Hickory Dickory Dock-3!

continued from Part-1 and Part-2

“Good Morning, Sir”, receptionist Manju smiled at him. Shiva Kumar didn’t look at her. He knew about all the back talk that was going on among the staff, about his personal life. Being one of the strictest bosses, many employees didn’t like him at all. One day he even heard one of them comment about the incident when Shalini caused chaos, in the hospital. “Our Captain Terror can terrorize everyone in this world, except his own wife”. And they all chuckled!

 

He went upstairs to his personal room. Then he rang for the only person he ever talked his personal problems to, Rejani. She was one of the partners who had invested money for the hospital. A widow at the age of 42, she looked like the abode of sorrow. When Rejani knocked and came in, he blurted out  “Rejani, I told her. I told her about my decision. Now I feel peaceful.” He closed his eyes tightly and tried to blank his mind for a while.

 

Rejani, was silent. She knew what was going thru him. In fact she was the only one who knew him completely, at that moment. As it was natural when a man and woman get close, there were numerous gossips about them. But they knew exactly what kind of relationship they shared. For Rejani, being widowed at 32, she had heard her share of gossips even before she met Shiva kumar.  Those gossips never touched her, at all. But she respected this man. And it hurt her when she found him hurt. In reality, it was the comradeship people shared, when left in an isolated island, totally helpless. Loneliness and the feeling of meaningless life brought them together.

 

Rejani ordered coffee for both of them. After talking to her about his conversation with kids and  Shalini, he felt peaceful. “Shiva, today is your surgery day. First case start at 8:15, if you don’t feel well, may be I can ask Dr.Ajith to lead”, Shalini told him, slowly. “No, I am fine. I will be ready at the theatre, within 15 minutes”. Being one of the best laparoscopic surgeon, in the State, for him, his work was his worship. And he forgot all his problems, when God worked thru his hands.

 

At noon, he had finished his fifth case. After scrubbing himself, he went back to his room. He didn’t feel hungry at all. But then Rejani came and ordered lunch for him from the canteen. That day wasn’t his O.P day. So he had time till 3 pm. He started reading some journals that came through post that day.

 

When he reached the third journal, Rejani came to his room, this time without knocking. “Shiva, I wanted to tell you some thing” .

There was panic in her voice. Shiva, looked at her questioningly.

“Did any thing happen to the surgery cases I did this morning?”-was the first thought that passed through his mind. It was his hospital, and he himself performed the surgery. He was answerable for any mishap that happened. He prepared his mind for the inevitable.

 â€œIs there any issue with the surgery cases?”

“No, Shiva it’s something else. Shalini…shalini is in the emergency room, now. She…she seems critical”. 

For a while, Shiva couldn’t recognize what she was saying. Then he recomposed himself. “Did she take an overdose again?”, he asked in the most normal way.

“No, Shiva, she is not here. She is in the Medical College”.

“Medical College? “ His voice suddenly rose high.

“I had always asked Raju to bring her only here, if ever she ever takes overdose”.

“Shiva, she didn’t take overdose”.

 â€œThen? What did she do this time? Found any new way, to ruin my reputation?” Anger was rising inside him.

“No, Shiva she was on her way to our hospital. I mean, Raju was driving the car. And…and…. and on the bypass road, a national permit truck hit the car. People took her to Medical College. We got the phone call from there, about her critical condition. She seems to have a very bad head injury.”

 

It took some time for Shiva Kumar to get the complete meaning of those words. He almost thought that Rejani was talking nonsense. As soon as truth hit him, he rose to the occasion. He rang for Manoj in the reception, to drive him to Medical College.

 

The car came to a stop before the black and white board- “Casuality”.  When he went inside, all the junior doctors recognized him, with respect. He tried to get the answer, by trying the routine job of reading the message from another doctor’s face. But he couldn’t.. One of them led him to the room.

 

There inside, over the rusting iron bed, lay Shalini, her forehead and face completely soaked in blood. He eventually knew that what he feared has finally happened. Impulsively he checked her pulse. “No ….she is not breathing.” He looked at the doctor’s face and this time he told, “Sir, sorry, we couldn’t!”.

 

He looked at her for 2 more minutes and turned back.

“Sir”… he stopped.

“We got these papers from the body’s fist. She was holding it tightly. We saw your name in it and only then we recognized that she was your wife”

Shiva took the papers he handed him. It was those papers for mutual divorce, duly signed by Mrs Shalini Shiva Kumar.

 

 

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dearest friends, this is NOT a true story.... this is something I developed from a news paper cutting, I happened to see. I have added my own things, to get some feelings *winks*.

I want to thank Brenny, who wrote in his blog, titled  "Where the stories come from"  says:

"That when you start to feel the freedom in writing is when you can take the experiences of others and weave it into your own.  I am slowly starting to feel that and man it's quite a rush.  You should try it sometime."

..and I tried....

 Thank you Brenny!