A visit to the doctor!

How a small visit made me realize how we don't notice the obvious, but lovely stuff..

I woke up to a beautiful day - lovely sunshine, fragrant breeze and above all, no exams to study for.

In a blissful mood, I went to brush my teeth.. and 'shocked' is not the word to describe what I felt when I saw the new addition to my face - a pimple, right there on the centre of my forehead! Now, dear reader, imagine what a person would go through when he/she has nothing to read except a Wodehouse when the mood is Bertrand-Russell's-thoughtful-mood. The person would not understand the humour and would even feel angry that someone can think of humour at that point of time. Such, was my condition, when during the afternoon, my cousins laughed about the position of my new blemish .

No way out - I had to visit the doctor and do something about it. I persuaded my mom to accompany me, for company. I had invited some looks there, as I showed no signs of any perceivable illness, except a creased forehead and a worried countenance. It was a very small room, and we could hear everything from inside. I was fifth in line, including the person being diagnosed by the doc inside. That man, apparently had viral fever and cough, which sounded only when the doctor asked him about it.

The next in line were two girls, one - the patient and the other - a friend of hers. They were giggling like school girls and I saw as much reason in their coming as the others saw in mine. When their turn came, I realized my blunder when one of the girls limped into the examination room, helped by her friend. I later found out that she fell while walking and got hurt. (No, please dont laugh at this - it happened to me, in fact, mine was worse, I fell while I was standing!)

She was inside for quite some time. And when she came out, an old lady and her grand-daughter went in next. The old lady had 'Arthritis' from what I could make out through the bits I heard of their conversation. Her knee was troubling her more, off-late and she came to request that something be done about it. Our doctor, adorable as he is, consoled her (as usual) that with the new medicine, she would run about just as she used to before the knee started complaining. And, she believed him, blessed him, took her prescription, and left.I was glad of the innocence still left in the world. For the first time in the day, I forgot about my problem for a while.

There was a very well-dressed late-fifties man seated next to our seats. He had some reports in his hand, which he held as though, any minute someone would grab them from him. Given a chance, he would (I am sure) have liked to meet the doctor the very minute. But, he waited. This man went in next. I, as before, listened in. This person had had some breathing problem and brought the test reports for examination. This knowledge pushed me into silence. The air that we are not even conscious of breathing, had posed problems for this cute, old man. I took in a few deliberate breaths and at that moment, fell for life, all over again. It takes very little for us to realize that 'Life is beautiful indeed' - only, we need to see it correctly. Above all, understand.

I was next. Suddenly a lanky mid-thirties man rushed into the waiting room. Seeing me getting ready to go inside, he said to me, "I need this injection urgently, please let me go in now.." and showed me an injection packet. I simply nodded. I started feeling stupid already, about coming to a doctor for a pimple. This man didn't even come out yet, when amidst cries and shrieks, I saw a tall man and a group of people rush inside. The tall man's foot was bleeding. On enquiries, we discovered that he had accidentally stepped on a dog's tail and it retaliated and bit his foot.

Well, that did it. Me and my mom simply ran out of that place, my problem was nothing compared to those problems that had been brought to the doc to be cured. I thought, 'Thank you very much, I can wait for another time, when I wake up to another beautiful day, and realize as I brush that that blemish is gone'. That beautiful day, in fact, had arrived in 3 days and wasn't I glad! I didn't have to go to the doc feeling stupid anymore. Atleast, not immediately.