HEMA IN LOVE

“Cut” shouted the director of the play for TV as he said “No woman would say I give up. Revise the script. We will redo the take.”

What prompted the director to interrupt the take? The following rewritten story will clarify. All of us need medical treatment. We wish we could avail the service of a particular medico. Why? Because he/she has empathy – the capacity to understand or feel, what another person is experiencing. Take the case of Dr.Arun who was just 30, was fair tall and handsome with a neat moustache and who in addition, had an ever smiling face. After medical study he had no desire to qualify himself in specialist fields and was working as duty doctor in a private hospital. He would often be on night duty and would work cheerfully. Because of the empathy shown by him several patients liked to be attended by him.

Arun had married Shaily – a distant kin. She was short, and average in looks and complexion. She had besides a birth defect: Her left hand was a bit shorter than her right. She was conscious of it and would try to conceal the malformed limb. She had been good at studies and after getting a degree in business management was in a senior post working for a multinational company. She and Arun had been married two years but did not have children. The company she worked for gave her a vacation for a month in the Netherlands at company expense. She tried to persuade Arun to join but he flatly refused. He merely said “You go and later give me your experiences.”Shaily went on the holiday.

That night Arun was on duty and there was a case to be admitted. He recorded details as required: Name: Hema (Miss). Sex: Female. Age: 19. Address: Card given with phone numbers. Parents: No more. Next of kin: Aunt.

What Arun had noticed but didn’t need recording was that Hema was quite good looking and was slim and tall. At admission in the hospital her dress had been muddied and the pants were torn.

Arun recorded: Adequate insurance cover with valid proofs shown.

Case: Hema had been riding a high end bike at top speed around 7 PM and it had skidded. A passenger bus which had been right behind had partially damaged the bike. Patient needs treatment of assorted surface injuries and pain in the knees preventing her from walking. She has also pain in the right elbow.

 Arun said “Miss, the orthopedician will come tomorrow at noon. I’ve seen the X-ray of the injured parts and feel there is no fracture. The ortho will decide. There is a gash on the left thigh just above the knee which has bled. It may take 3 or 4 days to heal. I’ll get the nurse to fix your clothes and attend to your injuries.”

Arun got a senior nurse to attend on Hema.

Later Arun came to Hema again and was satisfied that she had been attended to. He smiled and said “I saw the photo of your bike on your phone. Quiet a heavy machine.”

“It accelerated much faster than I had anticipated. I skidded as I took a turn and fell. Lucky the bike didn’t fall on me.”

He said “Miss I suppose you’re studying.”

She said “Don’t call me miss. Call me by name Hema. I’ve finished studies. I’m an apprentice at present in a firm founded by my late father. I’m scheduled to take over.”

As he was about to leave her bedside she asked “Doctor don’t you ride bikes?”

He said with a laugh “No. I drive a car but I’m scared of bikes.”

“But you must have some pastime.”

He laughed and said “I play scrabble mostly with my wife. But it is infrequent as my duty hours give me no freedom.”

She said “I’m also a scrabble player. May be we could meet and play some time.”

He nodded. The nurse came and gave the patient her prescribed medication.

Her treatment continued as was scheduled. The orthopedician confirmed there were no fractures and merely prescribed pain killers.

A couple of days later Hema felt she had fallen in love with Arun. She was disappointed that he was married. Her feelings towards him were so strong that even if he was married she felt she wouldn’t mind an affair with him.

Hema was discharged after 5 days. After that she kept messaging Arun and he was forced to respond. Arun didn’t conceal his contact with Hema. It was something he didn’t start. But his wife Shaily upon return was upset about Hema contacting Arun and messaging  him. And she did come home to see Arun and Shaily. Shaily walked out saying she had to meet someone on business. Shaily considered parting from Arun though she wasn’t happy to lose him. She wondered why she hadn’t conceived: A child would have made the bond between husband and wife stronger. The very next day she consulted the doctor and was stunned to know that she couldn’t become a mother. She could do nothing except to reconcile with the prognosis.

Hema was overjoyed at the poor looks and physical infirmity of Shaily. Shaily knew she was nowhere compared to Hema. She decided she would move away from her husband. At her request the company wasn’t averse to post her in Sweden. But then she felt she was giving up her husband due to Hema. She said to herself ”I won’t surrender to Hema. I’ll keep the posting to Sweden in abeyance.”

Hema found that while Arun was responding to her he wasn’t aggressively intent on having an affair with her and was greatly disappointed. She had had dreams of throwing out Shaily and taking her place but that wouldn’t happen. She consulted her senior in the office about her future. He was a veteran in business and he said “Hema why don’t you go to do a course in a college in USA?  It would  equip you to be a better business leader.”

Hema thought the idea was sound and made arrangements to go and study in America. Shaily was very happy to hear of the development. She had won!

Hema was unhappy that she had yielded ground to Shaily. She kept sending Arun messages from the USA angering Shaily.  However events have often an unexpected turn: Shaily was in the family way! She asked Arun to announce the news to Hema. Her messaging stopped!

END