Bad day…

What a day it has been… we woke up with a call from my in laws’ place. My father in law has had a cerebral haemorrhage and is in hospital in a critical condition. And my husband has taken the first available evening flight out – and then an overnight train journey before he can reach home… And calls from friends and relatives every half hour, urging him to hurry…

Both my feet still in bandage; I packed a bag for him and dropped it at the airport… did not get off the car…

Made me think of all the “NRI children”… how do parents cope in emergencies with their children so far away, living where home is not just a short flight or a train journey away? And how do children cope with the anxiety… not knowing what is happening back home… with the guilt of not being near at hand when parents need them…?

***
An accident case next to me in hospital this morning when I went to get the dressing changed on my operated foot… head injury… two wheeler, no helmet? Concerned colleagues with their badges waiting outside the emergency room. And a young woman standing next to his bed and weeping silently… Startled, when the attendant who has been filling out the forms suddenly asked for her signature. Bewildered, not ready for this… The attendant waits for a few seconds and again points out to her the blank space where her signature is required… The policeman is waiting outside the room…

I kept looking at her as the nurse cleaned my wound and bandaged my foot… What does one tell her?

***
I noticed four ambulances on my to the airport earlier in the evening. (Is this an unusually bad day or am I just noticing them because of the state I was in?) Caught in the traffic. Most vehicles hearing but not paying attention to the blaring sirens. Or the stranger stretched out inside the van, or the anxious others sitting by… Some vehicles concerned but without any space to make way for the emergency vehicle… Bombay traffic… How does an ambulance squeeze through…?