Respite.

I decided to do something different today. Spend some time with myself in public. To experience getting lost in a whirlpool of bustling activity. I made my way through different patients and their attendants to find a place for myself in the middle of the waiting area for patients in the Orthopedic department. I looked around- to my left was a woman lying on the couch, three attendants crouched over her, trying to make sure she was okay. In front, I saw a man arguing with someone on the phone, begging the other to give him a chance to explain. To my right, sat two kids, who kept playing with each other...giving each other high fives, laughing when the other missed and trying to climb over the back of the seat. I sat there trying to absorb it all in me. I stared at the wall clock in front of me...it was 12:45 P.M. There was a lot of time before dissection started. I let my head roll back and fixed my gaze at the ceiling. I tried to busy myself in counting the number of tiles. Then I started scrutinizing the light fixtures. While I was busy trying to count the number of dust particles on each little bulb, a middle-aged lady came and sat beside me. I was totally oblivious to her presence until she initiated a conversation. It started with, "Kya aap doctor hain? Ya yehan parhti hain?" (Are you a doctor here? Or do you study here?) After I answered her question for her, the conversation just kept rolling. Before I knew it, she told me about her four sons, who were becoming engineers, her sister's daughter, who was her future daughter-in-law and her house in F-10. Before I got up to leave, she smiled at me and said, "God bless you betay." I smiled back meekly. Sometimes this is all you need to feel better.