If everything goes well !!!

a) That day I was returning from my hometown Morigaon to Guwahati. I was riding my bike and the distance that I had to travel was about 80 kms. Most of my family members don't like me to travel this much distance using a bike, yet sometimes I have to... Ok, coming to the point... As you may assume, its really difficult to receive calls while you are riding a bike and it's time consuming if you just stop the bike everytime you receive a call... Accidents do happen, but I am not that kind of guy to invite accidents by talking to mobile phones while riding a bike myself... Hence before starting my journey, I informed my senior who was on duty at my workplace and whom I was supposed to relieve after I reach..

"Sumita baa, I am about to start... If everything goes well, I'll reach within 2 hrs..."

You know...  After I disconnected the call, it came to my mind, for what this "if everything goes well" actually stands for? I smiled at myself... As I was riding a bike, if I have to reach in time, there should be no rain... Anyway the weather was somewhat cloudy... There shouldn't be any technical or mechanical problem in my bike... I should remain physically and mentally fit for those 2 hours and above all I should not meet any accident!! At the end everything went well and I reached my destination in time...



b) Last year one fine day I incidentally met one of my junior after so many months... He was about to appear for his Final MBBS examinations.. I had a pleasant feeling thinking that one 18 yrs old young boy whom I first met on his very first day in our medical college was about to become a doctor.. But as I expressed my feelings, only a tense smile appeared on his face ...

"Thank you Partha da, but you already know, it'll depend, provided everything goes well !!!"

I smiled back...

Yeah, he was right.. Even if we consider only the academic aspects leaving aside all other factors like his health or family related issues etc, then also he would have to be allowed to appear in all four subjects and then he would have to do well in his exams!!! Anyway everything went well and after around 3 months he became a doctor...



c) It was the month of January, 2013... I went to one uncle's place to invite him to my marriage. For last 1 year he was having some diseases for which he had to hospitalize for a no. of times. He was a too caring person.. He was not from my family, yet he called me "Bacha"!!

"Bacha, it's indeed a great news that you are getting married... If everything goes well, I'll never miss your marriage... Ok, March 4th.. I'll mark the date on my calendar right now!!"

You know, everything didn't go well with that uncle... Just 15 days before my marriage he left us for his heavenly abode... He couldn't attend my marriage!!!

Bleeding Heart!!!

Few days back I met a guy of around 50 years of age who was there to donate blood...During the routine screening procedure I came to know that he had already donated for 24 times..

"I started donating since 1991 after my mother passed away..."

"Okay..."

".........."

He became somewhat emotional... I was waiting for him to continue... He tried to say something, but his words failed to come out of his lips... He paused for a moment and took a deep breath... There was noticeable colour change in his fair face  and unexpectedly all of a sudden he started crying !!!

I was never prepared to face such a situation, at least not at that moment..

"Hey... Please... Please don't cry !!!"

Yes, he tried to suppress his feelings... He focussed at some distant objects through the window panel... After a moment he removed his glasses, took out a handkerchief from his pocket and started to narrate his story in his broken voice while wiping his tears...

"Sorry sir... Actually my father passed away when I was too young... I can't even recall his face... My mother brought me up well despite facing lots of difficulties. In 1991, she met an accident and she was having active bleeding... Her condition became too critical till we could reach the hospital . The treating doctors informed that she might need several units of blood. I myself donated one unit... I approached many of my friends and relatives, but you see, all were having their own excuses... Before I was able to manage any more units, I was delivered the news... She was no more!! "

He cleared his throat and continued...

"After that, I made a promise to myself and thus I am donating... Had somebody come forward at my hours of need, I feel, my mother would have lived longer!!! "

You know... This experience was one of its rarest kind for me. He was the one and only elderly person I had ever met in my entire lifetime who cried for his mother even so many years after her demise...

I placed my hand over his shoulder... He looked at me and tried to smile, but that smile was strong enough to penetrate anyone's core...

Neither I will try to give any medical analysis, justification or reasoning for his labile emotions nor I am going to discuss about his praiseworthy contributions to the society  in the form of blood donation.. Rather I would like to  through the light in another direction... His reaction was a clear outburst of his aching heart, but it made me realize this eternal truth once again that no matter how old you are, no one else can ever take the place of a mother!!!

Heart-to-heart interactions !!!

a) That day I had to go to my rented house at Guwahati during the day time during my duty hours. Somehow I forgot to bring some necessary documents and thus after managing some replacement I went to collect the same. Being a holiday, the kid from my immediate neighbourhood, who studies in 5th standard, was playing alone in their verandah.. I had met him for a few times till then and everytime we had a short interaction. As soon as he came to know of my presence, he wished me...

"Hi uncle, how are you?"

"I am fine Baba.. Thank you.. How are you?"

"I am also fine... How is auntie? Is she still in Moradabad?"

Can you imagine? He has never met his "auntie".. I was not even sure if he knows anything about me. To be true, a few days before my marriage, once his father came to my house to show me some investigation reports and that day only during the casual talk we came to know about each other's families to some extent.. And on that fine day, the little kid courageously enquired me about the well being of my wife and his "unknown auntie"... It was for sure that he had learnt all these informations from his father, but when a little child of his age knows to show this much concern, inevitably he becomes close to my heart and this is one aspect of education starting at home and school that we should talk and learn about !!!

b) Another day one morning I was coming from my home to the bus stoppage at Morigaon. I was about to return to Guwahati... I catched one tempo (one kind of medium sized vehicle used for public transport)... The route is of 2.3 kms and they charge Rs. 5/- for the ride. One little girl of around 10-11 yrs of age, dressed in her school uniform was sitting next to me. After sometime I took a 5 rupees coin out of my pocket and called the conductor, but the girl said to me,

"Uncle, please give it to me..."

I couldn't understand anything, but the way she forwarded her palm towards me, I just handed over the coin to her...

She then said to the conductor, "Dada, I've kept this coin from this uncle."

Only then it came to my mind.. The conductor had to return her 5 rupees and thus the calculation was over....

She then looked at me with one of those cutest smiles and said,

"Thank you uncle..."

I smiled back...

You know, such a politeness from such a young child is too precious to perceive... In other words the beautiful smile of this unknown child simply made my day !!!

Death: an inevitable unbearable art!!!

[[##(Confession: I am not sure whether I should update this or not... It's my humble tribute to one of my patient cum friend.. I know, after going through this, you would surely feel sympathy towards the child that I am going to mention about... But pityness would be an entirely different issue and it would be against the interest of the child.. Hence Unlike my previous posts, some of the facts are modified in this update to maintain privacy. But the incidents are presented as they happened in reality. And for your information, she is now doing fine under the warm guardianship of some near relatives.)##]]

Few months back, one evening I was at my hometown Morigaon when one of my close friends (a doctor) called me,

"Partha, sorry to convey you a message, but you know, that kid's father expired.. As you are so close to them, I thought you should be informed.."

It didn't take me even a moment to guess whom my friend was referring to... She is a cute little girl, around 9 yrs old... Her mother expired long back... She is a distant relative of my friend and her father was one of my patients... Although there was a huge age difference, somehow her father became a good friend of mine and thus I have met her for several times in last 2 yrs and in the meantime I became her loving doctor uncle... She is too fond of me.. On many occasions they came to my clinic on her insistance just to say me "Hi"... Only 2 days back he was admitted at a hospital and that evening I got that tragic news.. Frankly speaking, I was too sad to hear about the happenings, but I became even more concerned about her future...

Next morning I went to meet the child. She was sitting on a mattress outside her house... There were many persons there at that moment... She didn't notice me at first... She appeared so calm and quiet... Her vacant vision was focussed at something which was unknown to me.. Probably she was thinking about all the good times that she spent with her father... Or  it might also happen that her mind was  totally blank at that moment... Only god knows how much pain a little heart of that age can tolerate!!!

I paused for a moment... I couldn't gather the courage to call her and bring her back to reality.. I went inside, took a seat on a sofa and then became even more confused how to approach the child... At last after sometime I called her,

"Maa..."

The kid who was so calm and quiet till few moments back, who was trying her best to control her emotions, just broke down after seeing me... Tear started flowing her eyes... She said weeping,

"My papa left me uncle !!!"

I wasn't sure how to react... My heart became heavy enough to think about anything else... I lifted her, made her sit  on my lap, touched her cheeks, wiped the tears and said,

"Don't cry Maa, everything will be alright..."

You know, being a physician, I have witnessed several deaths till now.  But this one was totally different for me... To be true, I never had to console a child who just became an orphan from the lovely princess of her father... I know that she would be taken care of properly by her near relatives... But has anybody seen the future??

Somebody said that death is also an art, but I would rather say that its an inevitable unbearable art !!!

Memories: A husband's concern!!!

Year: 2005... I can't remember the date or month... I was doing my internship at that time after passing out my MBBS course... It was my posting in the Dept. of Obstetrics & Gynaecology for 2 months... That day I was having my Labour Room duty... After the delivery of a baby, my senior (a Post Graduate student) asked me to convey the good news to the attendants who were eagerly waiting outside.. It was a normal delivery without any complications and both the mother and the baby were doing well... I went to the door and called the name of the mother. One well dressed guy of around 30 yrs came forward... From the concern that was clearly visible on his face, it could be easily presumed that he was a very near relative... I am not saying that when somebody cares, his/her concern is always displayed on the face everytime.. In my professional and personal life I have met quite a no. of people who can well suppress their feelings and can remain stable even during the worst moments of their lives... But in this particular case, that person's concern was totally visible through his eyes and the face. So without making him to wait any more, I conveyed him the news...

"Congratulations, its a baby boy!!!"

"Thank you sir... Thanks a lot, but how is my wife?"

"Oh... Don't worry... She is fine... Anyway, do you want to see the baby?"

"No, thank you Sir, I would like to see both the mother and the baby together...!!"

I was blessed to witness the real love of a husband... And I informed the same to the wife also...

"Your husband cares for you a lot... He wanted to see you first, not the baby!!"

You know, I feel short of words to describe the shy vivid smile of satisfaction that appeared in the lips of that lady... May be that being an unknown person to both of them, I somehow helped to develop the bond of love between the two even more stronger!!!

Prior to that very incident and even after that, I have conveyed this type of news for countless times till now... Whether its a boy or a girl, most of the times (leaving aside some of the cases of delivery of a baby girl which I have already discussed in one of my previous updates!) I have witnessed the rapid spread of the abruptly appearing smiles of  happiness amongst the family members... But I am sorry to say that except that particular husband, I have never met any other person in my life, not even within my family, who is that much prompt to enquire about the very person for whom they were able to hear the good news... Even if for some moments, everytime there is a time lag to question about the mother's well being... To be true, personally I have never met anyone else who could suppress their feelings to see the newborn baby till the mother is brought out of the labour room...

You see, when a lady gets pregnant, the whole family waits for around 9 months to welcome a new member to the family... So at last when the clock ticks and the wait is over, its quite natural to celebrate that moment and forget about everything else... But actually  it has been never a "good feeling" to see even the husbands to forget about their wives at that very moment.. But nobody is to blame... If you are a husband or anyone who has the experience of waiting outside a labour room even for once, then you would be the right person to question yourself and you will get the proper answer... Who knows, if everything goes well and if one fine day my wife also gets pregnant, even I might fail during that very significant test of my life...

That husband was able to make a memorable deep impression within the core of my heart which I quite often rejoice and it makes me believe that real love actually exists!! His wife didn't have any complications, but even if somehow something untoward happened to his wife, I am sure that he was not that type of guy to deprive the baby of a father's love and care...

I know, I would never be able to recognize that husband even if I meet him someday... Thus by this update, I would like to thank him for setting up an fine example for me and everybody.. Wherever he is, I hope he is having a happy family with his loving wife... May the almighty bless them all !!!