Doctor's Dilemma

Dr. Rajendra Datta (popularly known as Raj) was completing his last round of patients for the day and was glancing at his watch. He was looking forward to the evening which he had planned for a few months. These last 3 days had been hectic and he was practically living in the hospital. Dr. Bharat was on vacation and Dr. Shweta had taken ill. There was an epidemic of dengue and the hospital was full of such patients. He had to spend days and nights in the hospital looking after the severe cases with barely having slept the last three days. He was on his final round before he called it a day. He was passing by the OPD when his eyes fell upon an old woman sitting outside the OPD and sobbing silently. His eyes were drawn to her but he did not have the time to look at the case. He completed his rounds and was heading back to the changing room when he was again drawn to this old lady. He did not know why but there was something about her which drew him towards her and he put his hands on her shoulder. There was a touch of melancholy that she exuded which could not escape him.
Her only son was struggling with Dengue and the hospital was turning them away due to shortage of doctors and beds. She was petrified that her son would succumb to the illness that she had recently lost her husband to. It had been Dr. Raj’s constant endeavour to be clinical but his emotional side had always overruled this battle and here once again he was poring through her son’s reports and was immersed in the case. Suddenly Raj remembered that he had a date with Nandini . He was looking forward to this evening for months now. Dr. Rajendra Datta was lost in his thoughts….
Nandini had walked out on him 7 years ago. They were married for 5 years prior to that. Raj’s preoccupation with his work, his research projects left him with little time for her. The differences arising on account of paucity of time with each other kept increasing steadily. Nandini had started her career in an advertising agency and was in the constant company of glamour. Social outings, movies, dinners etc. were the order of her day whereas Raj was completely preoccupied with his profession. This led to a gradual breakdown of the relationship and they slowly drifted apart and the ebullient girl whom Raj had married was reduced to a sad disappointed self. Slowly, being tired of waiting on hope, Nandini quietly walked out of Raj’s life. Raj had always considered marriage to be the destination of their love little realizing that marriage was the beginning of the long journey and it was important to nurture the relationship for it to sustain. Anyways, with career being predominant in his mind, Nandini’s exit was something he took in his stride. Though he was hurt at her decision, he put things behind him and flung headlong into his career. Marriage did work as a catalyst to his professional growth and he was getting busier with thesis work and was busy with work assignments that had accelerated northwards. Besides, he was hand picked by one of the senior doctors to help him with his special project. All of this kept him away from home for 18 hours a day on an average and there was an ennui that was hard to fill. However, that was 7 years ago and he had come a long way in his career. Raj had a stint in London for a couple of years. He returned back as a senior physician to India and bagged a prestigious assignment with Healing & Care hospital, a renowned private hospital in Mumbai. All these years, he had completely lost connection with Nandini and didn’t know her whereabouts till about a couple of years ago when he heard that she was friends with Gautam, one of his friends. She was a senior media professional and had done well for herself in her career too. Raj tried to reached out to her several times and persistently followed her till she agreed to meet him today. The gnawing pain of missing her was permeating through him . It reminded him of the good old days 15 years ago and this time around, he had to use all his charm and chivalry to win her back. She had finally relented and they were to meet again this evening. Raj did not want to leave any stone unturned and had already ordered a bouquet of roses and a bottle of wine (she loved wine) that she so desired . This was a surprise for her.
The old woman’s sobs suddenly brought Raj out of his reverie. He probed through the papers and realized that the case was critical and medication had to be administered immediately and the boy had to be placed under observation. Platelet transfusions may have to be resorted to under extreme conditions. The desperate plea in the old woman’s eyes was unmistakable and Raj could not ignore the sad look on the woman’s face. She was clutching on to this thread of hope. There was skeletal medical staff in the hospital that day and lack of monitoring could aggravate the boy’s condition. Something about the old lady reminded Raj of his mother and he could not wean himself away from her. In the meantime he was getting late for his meeting with Nandini. He had not bothered to look at his messages for the last 3 days for the fear of a refusal from Nandini. Besides, he was also extremely busy in the hospital. He was perturbed, here was a day that he longed for and was waiting for the last few months and he was immobilized at the moment with the impending death of this boy. The boy’s condition was deteriorating, his fever was rising, he was delirious and quick action had to be taken. This was the moment of truth. His duty was beckoning and his personal life was at stake. He quickly instructed the nurse to start administering medication to this young lad. In the meantime, minutes were ticking by, he had removed and put the phone back into his pocket for the fifth time. What was to be done? It was the boy’s life saving decision versus Raj’s life improvement….His professional side beckoned him to save the boys life. Was this not one of the reasons Nandini had walked out on him…and as luck would have it, life was turning a full circle and here again of all the days, he had a professional compulsion that barred him from indulging himself. He was torn between his professional and his personal priorities. He took a decision, picked up his phone once again and sent her a message….
Nandini was pleasantly surprised to hear from Raj (that’s how she addressed him). It had indeed been a long time since she had heard from him. Though she had walked away from him a few years ago, she missed him and was reminiscing the few months that they enjoyed in the initial years of marriage. She had grown in her career and realized how an upward movement in career does not happen easily without the commitment and hard work.. The realization had come a trifle late though. Subsequently she had put all her energies into her career and had progressed upwards in her organization. She had lost touch with him and with social media not so prevalent in the days gone by, she could not trace him. In the meantime she was trying to reconnect with his friends just to get some information about Raj and lo and behold Sameer (who was one of Raj’s friends) was still in touch with Raj. She sought him out and started to quickly fill in the years that she had missed through his friends.. They had met a couple of times at a mutual friend’s party and got talking. She heard about Raj’s foreign stint and also that he was still single. He was back in India and doing well for himself. She had dropped hints to Sameer that she was also single and was ready to connect with Raj once again. Sameer played cupid and Raj sent her a message. While Nandini was excited to begin a relationship with Raj, she was still apprehensive about his time commitment to their personal life. Nandini also realized that she herself was a busy professional and spent late evenings at work, attended media parties and was subsumed by work. That made the two of them, both busy with their professional life, would they have time for each other? She began to understand Raj and his work pressures. She was guilty of her hasty step and in retrospect felt she had been immature. She should have understood the circumstances and the lofty ideals that Raj carried, the compulsions of a medical profession, and the adjustments that were required for a blissful union. She had lost 7 precious years to puerile fantasies
Raj had asked her for a dinner date and she was extremely excited. She had consented to his invite and had not heard back from him. It had been 3 days and there was no message from him. All these years had taught her that a little bit of adjustment is necessary in any relationship and probably if both of them had taken a step ahead life would have taken a different turn. She did not know if Raj was still nursing a wound and a grievance against her. She was hoping that he was equally excited to meet her as she was to meet him.
She willed herself to not check her phone to see if he had replied. It had been about three days now. She hated that she was constantly checking his 'last seen at' status and yes, he had logged in just five minutes ago. Yet she couldn't stop herself. This sinking feeling to find absolutely no communication from him was becoming unbearable, almost torturous.

And then, just as she sat down in her chair, her phone vibrated. With her heart thudding in her ear, she unlocked her phone and stared at the screen. Finally! It was his message.

But when she opened it and read it, she nearly stopped breathing. She didn't know if he was joking or not. What was this ?
“Apologies, I cannot make it this evening! There is a boy on my lap who is dying and waiting to be revived, I need to attend to him, however, we can make this a day of revivals if you can come to the hospital later in the evening and we can go out together from here to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary”
Nandini was ecstatic! He had acknowledged the marriage and was willing to revive it. Was it the lucky or the unlucky 13? Was she willing to wait till midnight to celebrate? Was he willing to repose his faith in their marriage just as the little boy had reposed his faith in Raj. Nandini looked up from her phone only to find a bouquet of flowers with a bottle of wine. There was a small note attached to the bouquet proposing a reunion.
Would Nandini take a step forward to make this happen? The last time she had walked out of his home, he had asked her to come to the hospital, was this his way of asking her to come forward and display commitment? Nandini had not remembered that the next day was their wedding anniversary, Raj had….13 long years and boy, wasn’t this destiny that both of them were single and waiting to get back together. But was she ready for the commitment?
Raj was monitoring the boy’s pulse and his own….there was no response to his message yet. The old woman was praying silently sitting in a corner. Raj looked at her and joined in the prayers. He had never believed in the power of the mobile phone and prayers till now. Minutes were ticking, Raj was closely watching over the boy and waiting for his fever to subside. After 30 excruciating minutes, his mobile phone flashed and Raj quickly grabbed the phone to check the message, “This will not be a day of revival. This will be a new beginning, a new life. A life not shrouded by the cloak of disappointment, hurt, distrust or grief. We will celebrate the new life of the young boy and march towards a new beginning”