Just when you feel like your belief on
goodness, on humanity will evaporate something like this happens with me
that reaffirms my belief on it. Many a times, i do feel that I have
experienced quite a lot, than others of my age, may be i am quite more
sensitive to what others feel smaller things, but, such smaller things
adds spice to life, it makes your life more complete.
This is a real incident that happened
about an year ago, it relates to one of my old friend. We are together
since last twenty years or so. He was blessed to have his father around
with him till recently, the fact that i sometimes envied, for my dad
left me for his heavenly journey quite quite early, and that loneliness
always bites even today after sixteen years of his departure. That
vaccum will perhaps never fill. Somehow, i looked upon his dad with same
kind of respect that i gave to my father, and the man too was a kind
hearted one, perhaps, he must have realized my loneliness and would go
extra mile to show his care for me. I would feel re-assured with this
fatherly figure around.
My friend and i met in our college days
and soon became good close buddies and kept in touch with each others
till date. To an extent, i owe this government job to my friend, for i
was reluctant to apply for government job, it was for his insistence,
that he required somebody to accompany his to the exam centre which was
far off from our home, that i filled the form. As luck might have had
it, i passed off the exam and ended up getting government job, the poor
fella was not so lucky though.
His dad was a retired railwaymen, a proud
railwaymen, with lots of stories to tell of his career. My dad was an
ex-navymen, so when they met, the stories told were entertaining,
stories of days gone by, of changing times.
Some two years back, to my shock i learnt
from my friend that his dad suffered from cancer and was in last stage
of it, with no real possibility of surviving. Railway job ensured that
the treatment and travel was free. He was admitted in best of hospitals,
but, age now, was not on his side, he was in his 70s and his body was
not supporting the cause.The already frail person grew more frail. I
could not control my tears to see this lovely man on bed on respirators
and needles pricked all over his bodies.
Soon, the doctors gave up, they informed
that the man has now only few days left with him and that they better
take him back and take good care of his in the last few days of his
company. So he was brought back. The man now had already lost his
speech, the only part of his body that was seemingly working now was his
eyes and his head, he would very slowly nod his head in affirmative or
negation to questions asked. I remember, that evening when i with my
wife went to see him, i took his hands in my hands and said uncle don’t
worry, you will be all right, we wont allow you to go. Streams of tears
rolled down the eyes of this old man. I still feel down when i remember
the scene.
For next few days, i kept on visiting the
friends place quite frequently, may be for i knew that the last person
whom i thought resembled my dad, now was with me for very few a days…
One such evening, i do remember just two
days before the death of this man, i went straight off from my office to
his home. I sat besides the person. He was lying on bed, breathing
heavily. His eyes open, looking all around, as if storing everything for
his long journey ahead. Surprisingly, enough, his wife, perhaps had
resigned to fate, perhaps she knew what was installed. And she did not
show that much of emotions. I used to wonder how can someone be so
emotionless, especially when you have spent more than half of your life
with a person who shared just everything, joy, happiness, sorrows. The
thought of living without must have broken this lady, but she was not
exhibiting it. One could have given the benefit of doubt to her, saying
that she was not showing her sorrow publicly for her kids. But even that
lame excuse failed when this happened. Seeing me come, she got up and
went to the cupboard and searched for some papers and brought out the
bank passbook and gave it to me and in
utmost curiosity she inquired with me, what would be the pension that
she would get after the death of the man. No, i am not dramatizing
events, i am just putting it as straight as i can. I was shocked, I felt
sorry, sorry for the poor man who was lying there and seeing all this
in front of his eyes. He could not speak but his moist eyes did tell
many a stories. How can a person stoop so low, how can a person become
so selfish? I got angry on the lady and asked her that evening, how can
even she dare to think in these terms at this juncture. May be my
friend, realized the gravity of the error, he asked the lady to go away.
She went away with the passbook. I felt very bad that evening. That
evening the man felt very uneasy and found it difficult to breath. A
doctor was called in, he checked the old man and advised my friend to
shift the man to the hospital. The doctor advised that though he may not
survive, he may at least die an easy death there. But, the friend
declined to do so, i felt very bad that day bad for how people stoop so
low, thinking for few thousand of rupees that the hospital might have
charged they opted for a difficult death to the man. Is there anything
called humanity was the only question that evening, I felt very helpless
for i was merely a family friend with no powers to decide that evening.
Somehow the man survived that evening,
but his conditions had deteriorated and it was evening of Saturday. Soon
the realization dawned upon the people there that if the person expired
on sunday, getting a death certificate would be next to impossible for
the man was not in hospital and no doctor would give a death
certificate, added to that Doctor’s clinics remain close on Sundays, as
this realization dawned, they started to scout doctors to ask whether
they will issue a death certificate if the man died the next day. Just
no doctor was ready to give a certificate like this. The standard advise
that just all doctors gave was to shift the man to the hospital. The
suggestion that was vehemently refused by the friend.
At around 9.00 pm the friend turned up to
my house, he told me that it seems that dad might not be able to
survive the next day, and he required to ensure that in such a case, the
death certificate should be available. I told him let us try with our
family doctor. Our family doctor is one of the best person i personally
feel, not for his medical knowledge, not for his experience, but for the
human values he practices. I took my friend to him, it was around 9.20
pm and the doctor was winding up for the day. I entered his clinic and
introduced my friend to him and told all the story in brief and showed
the papers. The doctor saw the papers and said he can give the death
certificate. But, after a while, he remembered that it was Sunday next
day and he would be out of town the next day. He said, even i would not
be available tomorrow. The hopes i rested on him almost started fading,
when the doctor seeing this happening, came out with one suggestion, he
said, he knew it was not ethical, but it was human, he said, he would
need to see the patient first to decide. So we took him to friend’s
house. He saw the patient, checked him, again went through all the
papers and then took us to another room, we three sat there and the
doctor took out his letterhead handed over to me and asked me to write
the death certificate, he dictated the words to me, he told me to keep
the date and time blank, nobody afterall could predict death. The
doctor signed the blank death certificate. Weird as it may sound,
unethical as it may sound, but, i still consider it was one of the most
human acts that a doctor could have done.
As fate would have it, the fake
certificate was not required, as the old railwayman battled that sunday
only to call it a day on monday morning. At around 8 am i got call from
my friend that his dad passed off.
The man finally gave it up, he must have
left the world with even more heavy a heart, death perhaps might have
come to his rescue for living in this world working endlessly to ensure
good days for his wife and children brought him naught. The wife and
children could not provide the old man few good days in his need of
hour.
After this incident, somehow, i have
reduced contact with the friend quite a bit. May be the empty house now
makes me feel more emptier. That few days showed me how one stooped so
low, and the noble act of the doctor showed, how one can still find hope
in despair.
Comments