“ Why are we writing this exam only” I asked out aloud.
“ What” queried Ashok,” What exam are you talking about. I asked if you wanted cheese on your chicken burger”
I then realized I had shouted out aloud what was in my mind. Not a bad thing to do but decidedly queer to do it standing in the queue at a KFC counter.
“Uhh..no no no…was thinking about something else..make it single cheese”
We collected our trays and got back to our tables. Finding a table to sit would normally have been a herculean task but it was relatively easy on a weekday, and that too so late at night.
“ So what exam are you talking about? You have something coming up at the hospital ? “ asked Ashok.
Ashok was a software guy, some project leader or something like that in one of the big IT firms in the city. You know the soulless, dark, tinted glass buildings that are littered on the IT highway. He worked in one of those and I suspect that he was like Neo, from Matrix, able to look at the world only through code and project deadlines.
“No, nothing like that. There is this patient at the hospital. Just something that she had said”
“Oh she is got an exam coming up? You know Dilip, my new trainee I talked to you about, he just took three days off to write some certification exams. The Australian project looks like its going to get further delayed. I don’t know what to do with these people only. They are so careless and …”
His voice trailed off as my mind went back to earlier that day. Damn it. I had vowed to myself that I should not let her to get to me and I had done exactly that.
“ …and the client has been behind my back asking me what is happening with the latest requirements document he had sent in….honey, what is wrong…why are you not eating”
“ ehh..nothing Ashok nothing.. Ashok, can I ask you something? What is the purpose of all this? What we are doing?”
“ hmmm, what are you talking about… we are getting dinner. If we don’t then we end up hungry. If we remain hungry then we feel faint and get sick and end up taking leave..”
“sigh..not that …not what we are doing right now. But overall. I don’t see any purpose or result in what I do, day in day out. I am prolonging someone’s misery at the most and adding days to their lives. But apart from that, I feel so …so … useless”
“ phew…Cathy.. I don’t know how many times more we are going to have the same conversation over and over again. You are a doctor by choice. We both got the same marks in our boards. You wanted to pursue medicine and I went with computers. Look at where I am today and look at where you are. You keep doubting your abilities, your knowledge, and in general the choice that you took. There is no point in all that only”
“ Ashok, I am not talking about the choice that I took. I am talking about the choice that none of us ever had a chance to take. A choice that was taken for us, a choice that was as basic. Who decided that we should be born like this, grow up like this, do this or do that? Are we really people who have choices? I don’t think so”
“ I can’t understand what is getting to you. You always had this uncertainty about life and your choices but now you have gone one step further and are bitching about birth itself..come on..chill..relax. Life is too short to be spent worrying….we should enjoy life as it comes”
Hmmm. This from a man who flew his parents out to meet him from his hometown and then had to spend time cooped up in his office because his client was asking for some urgent release. His parents spent the entire week cooped up in his three bedroom apartment in one of the posh localities of the city. When I dropped in on them, they were like literally screaming with joy and begging me to take them out.
“ yeah life is too short to be spent worrying…too short indeed..even that is not in our hand”
“What?”
4 comments:
ah! the speed is picking up.. so, the doc's name is Cathy and her guy's name is Ashok... INTERESTING!!!
Harsha is desperately looking for chemistry, da. U gotta give him that :D
And well, Can I get your autograph? It might be difficult to get at a later stage :) Lovely writing, I must say...
@viji... Interesting? i wouldnt know but surely plenty more to come..
@kiran Chemistry was my weakest subject bro...shall surely try to whip some up
and autograph??? come on..Modesty apart, it wouldnt do you any good even if it was on a cheque leaf...thanks bro
Post a Comment