh at the thought.
The resulting, crippling weight of anxiety and insecurities resulted in the President making a fool of himself in front of the doctor seated to his right.
“Hello sir, Mr, sir, Doctor, sir, Mr-Sir-Doctor Mahathir” he said, struggling to string together a few words. He then went on to quite clearly wipe sweat off his hands by wiping them down on his sherwani.
