( An Inspired Story)
The wards..! A stinky, crowded, tense, rushed, crazy place to be in. And yet, a place full of service, healing patients, and dedicated family members. As a health professional in training, there was always so much to see and observe from just one frame at the wards.
And the keen observer that I am, every frame was a running story in my head! But my favorite stories, have always been real-life medical romances like this one…
It was the third year of our medical school. As we were walking towards the regular hospital bus that shuttled between the hostel premises and the hospital, my best friend, Sheela said, ‘He has not come today is it?’ My mind knew who she was referring to but of course, I asked ‘Who is he? Sahil?’ I knew she wanted to know where Ratan was, though! “Never mind,” said Sheila.
At the Surgery ward, Ratan entered late. Dr. Nadkarni, our Surgery professor was aghast that he dared to casually walk in when we were already half an hour into the rounds! Ratan was a tall, wheatish good looking, intelligent chap, who lived life on his terms! Dr. Nadkarni, displeased by his late arrival, asked ‘How did you get here when the buses already reached half an hour ago?’ ‘The Bullet’, Sheela and Ratan answered together! The whole batch burst out laughing while Sheela turned red and hid behind me in embarrassment! Ratan quickly noticed what had happened and diverted Dr. Nadkarni’s attention by apologizing for coming in late, giving Ma’am a charming smile! He knew his way around people and always got things done the way he wanted!
Sheela, of course, had known Ratan for the last two years as a batchmate, but it was only recently that she had developed a crush on him. It was our third day in the Medicine ward when a small boy came running inside crying and pleading in Marathi, that his grandfather had been hit by a vehicle while walking outside the hospital and needed help. Ratan sprung to the occasion. He lifted the boy’s grandfather, who was lying unconscious near the hospital gate, and took him to the hospital’s Emergency Room. The man was dripping with blood, and it was the first time that we young medical students were experiencing an actual RTA. Ratan helped in filling out the forms and even contacted the man’s family. He missed class that day, only to stay back with the boy until the family arrived. We were all witnesses to the chaos, but the courage that a young 20-year-old Ratan portrayed did not go unnoticed by anyone in class, especially Sheela!
But it was not until one June afternoon that, Sheela would learn the real Ratan was. Sheela had been doing the rounds for three hours, with Dr. Shiekh, that day, when he asked a few students including her and Ratan to go to the burns ward and observe the graft recovery in the post-surgical patients. The five of them recorded the graft thickness of each patient. After noting the skin thickness, they left the burn’s ward only to realize the bus had already left. I was absent that day, or I would have never left without Sheela. It was a rainy June morning, and Nashik was experiencing heavy rains. The other three students decided to take a rickshaw. Sheela had no choice but to sit on Ratan’s famous stylized, loud and latest ‘Bullet’ Little did she know that this Bullet was going to be a part of a huge portion of her life later!
It was that day when their story received a kickstart. Even though they were acquaintances before this, this 6 km Bullet ride made some magic happen! With the pouring rains, they decided to wait and have some hot vada pav and chai. They began to talk to each other about Medicine, Surgery, Science, hostel, Nashik, Mumbai, Solapur, and so on. As they spoke, they realized how similar their life goals were and most importantly they felt an instant connection.
The wards became a common place for the two to meet, considering Sheela lived in a very strict girl’s hostel. They would end up discussing cases together, keeping patient records, treating patients, and always managed to find time to have that one cup of chai with the famous vada paav near the hospital! Sheela had regularly started taking the Bullet now over the bus, and in a way, I was happy getting back my window seat in the bus, which Sheela always fought for! Their friendship flourished into a bond, which if you want to tag; let’s call it love! By the time we had all become interns, Ratan was a part of our gang and Sheela was a part of his! They were both brilliant students and decided to pursue their Masters.
These two had a love story made in heaven! In a world, where getting a post-graduate seat was a struggle, they both got not only their subjects of choice but also ended up getting the same post-graduate college! Their love in the wards started with their love for Surgery, Medicine, and their patients but ended up in their love for each other!
Today, Ratan is also a professor at a college and they both run a hospital in Ratan’s hometown of Solapur. They have a beautiful 3-year-old daughter, who is a mixture of Ratan’s courage and Sheela’s kindness and warmth! Ratan rides his famous stylized Bullet, of the latest model to the hospital even today and Sheela still loves being his pillion!
I visited Ratan and Sheela today after almost five years. We did visit their hospital, and the keen observer that I am, I could only see a whole lot of “Love in these wards” Love, that of Ratan for Surgery, that of Sheela for her patients, that of the rock-solid family members in the wards for one of their own, that of Ratan and Sheela for each other and most importantly that of a 21-year old some boy for a girl, who he was admiring in his ward rounds while Ratan was teaching them how to measure the thickness of the patient’s skin graft!
The unique high-pressure environment under which medicos undergo training, often brews closer bonds, than in other academic institutions. I think it would be safe to say that this story might have reminded each of us of our own particular ‘Ratan’ or ‘Sheela’. Its just that some of our stories find a happy ending, while others may just remain as ‘love in the wards’.
