Ray Ban Baba-1

This is one of the short stories I am still writing. Though it is not complete I thought it would be good if I upload it as and when I write it, one of you might actually drop in with some idea !!

When I first came to Pune, I was full of enthusiasm and excitement about all the things I would do there and guess what was the first considerable thing I saw here? , the roof of a semi-private ward at the hospital!. I was diagnosed with typhoid, a disease which catches hold of you when you don’t pay attention to what and where you are eating. Like I always believe, everything happens in this world because the universe conspires to, so now I know who I have to blame for my condition.

The first thing you would want to know in a semi-private ward is who the other inmates where. Well my semi-private ward had four beds, and only one other bed was occupied. At the first night (I was rushed to the hospital at mid night) I was in no condition to notice anything about this place. All I remember about the night was a few conversations between the nurses which were in some alien language and so I did not care, all I did was sleep.

The first thing I saw in the morning was some doctor reading my medical reports. I don’t know when they took the blood out of me but he said that I would need a week long rest in the hospital. He specified on the word hospital (that’s where he gets his bread and butter; he is bound to emphasize on the word). So my so called journey towards a celebration called life did not start in a very nice manner (that’s what I thought at that time) but I have to be optimistic about it. I mean this is the city which is going to give me my career.

“Mr. Sameer, is there somebody with you who could get your medicines?” a nurse asked interrupting my thoughts

“No, I am on my own. If you could send somebody to get my medicines .I will pay for it”

“O.K”

The nurse walked away.  A few minutes later, a young kid walked in with a plastic bag in hand

“Saheb, these are your medicines” and he handed over the bill. I stretched towards the drawer near my bed and pulled out my wallet, paid the bill with an extra five bucks the kid charged me for his efforts.

That was followed by a few hours of roof staring till the start of the visiting hours. I knew there was another patient there, so I guess there would be some people coming to meet him, probably that was the only way I would be able to see a non hospital face.

I was right about that; a man of medium height, thick moustache and extremely large belly walked in with his wife and daughter.  My bed was diagonally opposite to the other occupied bed and we were separated by a veil which they usually use in the hospitals. They moved the veil slowly so that they could place the chairs around the bed. The patient in that bed was a very old man. He was very skinny with his skin sagging from every part of his body, his cheeks where sucked in and he did not seem to have teeth.  The hospital robe was too big for him. He barely managed to hold the trouser on his waist.

Like all Indian families, this one had brought a lot of the old man’s favorite food items. Since the old guy was on his last stretch, the family does everything to keep him happy and well their antics put me to sleep.

A small poke woke me up; it was the nurse changing the needles. I rubbed my eyes, trying to see what has changed in the past few minutes; I raised the pillow and put it in between the wall and my back for some support. The old guy was still lying down and his granddaughter was giving her company.

“I have seen bad days, but nothing like this” I told myself. The boredom of lying down in the hospital was putting me to sleep every second minute and well I always felt as if I had slept for hours and when my eyes searched for the clock, it moved by a few minutes only.

The kid who had bought my medicines yesterday walked in, and gave a packet of medicines to the granddaughter. She went through the bill, something upset her and she started gesturing wildly. She thumped the bill in the boy’s palm, and she walked towards my bed agitatedly. I was surprised, I really couldn’t think of what could have happened.


to read the second part clickhere