I stood there totally unable to make the right decision. It was
Friday, January 1st 2014.
I wondered why they had setup the O&G department on the first
floor. “What should I choose? “Lift or Stairs”, yes, I know it
seems stupid to be in a dilemma over choosing between the lift
and stairs for going up from the ground floor to the first floor.
Even I would’ve felt the same only if had not gone through a
strange sequel of events just a few hours ago.
The New Year was about 8 hours old when I woke up. “..All I
wanna say is that they don’t really care about us...all I wanna...”
my phone was ringing. “What’s with this stupid ring-tone?”
Mahesh; my roomy asked. “It’s not stupid, it’s one of the best
songs of the legendary M.J”I retorted... “Yeah...whatever, answer
the call” he said. So I hopefully picked up the call only to get
pissed off as Airtel’s computer wished me “Happy new Year” and
teased me for not having a hello tune for the callers. “Who’s
this M.J guy?” Mahesh asked as I hung up the call and started
searching for my toothbrush. Another day and another year were
beginning for me.
The time was about 11:00 AM and I was returning from Mammen’s
shop quenching my thirst with a lime soda. The casualty was
unusually crowded and a few nurses came running from
somewhere and squeezed into the crowded room. Out of curiosity
I edged close and tried to peek in. There was a young man on the
bed and he was all bandaged up. The senior Doctors had come and
that was the cause of all the commotion. “He’s going in for a
cardiac arrest...Quick...Bring it over” the doctor shouted pointing
at the defibrillator. Seeing my coat and all, the patient’s
relatives gave way for me to get in. I could see that the E.C.G
was going down and the end was near unless something was done
2010 and we were posted at Family Planning. I
immediately. The defibrillator didn’t do any good and the heavily
perspiring Doctor turned away and said under his breath “Kicked
the bucket”...I knew that this wasn’t good...I knew this meant
that the patient had died. I froze at that place, I was witnessing
a death in close range for the first time in my life...there was a
deep silence inside the casualty, the relatives were waiting
outside anxiously...”...all I wanna say is that they don’t really care
about us...all I wanna..” my phone blurted out piercing the
awkward silence. The senior Doctor turned towards me in disgust
but he seemed to be stuck as if he was thinking
something...suddenly he turned around, took a syringe out of the
tray and stabbed it into the dead man’s chest...he pushed the
entire contents of the syringe into his chest and looked at the
E.C.G monitor...there was a small spike and then it went flat again.
The graying Doctor turned towards me and said “Sorry boy, it
didn’t work...should’ve done it earlier”. I didn’t know why he said
so to me and I wanted to know why. So I rushed behind him and
without any courtesy, I asked him why he said so... he seemed a
bit perplexed by my question but he said “Son, When Michael
Jackson’s dead body was examined, 3 puncture marks were found
on his chest or precordium. At first they suspected a foul-play
but later his physician cleared the suspicion by explaining that he
had administered 3 dozes of adrenaline to Jackson’s heart in a
desperate attempt to revive him. Your phone’s sound reminded
me of it and so I injected the adrenaline to our man also...but it
was too late”. It felt like my head was all messed up and I slowly
started walking towards the stairs en route to the O&G dept.
I’ve heard that that Doctors were meant to be emotionally
numbed and won’t feel much about a death and it might be due to
my inexperience that I was feeling so much. I was in need of
some time to collect myself so I decided to take the lift. It took
some time for the lift to come down from the third floor. I
entered the lift and punched on the “1” button and the doors
closed slowly. I was alone inside the lift and I leaned against its
steel walls as it ascended slowly. And the doors opened at first
floor and I slowly stepped out of the lift. But strangely the
entire area was deserted. There were nobody around and the
lights were switched on. I could hear a baby crying in one of the
wards but there was nobody else around. I didn’t know if it had
started to rain outside as the windows were dark as if it was
midnight. I looked at my watch; it read “1:35 AM”. I couldn’t
understand what was really going on. Was I sleeping inside the
lift? Everything that happened was a strange nightmare? I kept
asking myself. After some time of roaming around aimlessly and
checking all the clocks, I walked back to the hostel from the
hospital wearing my night clothes. At the hostel, New Year
celebrations were under way. As I neared my room, Arun wished
me a quick “Happy new year” and went on with his call. Joyson
asked me where I’ve been all this time. “er...at the hospital” I
told him... “What were you doing there?” he asked with a puzzled
look on his face as I hit the bed and nodded off instantly.
The New Year was less than 8 hours old when I woke up. I laid
on the bed with my eyes open. About five minutes slithered past,
suddenly my phone’s screen lit up before it started ringing “..All
I wanna say is that they don’t really care about us...all I wanna..”
This time I could see Mahesh turning around with a scowl on
his face and as his lips started to part, I interjected “What’s
with the stupid ring-tone? Isn’t it?”. He was shocked by my
question and he looked at me for sometime before asking “hey...I
was gonna ask the same thing...How did you know?” his train of
questions which followed got drowned in my thoughts. Something
was terribly wrong.
The day slowly inched close to 11:00 AM as I restlessly waited
for Nirmala Ma’m to say “Take a short break and come back”. This
time I didn’t go for the soda, I waited infront of the casualty.
Suddenly an auto pulled in at the portico and two men came
running out of it screaming “bring the stretcher”. The attendors
carried a bleeding man into the casualty and transferred him to
the nearest bed. Some other vehicles came later ferrying the
man’s relatives. The bearded man who brought the injured was
demanding for the senior Doctor in a very harsh tone as the nurse
hung up the phone and said “The Doctor is coming”. Somehow
I got into the casualty as the Doctor rushed in. He looked
at the E.C.G monitor and shouted “He’s going in for a cardiac
arrest...Quick...Bring it over”. He shocked the man three times
with the defibrillator but they were futile. He turned slowly
and started to say “Kicked the..”. “Sir, Adrenaline..” I shouted
before he could finish the sentence. Hearing this, the white-clad
doctor rummaged through the tray with a label; “LIFE SAVING
DRUGS” and gave the bleeding man three dozes of adrenaline
in succession. I didn’t know how the needle avoided the ribs and
went straight into his heart...There was a second’s pause before
his heart fluttered back to life...The E.C.G machine was beeping
and it was like music to ears. “He is stabilizing!!!” the Doctor
exclaimed just before my phone started ringing at the top of its
voice “..All I wanna say is that they don’t really care about us...all
I wanna..”. He was startled by the noise and turned towards me
to bark “Idiot, Get out of here...”. I didn’t know what to feel so I
slowly walked out through the door hearing the doctor swearing
behind me “these morons don’t have any seriousness...think they
are here for a joyride...”. I turned around the corner and reached
near the pharmacy. This was the defining moment...As I said in
the beginning, I was confused. Should I take the stairs or use the
lift? Of course I didn’t want to take any chances...
This time I chose the stairs, reached the first floor and went on
with the same old Family planning...
(Footnote: Near the lift was pasted a paper which read
“USE THE STAIRS AND GIVE YOUR HEART AN EXTRA
LIFT”...Yeah..Sure.. )
-The end-