The Waiting
Room
-
Piyu Mukerji
The neurologist’s chamber was a busy place that cold Saturday
morning . Saturdays were the busiest days here, with barely any space to sit. People
waited around, some patiently and some otherwise.
She sat at the
corner giggling into her mother’s lap. There was a radiance about her which was
so attractive that it was difficult to keep my eyes away from her. Her hair was
drawn up in a bouncy ponytail and her pink cheeks dimpled with every
uncontrolled giggle. Her mother kept whispering something into her ears which
made her burst into more laughter.
That Saturday morning, there were all
kinds of people and there was this little girl in the blue sweater. A
husband and wife came in , the husband looking about anxiously at the large
number of people waiting. He looked around till he spotted a small place on the
sofa which he showed his wife for sitting. As the wife sat down, I noticed that
she kept rubbing her fingers together, clenching and unclenching them. The
husband must have been a very busy man as he kept on speaking into his cell
phone in low tones continuously. I wondered
about their marriage , did she
sit around watching TV as he barked order to his subordinates on his phone ? Did
she fuss over her children as he buried himself in his work ? Or maybe she was
a busy working professional too, taking some time off because of her illness.
The husband managed to find some space to squeeze next to her on the sofa,
which caused the little girl in the blue sweater to stick even closer to her
mom and collapse into more giggles.
As the husband settled next to his wife , he continued
speaking into the phone, only now he gingerly unclasped the wife’s trembling
and clenched fingers and held them in his. His love was unspoken but
omnipresent. The little girl in the meantime had started reciting a poem softly
to her mother as her mother rocked to the rhythmic lilt in her voice. I wondered why the mother had brought the child
into this morbid environment? Could she not have left her behind? She would
have been happier in a playground rather than here.
The man who was sitting at the corner, stared ahead
without blinking. I saw his eyes mist up but he did not blink. Suddenly without
any premise , he broke out into a dialogue with an imaginary character. He
gestured,spoke , nodded and even shook his head vehemently. And just as
suddenly as he had started, he stopped. I wondered why this man was alone
today. Did he not have anyone to help him with the doctor’s visit?
The unblinking man’s sudden burst had made the old woman
sitting next to him wary. She clutched the shirt of her husband sitting next to
her and slowly got up and changed her seat. Human fear overtook compassion as
she kept stealing fearful glances to the unblinking man.
My little girl in the blue sweater was totally unaffected
by all the misery around her. She was
cocooned in her mother’s lap still
giggling, still unbelievably happy. Some of the people were smiling at her as
she giggled, maybe feeling buoyed by her enthusiasm. Some simply looked too
morose to care and some I thought, were feeling jealous. Jealous of happiness
so pure, jealous of the fact that she was healthy and happy while they
suffered, jealous of the glow on her face which was unparalleled.
I prayed that her mom recovered quickly from whatever
illness she had. This little ray of sunshine deserved to be always this happy,
this radiant. As I thought these things, the doctor’s assistant nodded at the
little girl’s mom to indicate that it was her turn now. The mother called out
to the girl’s father who had been standing at a corner, almost invisible to the
eyes. He came forward and helped the mother to make the girl stand. I realised
that my little blue sunshine could not walk. Her legs stretched out limply from
her body. As her parents half carried, half dragged her into the doctor’s room,
she turned back one last time to give me a last sunny smile. As if she knew,
that I needed the reassurance at that moment. As if she wanted to say, “ Its Ok
! Life goes on “
