Hurt at Heart... But...

That day I was on my way to my hometown Morigaon. At the last stoppage when I got down from the vehicle, the driver approached me,

"Sir, are you Pratap Hazarika sir's elder son?

"Yes..."

"May I ask you one thing?"

I was confused what he was upto... Yet I nodded in the affirmative...

"Sir, what if somebody skips his medications for diabetes for a few days?"

"Are you the guy?"

"Yes sir..."

Without going into unnecessary details, I explained him briefly and informed that it may be even life threatening and asked him to restart the medications and then to consult his physician at the earliest.... It was also informed well that being a diabetic, by driving a vehicle while skipping his medications, he was even unknowingly playing with ours and many other's lives...

"Actually sir... I had some misunderstanding with my wife a few days back... I became too upset... I felt like nobody cares for me, so why should I care for myself ? But today she has returned... And when she came to know about my medicines, she cried  a lot blaming herself... I felt really sorry for her.. It was actually my mistake... But sir... Now I have the urge to live my life once again... "

Even though I concealed my feelings, I had a feeling of  mixed emotions...

He was definitely hurt at heart... But he was making a blunder... He was intentionally inviting sufferings for himself and the whole family... Hopefully he would not repeat the same... And now that he is happy, I too somehow felt happy for this unknown guy !!!

This guy was lucky enough in the sense that his wife returned within a few days, probably his diabetic status was not that much high and he was able to understand his mistake soon.. But not everybody would be that much lucky... Not everybody gets the scope even to repent !!!

You know... Life is never a smooth ride... During some of those stages, we even have the feelings to opt for some drastic steps... But does that help in any way? No.. Not at all... We may live our lives in our own way as we are pleased, but actually our lives are not only ours... There are so many people whose happiness is directly or indirectly related to our lives... At least we don't have the right to make them suffer... And.... the sooner we understand, the better !!!

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" !!