Tomorrow, in fact today (it`s 12, midnight) is my exam.
Though I pleaded before authorities that I have a family member in hospital, they remained stubborn, “It is you who has to appear for exam, not your grandmother.” As usual, I had no answer to such coldness, and then some people never change! So I request you to see my grandmother in hospital, visiting hours start from 11PM. You can of course do this favor, it is winter, holidays!
If unlike me hospital isn`t a home away from home (for the last five years), from grandfather`s last days to my youngest brother`s wasted holidays, all were spent here. Don`t worry, I can make the journey easy for you: board a ‘Matador’ and tell the conductor (under-14) to drop you at OPD gate, SMHS. Enter, while you are in premises don't stare at that Ambulance, carrying a new patient. Inside the hospital things might turn worse; a kid mourns her mother’s death, a father turns unconscious as his child`s left leg is being amputated…! Why have you gone so still? You can do no good to them; only deepening your own plight. Get back, look carefully, on the floor where a mother laments her son`s gashes. I hope you aren`t again driven away by emotions, at a small distance from this mother are drops of blood (of her son), one after another. These drops will guide you, walk over this blood, you are going in right direction. At the corner of the corridor, the drops will get heavy and weighty; the young man’s wound is getting deeper as his health deteriorates. Ultimately you will reach a door, a four way, when the blood line ends; the young man`s heart has no more blood to pump, he returns back, and reunites with his mother.
Have faith, you will find your destination. On this unknown way, call an unknown person with a simple node and they rush towards you. Ask one of them, “Where is ward 6?” they cannot accompany you, because: father is short of some life saving drugs, brother`s bullet is yet to be removed, mother`s heart still wanders in the past while her mercury is out of the tube. However, they will surely tell you the way, their own greed is involved, Greed- the good job may cure the kin!!
Before moving inside ‘ward 6’ pinch yourself, confirm that you are awake. Yes, you are right, this place is strange like an assemblage of prisoners, bound by pipes, needles, and disease. Thieves, who long time ago had stolen a jewel called ‘life’ and now when their days are nearly over, they are made to pay retribution. In the corner of this room is my grandmother clearing her dues, alive; 5% of Kidneys are working, inhaling oxygen from a cylinder, fed with glucose. Don`t talk to her, she will remove her mask (oxygen) and yet cannot utter a word. Don`t offer her your sympathetic smiles, she won`t react due to her blindness. Don`t even give her your hand to caress, she will notice you as a stranger. There is an unoccupied bed nearby, sit here by the time doctor comes, show him the prescription that says, “Acute renal failure, nephrolithiasis, uremia, renal cell carcinoma.” Now wait till doctor doesn't shock you, “The patient is stable.”
Meanwhile, if you spot someone with books in his hands, wearing spectacles on a tried face, and you realize there is nothing special in him, let me tell you, you just saw me. Now careful listen what I say, “I am done with my exam. Thank you for coming, it`s 3PM. Visiting hours are over, you better run neither policemen will color you red, and who knows you may be bedded on the same vacant bed, adjacent to my grandmother`s.” 

Lastupdate on : Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:00 IST