A Short Tale about a Tall One....

That day there were two of us at the Clinic: a young colleague and myself, a rare occurrence but definitely welcome. Two means that not only is the OPD over quicker, but that we can take a breather now and then and indulge in a little light-hearted chatter; unlike those ‘single’ days when patients come and go in such a breathless, endless rush that there is no time to look beyond the next patient and his physical woes. Of course, even on that day, the long line of patients had not really diminished even with our double presence and so they continued to stream in: men, women and children seeking succour for myriad real and perceived ill health issues. As patients, men I have noticed, tend to be rather brief and to the point, the description of their ill health limited to two or three precise sentences; and even on prodding do not elaborate much. Women on the other hand, need only a little encouragement to launch into a long litany of complaints, the milder the complaint, the more detailed the description! As majority of the clientele in that little clinic are women, our time was spent more in giving a patient hearing to our patients; rather than in any major medical diagnostic efforts.

As she entered the consultation room, it was me who spotted her first, as the entrance was in the direct line of my vision. The first thing that struck me was her height for she was really, really tall by Indian standards, towering at probably 5’ 10” or so. Lithely built with the sinuous grace of an athlete, she looked a little incongruous with the dupatta draped demurely around her head and the two children in tow, one a baby in her arms and the other a toddler fiercely clutching her free hand. She looked to be either from rural Haryana or Rajasthan, her accented Hindi coloured by the native roughness of the Jat tongue. As she was settling down on the patient stool opposite the Younger One, I couldn’t help but remark aloud about how tall the she was. For a few brief seconds, both Younger One and me marvelled at her height and her physique and then as my attention was claimed by the patient sitting before me, I momentarily forgot all about her. But my attention was reclaimed by the woman when my current patient departed and I was free for a brief moment. The woman was talking animatedly to the Younger One about how the baby, though eight months old, was still exclusively breast feeding. Exclusive breastfeeding beyond six months is a paediatric blasphemy and when admonished, she good naturedly replied that she was not aware of this and now that Doctor Madam had told her about it, she would definitely start weaning the baby. I had no other patient at the moment and so as she and her Doctor Madam continued their consultation, I spent my time observing the lady.

You may have noticed this in your life too: there are certain people who, even at first meeting you instinctively like, without any apparent reason. This woman was proving to be one such person. She was young, probably in her twenties, with a fresh, happy face. ‘Get rid of that asphyxiating dupatta from around her head,’ I thought, ‘and put her in a pair of denims and a T shirt and she would be no different from any college-going youngster......’  As I watched her interact with the Younger One, marvelling once more at her height and physique, I suddenly had this vision of her in a military uniform, belted, booted and capped, striding boldly forward on parade..... So I asked her if she had been an athlete ‘shaadi ke pehle’. She smiled a tiny smile and echoed my words ‘Shaadi ke pehle.....’ Then, perhaps emboldened by our interest she explained, ‘Gaon mein to ladkiyon ko zyada padne nahin dete... nahin to Madam, main bhi pad likhkar aapke jaise ban jaati...Meri to 17 saal mein shaadi ho gayi....’ Remembering my vision of her in a military uniform, I asked her whether she had seen those women BSF soldiers who march at the Wagah-Attari border in Amritsar. She would be perfect for that job, I told her, with her height and her physique.... Encouraged by both our attention and interest, she opened up a little, “ Main to abhie bhi jaa sakti hoon, Madam, mera umr to bas 24 saal hai” Hearing this, my first reaction was – what about the children, who would look after them then?  She laughed in reply, ‘Dada Dadi dekh lenge dono poton ko....” We laughed back and she left. But before leaving, she turned back once to ask us, ‘Aap log mujhe dekhkar itna hans kyun raheen hai?’ She was correct to an extent, I had been smiling but of course not at her. So I clarified, “Aap hamein bohut achhi lageen, isiliye!” Reassured, she smiled and left.

You may be wondering why she has become a subject of this blog. Like I said before, there are some people, who for some unknown reason tug at your heart strings... Most of the time you are at a loss to explain why. But sometimes, like in this case, if you think deeply enough, you are able to pin-point the reason. After she had left, I thought long of this girl, about why she appealed to me and I realised that the answer was quite simple really...You see, throughout our interactions with her the one thing that shone through was her perpetual good spirits....Never once did she rue her fate, or curse it. Hope rang true in her voice as she talked about the opportunities still available before her... She was happy with what life had given her till now and she was confident that what she wanted in terms of personal fulfilment as a career woman, she could achieve in the future. She was at peace with her present life and full of hope for her future....She had in short, achieved what many of us in ostensibly better life situations are still struggling to achieve: that perfect harmony between satisfaction with our present life and our innermost aspirations. And perhaps it was this peace that was sensed by my subconscious, attracting me to her.

And so I can see her now, clearly in my mind’s eye, impeccably uniformed, marching with strong, measured steps at the gates of Wagah while her sons cheer proudly from the visitors’ stands.......