FICTION • CHARACTERS UNDER QUARANTINE: DR. MINDY LAHIRI // TELEVISION, CULTURE
Mindy Kaling as Dr. Mindy Lahiri; The Mindy Project. Photo: NBC via Vulture.
2020 — There are a few things I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember: getting to the dinner table first, writing stories, and watching an obscene amount of film and television.
In an attempt to get through this pandemic with my sanity and writing skills intact, I thought it might be fun to write about what I imagine some of my favourite characters might be doing under quarantine.
I hope you enjoy reading these little scenes, and if you have a character you’d like me to write about, DM me and if I’ve seen the show or film, I’m game.
2024 Update: During the pandemic, my job at the time actually got busier - so I onlyl had time to write two of these “mini spec scripts”. However, I absolutely loved writing them, so I am going to reboot and rename this series and share it in my substack newsletter; watch this: feel that.
DR. MINDY LAHIRI • THE MINDY PROJECT
INT. OFFICE — NIGHT
Present Day New York City.
Morgan gets off the elevator and enters the office. Dressed in his tracksuit, he’s sweaty and frantic from searching all night for Dr. L. She wasn’t in the apartment, and The American Girl Cafe is only doing curbside pickup. He even checked the bench where Beverly sometimes sleeps in the park. No sign of Dr. L. He’s worried. The lights are off in the reception area, but he can see a thin sliver of light coming from Dr. L’s office. “Dr. L?” he calls out hopefully. As he reaches the door to Mindy’s office, Morgan struggles to open the door as something seems to be blocking it from inside. He gives it a push, but it doesn’t budge. “Don’t worry, Dr. L! I’m coming!”, he shouts. He pushes again and again, and finally, the door gives way.
As he steps inside, Morgan is faced with a scene even he could never be prepared for. His eyes first peer behind the door, where he sees a floor-to-ceiling stack of empty boxed wine. “Dr. L was here,” he thinks to himself, as he crosses his body with one arm and scratches his chin with his opposite hand. He shakes his head vigorously to centre himself. He looks straight ahead and sees Dr. L’s desk — and a jungle of clutter on the floor in front of it. As he steps forward, he hears a crinkle. He looks down and sees a river of candy wrappers covering the carpet. He spots a rogue Lifesaver, picks it up, and pops it in his mouth. (Mmm, watermelon!) -- “Focus, Morgan!” he tells himself forcefully. He makes his way through the debris before him, brushing pizza boxes out of his way to the left, and kicking Fat Steps sneakers out of his way to the right.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees movement coming from underneath the pile of clutter. “Dr. L?” he says quietly, afraid of what might be lurking underneath the ocean of Us Weekly magazines that litters the floor in front of him. As he picks up the issue asking, “Will Brad and Jen get back together?” and moves it aside, a mass of shiny black hair comes into view underneath. He kneels down, gently brushes the hair aside, and sees the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen — a sleeping Mindy Lahiri, with a Twizzler in one hand, and a photo of Pastor Casey in the other. “I knew he was the one,” Morgan snickers to himself. Not wanting to disturb this sleeping angel, he gently blows the hair out of her eyes —- “MORGAN! Don’t blow in my face! Eww!” Mindy shouts sharply and flutters her eyes open. Morgan smiles, places his hands on her shoulders, pulls her towards him, and they embrace. A tear falls slowly from the corner of his eye as he smiles and says, “You’re safe, Dr. L. I’ve got you.” Mindy smiles, closes her eyes, and hugs Morgan back. “Aww, Morgan, I lov”—before she can finish the sentence, Mindy gracefully picks up a Fat Step high-top sneaker, places it underneath her mouth, and throws up just a little bit into the shoe. She places the shoe back down, gently wipes her mouth with her sleeve, and says, “Morgan, you must never speak of this to anyone.”
Instagram post, 2020.