Sayi woke up and turned to see her phone. Her eyes widened seeing the time, she jumped off her bed, and rushed inside the washroom. She stood near the mirror, dried her hair with a hair dryer, adjusted her bindi and lastly took he duppatta adjusting it on her shoulders, ran down stairs.
“Rishu…Rishi….Rishika… get up, you have your practical today, Mr.Pawan is very punctual and strict.”
She reached the dining hall, the table was already set. She approached the table and found a note
“Di, I saw you sleeping peacefully after a long time, I didn’t wanted you to wake up, and you know na how strict Mr. Pawan is? So, have the breakfast before you go and don’t over-exhaust yourself. I Love You”
“I love you too chutki” she kept the note aside and took 2 parathas, a little curd, a pickle and an apple.
She then picks up her belongings and closes the door properly, walks to the other side of the street. On walking a few more metres, she stops near a small clinic. She greets the only 3 staff present there and goes straight to her cabin.
A little boy comes accompanied by his mother, he was hiding behind his mother, scared.
“I’m sorry, he is a bit scared of coming to the hospital. If it wasn’t urgent, I wouldn’t even have got him here”
“What happened to him?”
“He has high fever since the past 15 days. I have been giving paracetamol to reduce the fever, but it only works for minimum 6 hours. I’m also giving him multivitamin tablets”
“Okay, firstly, stop giving him paracetamols, too much of it isn’t good for lungs, secondly, what other symptoms can you see? Does he sleep often and is always tired?”
“yes!”
“Loss of appetite? Complains headache?”
“Yes?”
“Did he ever complain of stomach pain?”
“Yes, he was crying holding his stomach yesterday”
“Okay! I get what it is, but, I will write a few tests, you get them done as soon as possible.”
“Will he be alright? What has happened to him?”
“I suspect typhoid, there is nothing to be worried about, you write your contact details and address in the register on reception, I will send someone to take the samples. And you little one, need not to be afraid of me. When you will come again after recovering, I will give you a lot of candies.”
He came in front of her, and held his mother’s hand.
“Will you really give me candies?”
“Yes, but you will have to be a brave boy and get well soon.”
Rishika barges in just then
“Diiiii….you are needed in the hospital, I will handle here” she said panting
“What happened? And why are you panting, sit down first and drink water.”
“What else can happen in this jungle? Two buses collided fell into the moat together and we have a lot of causalities. And why do you even have a phone when you have swore to never pick a call and make me run always? I don’t even need to go to gym thanks to you.”
“What about Mr. Pawan?”
“He sent us off… we have an emergency remember?? He is defi not the kind to continue a class ignoring his duty as a doctor.”
“Okay!! Okay!! Handle here. I’ll go and see”
“Call me if needed, I pick up my phone unlike someone.”
Sayi rushed to the hospital. The whole staff was on feet, the constables were bringing the injured on stretchers every other minute. As far as her eyes could see, there were only people, some were wandering with the pictures of their knowns, some were grieving over the loss of their known, the staff were moving patients and the military were bringing the injured.
An announcement was just heard
“It is a time of crisis, hence, I permit the 2nd year residents to take action on their own, the 1st year residents are requested to assist a senior doctor in the OT. I repeat, the 2nd year residents are allowed to handle the operation without consultation and the 1st year residents are requested to assist the senior doctors.”
“Move” Sayi heard a voice and turned to it’s direction. A figure appeared in front of her eyes, he was wearing a military uniform and was asking everyone to move.
“Samrat bhaiya?” she rubbed her eyes, and it indeed was Samrat, he was carrying a patient on a stretcher.
She held the stretcher “Leave him to me, I will handle from here”
“And you are?”
“I’m a doctor, Dr. Sayi Joshi.”
She rushed the person the vacant operation theatre and started to operate on him.
After 2 hours, she came out of the OT
“The patient? How is he Dr.?”
“He is out of danger, will gain consciousness soon. He has fractured his hip joint, but will recover soon and we have inserted a rod, so, he will get back to his normal routine within a year or so.”
“I assume you haven’t eaten anything, let me guide you to the canteen, I may have to do a few more operations.”
“Sure! After you. By the way, even I have to report back to the base”
“If you were alive, why didn’t you go back to your home since 6 years Samrat bhaiya?”
“How do know me? And how do you know I haven’t been to home since 6 years?”
“I just know. They searched madly for you for 4 years, then lost the hopes and moved on”
“Who are you? Are you spying on me?”
“Nope! How dare I spy on a colonel? I just happen to be the ex-wife of your favorite brother Virat Chavan!”
“Ex-wife? What does that mean? Seems a lot happened since I moved out!”
“It’s a long story, will tell you someday, when we meet again, and in a better situation than this. I’ll be off then”
Sayi stoop up and turned to go.
“Wait…uh..if you don’t mind….”
“Ahhh….so sorry!! Can you please give me your phone number.”
Sayi and Samrat exchange numbers with a promise to meet again soon.
Both rushed back to their directions, to do their duty!