Babu's toes, spattered with mud is all I can remember of last night's wait. That, punctuated with little walks into the emergency to see if ajee was breathing alright or to give her the bed pan.
Outside, where we sat, the night had started freezing- a reminder that the festivals were nearing and then it would soon be winter, before you even realized. Baa's parka kept the wind out for me. But Babu froze in the NSD anniversary jacket he was curled inside. His torso hung in mid-air as he fell asleep on those metal waiting chairs, fixed permanently at a distance of 15 inches each.
It was the only time I could remember, sitting in a hospital waiting-room that had no walls. In between the snatches my eyes slumped into, I caught the figures of women, spread on the cold floor- waiting in their snores. My limbs hurt from being confined to a chair. But there had been hospital nights before. Only, not so cold and hungry. Hungry. I hadn't had the time to eat the previous night.
So, Babu and I headed to the cafeteria at 4 am, our feet just a drag. A man, blinking his sleep away, sold us milk coffee from the vending machine and two slices of bread pizza, which he quickly micro-waved and sliced into smaller pieces. We sat in a long hall, filled with black metal chairs, again with a 15 inches gap in-between. Maybe 10 inches. Even in that anxiety over ajee's wheezing, her rising potassium level and the plummeting sodium level, the bread pizza tasted better than the New York Firewood pizza I had had a few days ago, between pamperings at a beauty parlour.
Hunger and mud-spattered toenails- what things to remember from a sad day like this.
Outside, where we sat, the night had started freezing- a reminder that the festivals were nearing and then it would soon be winter, before you even realized. Baa's parka kept the wind out for me. But Babu froze in the NSD anniversary jacket he was curled inside. His torso hung in mid-air as he fell asleep on those metal waiting chairs, fixed permanently at a distance of 15 inches each.
It was the only time I could remember, sitting in a hospital waiting-room that had no walls. In between the snatches my eyes slumped into, I caught the figures of women, spread on the cold floor- waiting in their snores. My limbs hurt from being confined to a chair. But there had been hospital nights before. Only, not so cold and hungry. Hungry. I hadn't had the time to eat the previous night.
So, Babu and I headed to the cafeteria at 4 am, our feet just a drag. A man, blinking his sleep away, sold us milk coffee from the vending machine and two slices of bread pizza, which he quickly micro-waved and sliced into smaller pieces. We sat in a long hall, filled with black metal chairs, again with a 15 inches gap in-between. Maybe 10 inches. Even in that anxiety over ajee's wheezing, her rising potassium level and the plummeting sodium level, the bread pizza tasted better than the New York Firewood pizza I had had a few days ago, between pamperings at a beauty parlour.
Hunger and mud-spattered toenails- what things to remember from a sad day like this.
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