I didn't know how long I had been asleep but when my mom woke me up it was already dark. She examined my forehead and said ," Son , you must go to the doctor. The fever is high".
I, like many, hated visiting doctor. Actually it wasn't the doctor that I was afraid of but the never ending line in which one has to wait is what pissed me off. It's really very difficult to pass the time at clinics and hospitals..I keep watching the wall clock again and again. By the time your turn comes you realize that you're feeling alright and you don't need to go in. I can't figure out what does the doctor and patients do inside for so long. For some patients it takes even more than 30 min . And when I go in there, the doctor sends me out within 2 minutes. May be this is what Einstein called theory of relativity.
Somehow I hauled to the clinic. There were not much patients and so I felt a little happy presuming I would reach home early. I was wrong.
As usual there were chattering women and few children. The clinic had two rows of benches kept touching the opposite walls. Benches had cushions covered with brown leather There was much space between the benches which became the playground for children. A constant smell of spirit lingered in the room. On the wall, numbers were written in red over the arrow pointing in proposed moving direction of queue. But where in India are people so kind to move along the queue? A person was specially appointed to keep a watch on patients and manage them in order to avoid quarrels and fights. Oh yes you got me right. Even blood is shed here sometimes for your turn. People call him butler. Why? I don't know.
I stepped inside the clinic and asked, "Whose is the last number?" All eye balls rolled towards me. For a moment, I felt like I have committed a crime. People sitting in there, looked at me and then started looking at each other. Butler came to my rescue and pointed," That sister sitting right next to where you are standing." I asked her, " Is your number last?". she nodded signalling yes. Strange, I thought. Why didn't she tell when I asked first?.
I found a seat. Something was weird. There was no other man in the clinic other than me and the butler. All other were either women( none worthy to watch) or children.
Twenty minutes passed but no one came out of doctor's cabin.
I asked butler," Is Doctor in there".
He said, "Yes".
"Then why nobody is going in there?"
"Because there is already someone in"
A teenage boy then came running and pleaded the butler to let him in. His father got a paralytic stroke. The butler stopped him saying " Wait! You can't go in. Let the door open" He meant there is already a patient in. A woman taunted, " This is nice! We are sitting here from so long and now he is here to take the Doctor. Even he must sit in line to take the doctor home. How is trespassing in between the line allowed?." Another women said, " Son, please let me go in and after that you take the doctor. I have work at home. I have to cook, wash clothes,...........(blah blah blah)" The boy was innocent and kind. He didn't know how to react. He was stunned. I too. How could people just not realize the gravity of his problem?
People have grown so selfish.Whether somebody lives or dies, they don't care. But the doctor did. As soon as the door opened, a woman holding a child's hand appeared. Doctor heard the boys plea and left with him. By now few more male patients have arrived. Seeing doctor gone everyone began grumbling getting more delayed. I started feeling a little better.
The woman who came out of cabin was taking medicine from medicine counter. She commanded her 2 year old son not to move.He took it too seriously(might be getting a lot of battering at home).. Hearing her mama's order, he stood still in the middle of the clinic. The child looked up at me awith his round and baeutiful eyes. I smiled.
Seeing another child of similar age, the girl sitting in her mama's lap started clapping and sad "aeee aeeee aeee" I didn't know what she was trying to say but I guess her mother understood. She answered " Haan beta ,Haan beta". Her father was now here. She tried to jump off from her mother's lap but mother tightened her grip so that she wouldn't fall. Father sat next to her. The girl gave a toothless bite on her father's cheeks and father sank in the innocent love of her daughter. She then turned the other way. There was this another stranger with a long beard sitting there. He looked very sick. The girl leaped out of her mother's grip and kissed him too. Her mother pulled her back and scolded her. But where is the child of that age going to understand those words of wisdom? Love is the only language that childhood understands.
Children are a big time pass. They came as saviours to help me kill time. Otherwise I would have got bored.
continued in another blog: https://bit.ly/Sick-By-Heart-Part-2
