A doctor’s clinic is the last place anybody would want to be. The smell, the stench, sick people and the injections.OMG. But at times the greatest of joys are found in the ugliest of places.
My breathing had been laborious all through the day. In order to put an end to it, I visited my doctor after a span of 4 months. As I waited for my turn to come, I found that some small changes had been made at the doctor’s. The clinic used to have a self-numbering system handled by the patients themselves, in order to visit the doctor. During my earlier days, I had found it amazing that so much of discipline existed amongst all of us. I thought it was very civil on everybody’s part to play such a role without being supervised. But after this change, I assumed that the Doc must have met with some unpalatable experiences, when he decided to introduce this system. Hmmn.
The new system consisted of a 10-year old, sitting outside the doc’s room with some small number tokens in his hand with a register alongside, where the patients would write their names, as is done in many other clinics. Aaah the pressure of compliance. When I spoke to the kid I found him very shy, who tried real hard to assert himself, when certain pushy patients tried to jump the line. Nevertheless, he did a good job of holding the fort all by himself.
Once done with the registering process, I found that I had forgotten to carry a book to read. But my guardian angels were at work and then came in 2 little rascals-a little girl and a little boy. It was love at first sight.
The boy was entirely in his own world. The mother looked exhausted but his antics were good supplements to boost her up. The young fellow was around 5 years of age and was already making a very good attempt at impersonating Superman with his handkerchief tied around his neck ,serving as his robe, which hardly reached his shoulders, but who cares he was already flying high. He was not the one to go easy on the sound effects and was now throwing his robe, ehhh , his handkerchief violently up and down and tried catching it with his face. In this process he swept the windows, the doors, the floor and sometimes even his mother’s face. But nobody cared because the kid was happy & jubilant. He even made an attempt to jump from a foot tall bench on to another bench which was around 10 feet away, which even his grandfather wouldn’t have been able to jump. But reality was far away from his mind. He jumped, rolled, twisted, circled and just did everything a 5 year old ought to do.
After losing interest from the handkerchief, the boy concentrated on his mother. Her dupatta, her legs, her purse, her cell phone, nothing was spared. Tired as the mother was, she gave him the usual dose, all mothers provide their kids from time to time. This weapon in the armor of Mothers is called “The fear of Injections”. She requested the 10-year old supervisor to get a huge injection, specially invented for her son. The effect was instant silencing of the once noisy child. I remember my mother using such scare tactics on me. She would go to the extent of telling me that somebody named Umachi( Synonym:: God) would come and poke me in the eye during night time, if I didn’t finish my meals. I still do not know where Umachi is & how many eyes he has poked till now. But trust me, I do finish my meals completely till date.
Meanwhile the elder one had started indulging in what we call voyeuristic pleasure these days. She found it amusing to look from the glass windows which were poorly designed and one could peep inside the doctor’s room. This is what we would have called conflict of interest in the adult world. The peeping had put our young supervisor at dis-ease and he tried to reassert that he was the man in the room & everybody got to listen to him. But alas, girls always know how to get their ways.
Now it was my turn to be scrutinized. After few smile-exchanges the girl who was now bored of peeping found some interest in me and enquired my name. I asked hers and she said it was “Niyati” and added that her brother’s name was “Nishit”. Then she stressed upon the fact that “Both of us have NI in our names”. I nodded and praised her for being very observant. Kids say all kinds of things, don’t they? I had read somewhere that God provides an unborn child with all the knowledge of the world. But before entering the world, he signs a pact with them by saying shhh and puts his finger on their lips, saying it’s their little secret. This is how all of us get the indentation mark on our lips. Anyway, the only thing I am wondering now is what all darn things I had told people when I was young. Gawd help them.
Nowadays my braces have gotten me attention from some very unusual guests. This 3 year old, was unbelievably talkative and had a curious bent of mind. She was attracted by the cover of the book I was reading and wanted to know which page I was reading. I handed over the book to her. This small act had gotten the eyeballs of the entire audience in the room. The little one didn’t disappoint me. She flipped through the pages and on due prompting from her mother returned the same to me. Then she put her finger on her teeth and asked me what was that thing in my mouth when I smiled. I said those were called Braces. Assuming that I was in pain she asked me one question, “Why don’t you brush, it will go away?”. The room was filled with laugher.
It only left me wondering, kids have such a simple way of looking at life. Nothing is complicated. They ask the most simplest of questions, do the simplest of acts and derive the greatest of pleasures from things ,whose existence we have long forgotten. They may not be realistic, but they are hugely optimistic. All these kids have made my visits to the doctors extremely enriching & memorable. I am looking forward to meet many more such little geniuses, who bring truck loads of unbridled joy in the lives of all they know and do not know. Well, have you met any little rascals lately?
