Papa's little girl.. !!

That day at around 11 pm I went to a ward at GMCH to manage the complaints faced by a patient. As I was returning, one cute scene touched me to the core of my heart...

It was a male ward.. At that time all other patients were sleeping... In the next bed of the patient whom I examined, there was a male patient of around 40 yrs... With him on the same bed, there was a little girl, probably his daughter... It was a chilly night... All other patients were comfortably using blankets... But in this particular case, the scene was different. That man used a blanket to cover his daughter. The little one was confidently sleeping and her father was lovingly holding her even in his sleep... Evidently, for him, his daughter's comfort was his first priority... I mean, you would have surely get confused who the actual patient was... Before leaving the ward, I checked his records... He was awaiting some elective surgery...

You know, this little encounter with the primary parent-child bonding made me realise once again the huge sacrifices made by our parents in bringing us up... And in return what are their expectations? They expect nothing, but our comfort and happiness..!!

Unwelcome attitude !!!

That day my mother called me,

"Baba, yesterday Pranab (name changed) came here... I prepared bread sabji for him... It was really pleasant to notice that he ate all the items so nicely... But at the end I felt like crying... "

She paused for a moment... Probably her emotions overpowered her speech...

"What happened maa?"

She replied,

"He said... 'Baidew, basan khini bhaldore dhui thobo dei... Moi bemari manuh je...'!!!"
[Madam, please wash the utensils properly... You know... I am a diseased person !!"]

I felt really sorry for Pranab da... He is suffering from some chronic diseases for which he is undergoing treatment for last 1 year... Till few days back he was actually bed ridden... His disease is not at all contagious, I mean non infectious... Yet from his expression it became apparent that someone's intentional/unintentional activity had hurt him deeply...

As we all know, there are always some individuals who doesn't care about other's feelings and gossip about anything anywhere... If you are that much concerned about getting a disease from a patient, its well and good... Not an offence at all... Take the precautions... But at least try to act human !!! A chronic patient already suffers a lot... No need to increase it even more by your unwelcome attitude and gesture...

Hope soon we all will realize to behave as sensible as possible to an ill person... Anyway, nobody has the right to make a patient feel to be the burden of the family or the society !!!

Responsibility !!!

Today I met a boy of around 20 yrs at the blood bank.. He came to donate blood for somebody... As part of the routine procedure, when I asked him about his relationship with the patient, he paused for sometime and then replied with hesitation,

"He is my father sir..."

I was somewhat confused.. To be true, I didn't see any reason to be hesitant to divulge the fact that the young boy was indeed donating for his own father... Yet suppressing my confusion, I asked him with a smiling face,

"You are donating blood for the first time... Are you tensed?"

He replied,

"Not at all sir... Actually my father left me and my mother when I was too young to understand anything and married somebody else... He was not at all concerned about the emotional and financial turmoil we two went through... Even after having a 'living' father, my mother was forced to bring me up single handedly... Sorry sir, I can't help, but quite often I hesitate to call him my father... He shouldn't have done this to me... Now he is ill and his other kids are too young... So it's my responsibility to take care of him... Whatever happened is just the past... After all he is my father!!!"

I felt sorry for the boy to hear all these... But then after a moment I was delighted to observe the maturity shown by that boy...

You know... That father totally failed to set an example to carry on responsibility, but his son succeeded...

I hope, his father gets well soon and realize what he missed in all these years and more importantly, hope he also learns what actually responsibility stands for!!

3 cute interactions...

1) Privileged:

                              That day in the evening, I had just finished examining one patient at my private clinic. After he left, I was arranging my instruments while somebody forcefully opened the door without a knock. I looked at the direction... There she was.. The 3 yrs old daughter of one of our employee, with the cutest smile and an adorable expression on her face...

She said, "Tumak manat nerakhilu!!"     {"I didn't remember you !!"}

Though she expressed in the negative, it implied that she actually remembered me... You know, even the kids know it well that their presence and importance make us feel privileged....



2) Education:

                              Day before yesterday in the evening, I was having dinner at a hotel in Guwahati after my chamber when one of my senior colleague called me. Actually his 5yrs old son was having congestion of left eye.. The kid was not having much complaints, but yet he wanted to be sure for which he was willing to consult me...

They reached the hotel itself as their house was nearby... I didn't have any other instrument with me at that moment, so examined his eyes using a  torchlight and advised accordingly...

I was talking to the father and the child said,

"Uncle, apunak eta kotha koune?" {"Uncle, may I say you something?"}

I nodded in the affirmative...

He continued, "Asalate uncle, manuhor sakut torch maribo napaai !!!".   {"Actually uncle, you should never throw light into anyone's eyes !!!"}

You know... It was a great feeling to observe that this little boy had remembered something 'good' taught by his parents (or somebody else)... It was even better to notice that he didn't fail to make his elder learn the same good thing in a polite way... Anyway, education begins at home...

Being an Eye surgeon, I had to use the torchlight at that moment, but I didn't want to confuse him any more... I smiled, lightly pecked his both cheeks and said, "Thank you !!"



3) Achievement :

                              Few months back, my 4yrs old niece Riyamanu said to me, "Doctor dada, janane? Moi nije bathroom jabo para holu !!!"      {"Doctor dada, are you aware? I can go to the bathroom alone!!"}

Even after that day, I have occasionally noticed somebody (including me) helping her using the bathroom... But when she happily expressed her feelings to me, it appeared to be a great achievement for her, which indeed was...

You see, we always run after success to be happy and in the process, we quite often fail to observe the minute "happy" things happening around us, which could actually provide us at least some pleasure...

Most of us probably don't remember when our 'toilet training' started... This is just a single example... But in a broader sense, if we can observe ourselves closely, may be we would feel like even more "achiever" !!

Age and diplomacy!!!

Look at the picture... With my nephew Diptakhya... Observe the contrast between the two, and you will have the same smile that both of us are displaying... :-)

Ok, coming to the point... That day we had a family gathering. One of my brother in law was surfing through the pictures in my handset.. As he was looking at this picture, something clicked my mind. I asked him,

"Dada, wait a minute!! Look, how much fairer I am as compared to Diptakhya... What do you say?"

Though I asked him humorously in a funny way, he took the question seriously... He answered,

"Actually Partha, as a guy, your facial complexion is good enough... Anyway dark colour suits the boys most.."

I just smiled.. I took the handset and asked the same question to one auntie, who was sitting beside me...

She looked at the photograph for quite a sometime and then replied,

"Actually Partha, u see, the complexion of Diptakhya's chest is different from that of his face... And you are behind him in the picture... That may be one reason for the contrast or else, I think, there may be a problem with the flash of the camera..."

My smile increased even more... May be it's true that diplomacy is proportional to one's age...

Then I asked the same question to one niece who is studying in 7th standard. She didn't say a word, just displayed a shy smile... Ok, may be she is in the process of developing diplomacy...

At last I called one niece, studying in 2nd standard, who was playing something nearby..

"Rimli, come here... "

I showed her the photograph and asked her, "Who is fairer?"

You know, without wasting time even for a moment she replied, "Diptakhya." and ran to continue her play...

I mean... No diplomacy at all... :-):-)